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A declaration of war is a formal act by which one state announces existing or impending war activity against another. The declaration is a performative speech act (or the public signing of a document) by an authorized party of a national government, in order to create a state of war between two or more Sovereign state.
The legality of who is competent to declare war varies between nations and forms of government. In many nations, that power is given to the head of state or monarch. In other cases, something short of a full declaration of war, such as a letter of marque or a covert operation, may authorise war-like acts by or mercenary. The official international protocol for declaring war was defined in the Hague Convention (III) of 1907 on the Opening of Hostilities.
Since 1945, developments in international law such as the United Nations Charter, which prohibits both the threat and the use of force in international conflicts, have made declarations of war largely obsolete in international relations, though such declarations may have relevance within the domestic law of the belligerents or of neutral nations. The UN Security Council, under powers granted in articles 24 and 25, and Chapter VII of the Charter, may authorize collective action to maintain or enforce international peace and security. Article 51 of the United Nations Charter also states that: "Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right to individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a state."
Declarations of war have been exceedingly rare since the end of World War II. Scholars have debated the causes of the decline, with some arguing that states are trying to evade the restrictions of international humanitarian law (which governs conduct in war) while others argue that war declarations have come to be perceived as markers of aggression and maximalist aims.
However, the practice of declaring war was not always strictly followed. In his study Hostilities without Declaration of War (1883), the British scholar John Frederick Maurice showed that between 1700 and 1870 war was declared in only 10 cases, e.g. the 1812 French declaration of war on Russia or the Declarations of war by Great Britain and the United Kingdom, while in another 107 cases war was waged without such declaration (these figures include only wars waged in Europe and between European states and the United States, not including colonial wars in Africa and Asia).
In modern public international law, a declaration of war entails the recognition between countries of a state of hostilities between these countries, and such declaration has acted to regulate the conduct between the military engagements between the forces of the respective countries. The primary multilateral treaty governing such declarations are the Hague Conventions.
The League of Nations, formed in 1919 in the wake of the First World War, and the General Treaty for the Renunciation of War of 1928 signed in Paris, France, demonstrated that world powers were seriously seeking a means to prevent the carnage of another world war. Nevertheless, these powers were unable to stop the outbreak of the Second World War, so the United Nations was established following that war in a renewed attempt to prevent international aggression through declarations of war.
The utility of formal declarations of war has always been questioned, either as sentimental remnants of a long-gone age of chivalry or as imprudent warnings to the enemy. For example, writing in 1737, Cornelius van Bynkershoek judged that "nations and princes endowed with some pride are not generally willing to wage war without a previous declaration, for they wish by an open attack to render victory more honourable and glorious."Bynkershoek, Cornelius van. 1930. Quæstionum Juris Publici Liber Duo (1737). Trans. Tenney Frank. The Classics of International Law No. 14 (2). Publications of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Oxford at the Clarendon Press. (I, ii, 8) Writing in 1880, William Edward Hall judged that "any sort of previous declaration therefore is an empty formality unless the enemy must be given time and opportunity to put himself in a state of defence, and it is needless to say that no one asserts such a quixotism to be obligatory."Hall, William Edward. 1924. A Treatise on International Law. 8th ed. by A. Pearce Higgins. London: Humphrey Milford: Oxford University Press. (p. 444)
| 15 May 1948 | Declaration of war | Egypt | 26 March 1979 | |||
| 26 October 1994 | ||||||
| Syria, Iraq, | Still technically at war | |||||
| Six-Day War (1967) | June 1967 | Mauritania | 1991 | |||
| Ogaden War | 13 July 1977 | Derg | 15 March 1978 | |||
| Uganda–Tanzania War | 2 November 1978 | 3 June 1979 | ||||
| Iran–Iraq War | 22 September 1980 | Iraq | 20 July 1988 | |||
| United States invasion of Panama | 15 December 1989 | Existence of a state of war | 31 January 1990 | |||
| Eritrean–Ethiopian War | 14 May 1998 | 12 December 2000 | World: Africa Eritrea: 'Ethiopia pursues total war'. BBC News. 6 June 1998. | |||
| Chadian Civil War | 23 December 2005 | 15 January 2010 | ||||
| Djiboutian–Eritrean border conflict | 13 June 2008 | 6 June 2010 | ||||
| Russo-Georgian War | 9 August 2008 | 16 August 2008 | ||||
| Heglig Crisis | 11 April 2012 | 26 May 2012 | ||||
| Anglophone Crisis | 4 December 2017 | Declaration of war | Still at war | |||
| Second Nagorno-Karabakh War | 27 September 2020 | Existence of a state of war | 10 November 2020 | |||
| Second Western Sahara War | 14 November 2020 | Declaration of war | Still at war | |||
| Gaza war | 7 October 2023 | Existence of a state of war | Hamas | Still at war |
The Hague Convention (III) of 1907 called "Convention Relative to the Opening of Hostilities" gives the international actions a country should perform when opening hostilities. The first two Articles say:
The UN became a combatant itself after North Korea invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950, which began the Korean War. The UN Security Council condemned the North Korean action by a 9–0 resolution (with the Soviet Union absent) and called upon its member nations to come to the aid of South Korea. The United States and 15 other nations formed a "UN force" to pursue this action. In a press conference on 29 June 1950, US President Harry S. Truman characterized these hostilities as not being a "war" but a "police action".
The United Nations has issued Security Council Resolutions that declared some wars to be legal actions under international law, most notably Resolution 678, authorizing the 1991 Gulf War which was triggered by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. UN Resolutions authorise the use of "force" or "all necessary means". The United Nations Security Council – Its Role in the Iraq Crisis: A Brief Overview
Since 1945, developments in international law such as the United Nations Charter, which prohibits both the threat and the use of force in international conflicts, have made declarations of war largely obsolete in international relations, though such declarations may have relevance within the domestic law of the belligerents or of neutral nations. The UN Security Council, under powers granted in articles 24 and 25, and Chapter VII of the Charter, may authorize collective action to maintain or enforce international peace and security. Article 51 of the United Nations Charter also states that: "Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right to individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a state."
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