Outline of war |
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An undeclared war is a military conflict between two or more nations without either side issuing a formal declaration of war. The term is sometimes used to include any disagreement or conflict fought about without an official declaration. Since the United Nations' police action in Korea[1] followed the example set by the United Kingdom during the so-called Malayan Emergency, a number of democratic governments have pursued disciplinary actions and limited warfare by characterizing them as something else such as a military action or armed response.
United States[]
There is no specific format required under United States law for the way an official war declaration will be structured or delivered. The United States Constitution states: "The Congress shall have Power [...] To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water".[2]
As of August 2013, the United States Congress has only formally declared war 13 times.[3] The United States never officially declared war during its more than decade-long involvement in Vietnam, although the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution authorized the escalation and use of military force in the Vietnam War without a formal declaration of war.[4] On at least 125 occasions a US president has employed military forces without authorization from Congress.[5] One of the most significant of these occasions was the Korean War, a conflict that resulted in over 142,000 American casualties.[5]
References[]
- ↑ Truman, Harry S. (29 June 1950). "The President's News Conference of June 29, 1950". Teachingamericanhistory.org. http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=594. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
- ↑ "U.S. Constitution - Article 1 Section 8".
- ↑ Franke-Ruta, Garance (31 August 2019). "All the Previous Declarations of War" (in en-US). https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/08/all-the-previous-declarations-of-war/279246/.
- ↑ "The Law: The President's War Powers". 1 June 1970. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878290,00.html. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Yoo, John C.; Delahunty, Robert J. (2002). "The President's Constitutional Authority to Conduct Military Operations Against Terrorist Organizations and the Nations that Harbor or Support Them". pp. 502. Digital object identifier:10.2139/ssrn.331202. ISSN 1556-5068. https://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1570&context=facpubs.
The original article can be found at Undeclared war and the edit history here.