preventive war
Attack before attacked
A preventive war is a military attack launched to neutralize a perceived future threat before it fully materializes.
Unlike preemptive war, which responds to imminent danger, preventive war acts against a threat that may take years to develop: The invasion was justified as a preventive war against weapons programs.
The distinction matters in international law, where preventive war lacks the legal standing that true preemption might claim.
- Nuremberg principlesPost-war tribunal legal doctrines
- proactiveActing before problems arise
- preemptive strikeAttack to forestall aggression
- strike firstAct before your opponent
- strategicDeliberately planned for advantage
offensive · police action · military · proportionality · attack · coercive diplomacy · national security · Geneva Conventions · state sovereignty · self-defense · first strike · axis of evil · conflict · rules of engagement · nuclear deterrence · casus belli · balance of power · Bush Doctrine
preventive wardefensive war
Armed resistance to aggression
counterattack · defensive action · retaliation · retaliatory strike · reprisal
preventive wardiplomacy
Negotiation between nations
peaceful resolution · diplomatic solution · negotiation · appeasement · conflict avoidance
preventive wardeterrence
Prevention via threatened consequences
non-aggression · mutually assured destruction · collective security · fortress defense · passive defense
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