War is a disagreement involving the organized use of weapons and physical force by states or other large-scale groups. Warring parties usually hold
country, which they can win or lose; and each has a leading person or association which can surrender, or collapse, thus ending the war. Until the end of
World War II, members usually issued formal declarations of war. Other conditions for war, often used euphemistically to circumvent confines on war,
include equipped conflict, hostilities, and police action. A time when no formal war is taking place, although there may be international and interior
tensions, is sometimes called peacetime or peace. However, some think the definition of peace to be more complicated. Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) said,
“Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.” Wars usually take the form of a series of
martial campaigns between two opposing sides involving a dispute over, amongst others matters, sovereignty, territory, resources, belief, or ideology. A war
to liberate an engaged country is called a "war of liberation"; a war flanked by internal factions within a state is a civil war.