A history of just war

 

The idea of a code of war can be traced back through history to the Greeks and Romans, and to the writings of Cicero. The Christian doctrine of action was initially developed by Saint Augustine, and elaborated by Saint Thomas Aquinas. The rules used today were recorded by the Dutch philosopher Hugo Grotius. In the table below, you can see the impact each person had on the evolution of just war theory.


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Cicero

(106-43 BC)

 In ancient times, Cicero argued that the only acceptable cause for war was self defense. He believed that “nature and human reason biased a society against war, and that there was a fundamental code of behavior for nations.”

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Saint Augustine

(354-430 AD)

 Augustine believed that war was only permissible when the only goal was peace. He argued that war was justifiable only as a remedy for sins. Augustine said that war is not for punishment alone, but for righting the wrongs inflicted on innocents by an aggressor. (This does not include self-defense). However, his doctrine still makes no mention of treatment during war, as his Christian religion taught him that “physical death was not a particularly important thing”.

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Saint Thomas Aquinas

(1225-1274 AD)

 Aquinas laid out a more specific guideline for just war in his writing of the Summa Theologica. He said that for a just war must be waged by a legitimate authority with a legitimate cause and the overall intention of peace. Aquinas defined a legitimate cause as being one where the attack was deserved on account of some fault.


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Hugo Grotius

(1583-1645 AD)

Hugo Grotius was the author of the legal text
De Jure Belli ac Pacis, translated as On the Laws of War and Peace. In this writing, he analyzed natural law and concluded that “human nature is characterized by a desire for a peaceful and orderly society”. On this basis, Grotius said that communities of nations are bound together for mutual benefit by certain natural principles. He believed that war was only justified when it was enforcing rights, and that “the execution of hostilities is itself limited by natural law.”