Components of the Just War Theory

Just ad bellum includes:

1. Just Cause for a nation to to go war is to deter aggression, alleviate problems, and promote peace with other countries.
2. Competent Authority is the authorization by government and military officials to go to war. 
3. Right Intention includes diminishing problems so turmoil can be resolved and peace can thrive.
4. Last Resort - War itself is the last resort for problem solving. It comes after negotiating and reasoning with the enemy.
5. Limited Objective is to to go war in order to complete tasks that will ensure safety of individuals residing in that country. It must solve problems that provoked war in the first place. Anything else would be beyond the objective.
6. Reasonable Amount of Success means that if a country is going to war, then they better have high chances of winning the war and destroy all of the issues that started the confrontation. 

Just in bello includes:

1. Discrimination is defined as military forces must be applied only against the political leadership and military forces of the State. Civilians should not be harmed. 
2. Proportionality is explained as the damage at the end of the war should only be resent in areas in which fighting took place. In order for the war to be just, armies cannot harm buildings such as hospitals. 

The Gulf War: Just or Unjust?

What is the Just War Theory?

Through the centuries Christian thinkers have taken different positions on the controversial subject of war. Three broad theories concerning the morality of war for the Christian can be identified: activism, pacifism, and selectivism. Activism asserts that it is virtually always right to participate in war. Strict pacifism insists that it is never morally right to partake in war. Selectivism argues that it is sometimes right to take part in war.

Just war theory is a type of selectivism contending that while war is always tragic and often evil, it is sometimes morally right, just, and practically necessary. Some leading Christian advocates of just war theory have included Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), and Francisco Suarez (1548-1617). Just war theory involves two main moral categories of evaluation.

1. Jus ad bellum (Justness of War)
   Concerning the moral justness of waging war, a just war must conform to the following moral considerations
2. Jus in bello (Justice in war)
   Concerning the conduct of war, strategy and tactics must be just:
   Just war theory has been criticized for various reasons through the years (e.g., by failing to appreciate the benefits of a preemptive strike, being unrealistic in its moral expectations, being practically unworkable), yet it nevertheless remains the most commonly accepted position among Christian thinkers when it comes to evaluating the moral considerations of waging war.

Taiping Rebellion

The Taiping Rebellion was a large-scale revolt against the authority and forces of the Qing Empire in China, conducted by an army and civil administration inspired by Hakka self-proclaimed mystics named Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing . Hong was an unorthodox Christian convert who declared himself the new Messiah and younger brother of Jesus Christ. Yang Xiuqing was a former salesman of firewood in Guangxi, who was frequently able to act as a mouthpiece of God to direct the people and gain himself a large amount of political power. Hong, Yang and their followers established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (... and officially, Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace) and attained control of significant parts of southern China.

Taiping Rebels

The Taiping Rebellion of 1850-1864 killed at least 20 million people and devastated southern China, but a more disturbing facet of the rebellion for the Imperial Chinese government was that they required considerable military assistance from Western powers to eventually suppress it, the Chinese Imperial Army (perhaps as many as 5 million + men) being insufficient by itself to get the job done.The Ever Victorious Army, trained and officered by Europeans and armed with modern weapons and active from 1860 was the decisive force in eventual victory.

The Taiping rebellion showed that the Imperial govenment was incapable of keeping control in its own country without foreign military aid - someone not lost on foreign governments.

Woodrow Wilson: 28th President of the United States

On April 2nd, 1917, Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany after they used undeclared submarine warfare against the United States. On April 6th, 1917 the United States joined the Allied powers of the War.
After the war had ended, Woodrow Wilson was one of the three most important politicians to sign the Treaty of Versailles.

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World War I: The Great War

This war was known as the "Great War" not just because of the millions of people involved and affected by it, but because of it's size. It was a huge war, involving a large number of nations and armies, including five empires with their associated colonies and states. 
World War I was a military conflict lasting from 1914 to 1918. One of the major causes of this war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by a Serbian nationalist in 1914. This war involved and focused on two opposing powers. The Allied powers, which consisted of Great Britian, France, Russia, Italy and eventually, The United States versus The Central Powers, which consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, The Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. 
Trench warfare, as well as machine weapons, tanks, and chemical warfare was introduced during this war. 
This war had been known as, "The War to End All Wars." The war officially ended in November 11th, 1918 with the signing of an armistice between Germany and the Allied powers. The outcome of the war resulted in the fall of Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary and Turkey. The Treaty of Versailles, known to be the final end to the war, was signed on June 28th, 1918.
8 million troops died.
21 million troops were wounded.
Over 200,000 men died in the trenches during the war.

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George Washington: First American President

George Washington was the first President of the United States, the commander-in-cheif of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. He presided over the convention that drafted the Constitution, and established the position of President.

He was elected President as the unanimous choice of the 69 elections and served two terms in office. He oversaw the creation of a strong, well-financed national government that maintained neutrality in the wars raging Europe, suppressed rebellion, and won acceptance among Americans of all types.

He is the one of the reasons we stand today and can proudly say that I am an American and my country was founded on principals.

This is a picture of George Washington crossing the Delaware River. The event took place on December 25-26 1778. Was the first move in a surprise attack organized by George Washington against the Hessian forces in Trenton, New Jersey. They defeated British reinforcements at Trenton on January 2, 1777. 

American Revolution:1775-1783

The American Revolution was a political upheaval during 1775-1783 in which the 13 colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire. The American Revolution ended over 2 centuries of British rule for most of North America. Out of the American Revolution the United States of American was born from the 13 original colonies.

This is an image of the burning of stamps in Boston. The image takes place on August of 1765. This was in rebellion against the Stamp Act 1765.

The American Revolution was the result of a series of social, political and intellectual transformations in American society, government and ways of thinking.