{"id":8071,"date":"2026-04-08T12:40:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ibs.ee\/?p=8071"},"modified":"2026-04-08T12:40:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:40:18","slug":"what-is-war-and-when-does-it-start-a-cursory-introduction-into-thinking-about-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibs.ee\/en\/what-is-war-and-when-does-it-start-a-cursory-introduction-into-thinking-about-war\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u00a0is\u00a0war\u00a0and\u00a0when\u00a0does\u00a0it\u00a0start? A\u00a0cursory\u00a0introduction\u00a0into\u00a0thinking\u00a0about\u00a0war\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-el\"><em>Konstantin Brik\u00a0is an intern at the Institute of Baltic Studies,\u00a0Graduate of the International Relations program at the University of Warsaw and Graduate of the International Relations and War Studies program at King\u2019s College London.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-el\">At the Institute of Baltic Studies, we view\u00a0security\u00a0as\u00a0more\u00a0than just\u00a0military protection.\u00a0Our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ibs.ee\/en\/human-security-and-resilience\/\">human security and resilience research area<\/a> focuses on how people, communities and institutions cope, evolve and develop during crises. Wars and armed conflicts\u00a0directly\u00a0impact\u00a0the safety of people and communities and their ability to cope with daily life. As such, it is important to understand what war is and when it starts.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading wp-el\"><strong>The immutable nature of war<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-el\">In an era where a declaration of war is a rarity but armed conflicts, unfortunately, are not,&nbsp;we&nbsp;may find it difficult to&nbsp;determine&nbsp;the exact point in time when a war&nbsp;begins. If wars are presented to the international community as a fact, do they start at the very moment that the first soldier&nbsp;sets&nbsp;foot on foreign land? Instead of giving a firm answer to this question, the following paragraphs explore the topic with&nbsp;the&nbsp;aim of introducing the aspects of war that deserve thorough attention.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-el\">A technical approach to studying and planning war-waging would lead us to a resolute answer that wars may start (long) before the&nbsp;initial&nbsp;invasion, with the&nbsp;early stages&nbsp;of collecting intelligence about the potential adversary and planning the assault.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-el\">Nevertheless, the recognition of the fact that wars happen more often than they are declared invites us to think\u00a0somewhat more\u00a0critically:\u00a0is there\u00a0a certain constellation of actions and conditions that becomes war or,\u00a0to\u00a0put\u00a0it\u00a0simply, what is war? In lengthy academic discussions,\u00a0present-day scholars still refer to Clausewitz (1),\u00a0who defined war as \u201can act of force to compel our enemy to do our will\u201d.\u00a0As loose as this definition may\u00a0seem at first glance, it\u00a0is worded this way intentionally: it captures the unchanging nature of war,\u00a0its essence,\u00a0that can take various perceivable forms. There is little doubt that ancient wars fought with\u00a0swords\u00a0and shields\u00a0were wars as real and true as are those currently fought with unmanned weapons. Even if war\u2019s\u00a0physical nature\u00a0has changed, the underlying motive\u00a0remained\u00a0the\u00a0same.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading wp-el\"><strong>The boundaries of\u00a0war<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-el\">However, what exactly is&nbsp;required&nbsp;for an act of force to become a part of war? Does the fact that intelligence is being ceaselessly collected all over the&nbsp;world mean that&nbsp;we live in&nbsp;a permanent worldwide state of war? Or does the action require intent:&nbsp;<em>mens&nbsp;militaris<\/em>&nbsp;in addition to&nbsp;<em>actus militaris<\/em>?&nbsp;And when we consider whether every activity connected to war,&nbsp;such as the transport of supplies or the preparation of medical personnel,&nbsp;could, when viewed on its own, be regarded as part of war, the question&nbsp;arises of&nbsp;where we should draw the line.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-el\">Moreover,&nbsp;we&nbsp;can ask whether the actor matters. If not, even burglars,&nbsp;who also identify the targets, study their routines, and plan the detestable&nbsp;operation in advance,&nbsp;could be classified as generals and combatants rolled into one, waging a war against their fellow community members! On the other hand, if&nbsp;we&nbsp;decide&nbsp;that an actor type is indeed relevant, the limits of the pool of potential war-makers should be firmly&nbsp;determined. Can an unrecognised,&nbsp;so-called&nbsp;<em>de facto,<\/em>&nbsp;state declare a war? What about a non-state actor&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;do terrorists not&nbsp;seek&nbsp;to bend a target population to their will as well?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading wp-el\"><strong>War in the digital age<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-el\">Additionally,&nbsp;we&nbsp;can think about the locality that a war can take place in.&nbsp;When&nbsp;conventional wars&nbsp;are&nbsp;fought on land, in the&nbsp;air, and on or in the sea, the definition is&nbsp;rendered&nbsp;obscure when hybrid warfare is&nbsp;taken into account. In the age of digitalisation, it is becoming&nbsp;less challenging to imagine&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;and conduct&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;an offensive operation unfolding solely in cyberspace and resulting in tangible damage: consider cyberattacks on medical facilities or automated elements of infrastructure, for instance. What is more, wars can also be waged in people\u2019s hearts and minds, potentially nurturing&nbsp;among them beliefs and inclinations that could later threaten state security:&nbsp;nowadays, the Internet&nbsp;facilitates&nbsp;the spread of propaganda, while artificial&nbsp;intelligence can make it believable.