Preemptive War

(noun)

An armed conflict that is commenced in an attempt to repel or defeat a perceived offensive or invasion, or to gain a strategic advantage in an impending (allegedly unavoidable) war before that threat materializes.

Related Terms

Examples of Preemptive War in the following topics:

  • September 11th and the War on Terror

    • A preemptive war is a war that is commenced in an attempt to repel or defeat a perceived offensive or invasion, or to gain a strategic advantage in an impending (allegedly unavoidable) war before that threat materializes.
    • It is a war that preemptively 'breaks the peace.'
    • The Bush administration stated the Iraq War was part of the War on Terror, something that was later contested.
    • Criticism of the War on Terror addresses the issues, morals, ethics, efficiency, economics, and other questions surrounding the War on Terror and made against the phrase itself, calling it a misnomer.
    • It is argued that the term "war" is not appropriate in this context (as in "War on Drugs"), since there is no identifiable enemy, and that it is unlikely for international terrorism to be brought to an end by military means.

  • The Effects of Watergate

    • Congress passed a series of laws sharply limiting a president's power to wage undeclared war, limiting campaign spending and strengthening public access to government information.
    • Because of Nixon's party affiliation and the outrage over a preemptive pardon that Ford granted Nixon after he became president, people associated corruption with the Republican party initially.

  • Madison and the Pressure for War

    • In the early nineteenth century, President James Madison faced pressure from Democratic-Republican "war hawks" to go to war with Britain.
    • The term "war hawks" was a name used for a historical group of Democratic-Republicans in the early nineteenth century who pushed for war with Great Britain.
    • The war hawks advocated going to war with Britain for reasons related to the interference of the British Royal Navy in American shipping, which was hurting the American economy and, the war hawks believed, injuring American prestige.
    • A portrait of Henry Clay, the leader of the war hawks' western faction, painted after the War of 1812.
    • Discuss the reasons for war with Great Britain proposed by the "war hawks"

  • Range Wars

    • Range wars occurred throughout the American West throughout the late nineteenth century.
    • Famous range wars included the Lincoln County War, the Pleasant Valley War, the Mason County War, and the Johnson County Range War.
    • The Pleasant Valley War was commonly thought to be an Arizona sheep war between two feuding families, the cattle-herding Grahams and the sheep-herding Tewksburys.
    • The Johnson County War, also known as the War on Powder River and the Wyoming Range War, was a range war that took place in Johnson, Natrona and Converse County, Wyoming in April 1892.
    • Assess the significance of range wars in late nineteenth century America

  • European Wars in the Colonies

    • The war was largely subsumed by the War of the Austrian Succession in 1742.
    • Britain and France fought four wars that became known as the French and Indian Wars—followed in 1778 with another war when France joined the Americans in the American Revolution.
    • Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was the second war for control of the continent and was the counterpart of the War of the Spanish Succession in Europe.
    • King George's War, 1744–1748, was the North American phase of the concurrent War of the Austrian Succession.
    • The final imperial war, the French and Indian War (1754–1763), known as the Seven Years’ War in Europe, proved to be the decisive contest between Britain and France in America.

  • The Cold War's Costs and Consequences

    • The costs of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, as well as its numerous proxy wars, were extensive.
    • The legacy of the Cold War continues to influence world affairs today.
    • Many of the proxy wars and subsidies for local conflicts ended along with the Cold War, and the incidence of interstate, ethnic, and revolutionary wars, as well as refugee and displaced persons crises, has declined somewhat in the post-Cold War years.
    • Many specific nuclear legacies can be identified from the Cold War.
    • The legacy of the Cold War continues to influence world affairs.

  • The Breakdown of Sectional Balance

    • With the conflict over the Texan border escalating, Polk sent Zachary Taylor and American troops into Texas to defend the Rio Grande boundary, provoking the outbreak of war.The American public largely supported the war and was eager for news of conquest and war stories disseminated from newspapers and magazines.The war also held romantic appeal for Americans who believed that it was the destiny of the United States to possess the North American continent and to expand "progressive democracy" to new territories acquired from backward nations.
    • Whigs who had opposed the war from the start.
    • The war also inflamed the slavery issue and sectional splits in the United States.The new territories in the west (particularly California) meant that the westward expansion of slavery became an increasingly central and heated theme in national debates preceding the American Civil War.Furthermore, in extending the nation farther toward the Pacific Ocean, the Mexican–American War contributed to the massive migrations of Americans to the West, which culminated in transcontinental railroads and the Indian wars later in the same century.
    • Map of the Mexican-American War, with routes of both Taylor and Scott's campaigns.
    • Examine the role that the Mexican American War played in increasing sectional tension

  • A New Labor Force

    • World War I saw a change in U.S. labor: women entered the workforce as never before, and labor unions gave firm support to war efforts.
    • As one of the first total wars, World War I mobilized women in unprecedented numbers on all sides .
    • World War I saw many women taking traditionally men's jobs for the first time in American history.
    • Anti-war socialists controlled the IWW, which fought against the war effort and was in turn shut down by legal action by the federal government.
    • War gardeners, Washington, D.C. or vicinity, circa 1918.

  • The War in the South

    • In the South, the War of 1812 manifested itself as the Creek Wars and culminated in the Battle of New Orleans.
    • European-American historians often discuss the Creek War as part of the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain, as tribal tensions were exacerbated during this war.
    • The Creek War (1813–1814), also known as the "Red Stick War," began as a civil war within the Creek (Muscogee) nation.
    • This decision ignited civil war in the Creek Nation.
    • Discuss the intersection of Native American civil wars and the War of 1812

  • Empires in Conflict

    • The war was largely subsumed by the War of the Austrian Succession in 1742.
    • King William's War (1689–97), also known as the Nine Years War and the War of the League of Augsburg, was a phase of the larger Anglo-French conflict for colonial domination throughout the world.
    • Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was the second war for control of the continent, and was the counterpart of the War of the Spanish Succession in Europe.
    • King George's War (1744–48) was the North American phase of the War of the Austrian Succession .
    • The war merged into the War of Jenkin's Ear against Spain, and ended with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.