Page 108 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo I

108 XXXIV Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

main type of war. They may occur in different geopolitical areas, just as different types may
co-exist within a given conflict . The classification recalled above can be applied especially
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to wars among States and not to civil wars, which always have a nature of being πόόόμόό,
since, as Gianfranco Miglio puts it, they are «the most ‘real’ war of wars ... the most ‘to-
tal’ war, during which there are no limits to aggressiveness, nor are there any humanitarian
rules» . The “total war” among States or civil wars, points out Carl Schmitt, «exceeds the
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distinction between combatants and non-combatants» .
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Throughout history, there have been various attempts to prevent wars from breaking out
and to carry them out according to rules so as to limit their ferocity. Especially the Catholic
Church questioned itself on the morality of war since S. Augustine of Hippo, dwelling on
the concept of «just war». Some of the five basic conditions based on which a war «can be
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allowed and have an ethical value» , concern the lawfulness of resorting to force, jus ad
bellum in legal terms: Auctoritas principis (only the sovereign authority has the right to de-
clare war), Iusta causa (which translates as the need to defend a right of utmost importance,
i.e. right to exist, liberty, land, property and honour. The cause must measure up to serious
damages, which are faced in war and must be certain and there must be legitimate hopes that
advantages shall prevail over damages,) Ultima ratio (when all peaceful methods for resolv-
ing the dispute have failed.) On the other hand, rules to be respected during the conflict con-
cern jus in bello; the condition of Iustus modus, according to which force must be used only
against armed enemies and anything that is not required to claim one’s right is illegitimate;
and, partly, Intentio recta, too: the intention of belligerents must be to do good and avoid evil,
says St. Thomas of Aquino.
The Church tried to govern the phenomenon of war during the centuries in which it
exercised its utmost influence to shape the laws of the Christian Republic, limiting wars’
field of existence, cruelty and duration. The first of these measures was the Peace of God,
established at the end of the 10 century and extended progressively, which established the
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distinction between combatants and civilians, prohibited maltreating women, children, peas-
ants, priests and declared the houses of peasants and churches as inviolable. The Truce of
God was established from the beginning of the 11 century and limited the duration of wars
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and banned fighting from the first Sunday of Advent till the Octave of the Epiphany, from the
first day of Lent till the Octave of the Ascension and from Wednesday evenings till Monday
mornings throughout the year. The Quarantine of the King, established by Philip August of
France, imposed a forty day’s interval between receiving an offence and opening hostilities.
These provisions, like UN resolutions today, were not always abided by and held valid only

systems, political institutions, sources of legitimacy and safety paradigms looking into the future. on this
subject, see the important study of K. J. Holsti, Peace and war: armed conflicts and international order
1648-1989, Cambridge, 1991.
7 For instance, the Second World War witnessed episodes of chivalry and savage brutality. After 1945 and
1990, one may think that conflicts of the past millennia have each left their heritage.
8 G. Miglio, Guerra, pace, diritto. …, cit., p. 772.
9 C. Schmitt, Sulla relazione intercorrente fra i concetti di guerra e di nemico, written in 1938, now in Id., Le
categorie del ‘politico’. Saggi di teoria politica, ed. by G. Miglio and P. Schiera, Bologna, 1972, p. 201.
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10 a. Brucculeri S. i., Moralità della guerra, 6 ed., Rome, 1953 [with the approval of Ecclesiastical Author-
ity], pp. 49-58.