Editing Casus belli (section)

== Terminology ==
The term ''casus belli'' came into widespread use in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries through the writings of [[Hugo Grotius]] (1653), [[Cornelius van Bynkershoek]] (1707), and [[Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui]] (1732), among others, and due to the rise of the political [[doctrine]] of ''[[jus ad bellum]]'' or "[[just war]] theory".<ref name=Russell>{{Cite book | title = The Just War in the Middle Ages | author = Russell, Frederick H. | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | year = 1997 | isbn = 0-521-29276-X }}</ref><ref name=Childress>{{Cite journal | author-link = James Childress | last = Childress | first = James F. | title = Just-War Theories: The Bases, Interrelations, Priorities, and Functions of Their Criteria | journal = Theological Studies | volume = 39 | year = 1978 | issue = 3 | pages = 427–45 | doi = 10.1177/004056397803900302 | s2cid = 159493143 }}</ref> The term is also used informally to refer to any "just cause" a nation may claim for entering into a conflict. It is used to describe the case for war given before the term came into wide use,<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Zorich |first1= Zach   |date= June 2016 |title= The First Casus Belli   |journal= [[Archaeology (magazine)|Archeology]]   |quote= access to the best hunting grounds}}</ref> and to describe the rationale for military action even without a [[declaration of war|formal declaration of war]] (as in: [[Gulf_of_Tonkin_Resolution#Drafting|the lead up to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution]]).

In formally articulating a ''casus belli'', a government typically lays out its reasons for going to war, its intended means of prosecuting the war, and the steps that others might take to dissuade it from going to war. It attempts to demonstrate that it is going to war only as a last resort or plan (''[[ultima ratio]]'') and that it has "just cause" for doing so. Modern [[international law]] recognizes at least three lawful justifications for [[Use of force in international law|waging war]]: self-defense, defense of an ally required by the terms of a treaty, and approval by the United Nations.

''Proschema'' (plural ''proschemata'') is the equivalent Greek term, first popularized by [[Thucydides]] in his ''[[History of the Peloponnesian War]]''. The proschemata are the stated reasons for waging war, which may or may not be the same as the real reasons, which Thucydides called [[prophasis]] ({{lang|el|πρóφασις}}). Thucydides argued that the three primary real reasons for waging war are reasonable fear, honor, and interest, while the stated reasons involve appeals to nationalism or fearmongering (as opposed to descriptions of reasonable, empirical causes for fear).{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}}