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-el\">Regardless of&nbsp;our&nbsp;answers to the questions&nbsp;posed&nbsp;above, one central problem&nbsp;remains&nbsp;unsolved: who is to judge? In the international system,&nbsp;functioning under the state of anarchy, there is no universally accepted central authority that could swiftly dispense even seemingly impartial judgement on the&nbsp;questions of war. Post-war tribunals are&nbsp;by definition victor\u2019s&nbsp;justice, even if one may differ from another in its neutrality. On the other hand, it would be rather&nbsp;foolish to leave the arrangement of post-conflict redressal to&nbsp;the&nbsp;war parties themselves. The problem of bias cannot be simply put aside since it impedes&nbsp;the&nbsp;discussions on the nature of war.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-el\">Even though this brief discussion leaves us with little to no clarity&nbsp;regarding&nbsp;the question of when an action (and what kind thereof) can transform into war, it paves the way for further inspection of war\u2019s nature and character. This ever-pertinent endeavour may get us closer to&nbsp;comprehending&nbsp;the reasons as well as&nbsp;circumstances that allow wars to occur and end. This, by extension, may one day deliver humankind from at least some of the&nbsp;destructive consequences&nbsp;of this political phenomenon.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-el\">(1) Carl von Clausewitz \u201cOn War\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-el\">Illustration by Merike Paberits<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1594\" height=\"1164\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ibs.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mis-on-s6da_Merike-Paberits_Balti-Uuringute-Instituut-2-1594x1164.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8072\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.3691433139405782;width:785px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Konstantin Brik\u00a0is an intern at the Institute of Baltic Studies,\u00a0Graduate of the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8065,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What\u00a0is\u00a0war\u00a0and\u00a0when\u00a0does\u00a0it\u00a0start? A\u00a0cursory\u00a0introduction\u00a0into\u00a0thinking\u00a0about\u00a0war\u00a0 | IBS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In an era where a declaration of war is a rarity but armed conflicts, unfortunately, are not,\u00a0we\u00a0may find it difficult to\u00a0determine\u00a0the exact point in time when a war\u00a0begins. If wars are presented to the international community as a fact, do they start at the very moment that the first soldier\u00a0sets\u00a0foot on foreign land? 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A\u00a0cursory\u00a0introduction\u00a0into\u00a0thinking\u00a0about\u00a0war\u00a0 | IBS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ibs.ee\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ibs.ee\/en\/what-is-war-and-when-does-it-start-a-cursory-introduction-into-thinking-about-war\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ibs.ee\/en\/what-is-war-and-when-does-it-start-a-cursory-introduction-into-thinking-about-war\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ibs.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mis-on-s6da_Merike-Paberits_Balti-Uuringute-Instituut-1.png","datePublished":"2026-04-08T09:40:17+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-08T09:40:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ibs.ee\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f48f20897f3c01a152059247233945b0"},"description":"In an era where a declaration of war is a rarity but armed conflicts, unfortunately, are not,\u00a0we\u00a0may find it difficult to\u00a0determine\u00a0the exact point in time when a war\u00a0begins. If wars are presented to the international community as a fact, do they start at the very moment that the first soldier\u00a0sets\u00a0foot on foreign land? Instead of giving a firm answer to this question, the following paragraphs explore the topic with\u00a0the\u00a0aim of introducing the aspects of war that deserve thorough attention.\u00a0","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ibs.ee\/en\/what-is-war-and-when-does-it-start-a-cursory-introduction-into-thinking-about-war\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ibs.ee\/en\/what-is-war-and-when-does-it-start-a-cursory-introduction-into-thinking-about-war\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ibs.ee\/en\/what-is-war-and-when-does-it-start-a-cursory-introduction-into-thinking-about-war\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ibs.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mis-on-s6da_Merike-Paberits_Balti-Uuringute-Instituut-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ibs.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mis-on-s6da_Merike-Paberits_Balti-Uuringute-Instituut-1.png","width":2218,"height":1620},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ibs.ee\/en\/what-is-war-and-when-does-it-start-a-cursory-introduction-into-thinking-about-war\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ibs.ee\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What\u00a0is\u00a0war\u00a0and\u00a0when\u00a0does\u00a0it\u00a0start? 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