Braiden Wills

Mr. Campbell

Religion IV

3 January 2019

Just War Theory and the Second World War

Since the beginning of civilization, war has plagued the humanity. Only 268 out of the

last 3,400 years of human history have seen complete peace among the human race. It is

estimated that 150 million to 1 billion people have been killed in war throughout history

(Hedges). It seems as though war is inevitable and expected. It can be generally agreed upon that

the loss of life during wartime is an atrocity and should be avoided at all costs, however, wars are

so prevalent. Is it possible that there is therefore a good effect of participating in a war? Could it

be that under certain conditions, a war could be justified and possibly even righteous? In the eyes

of the Catholic Church, there is. The Catholic Church has a “Just War” doctrine, which consists

of four conditions that must be met in order for a war to be considered morally good or neutral:

2309 The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous

consideration. The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of

moral legitimacy. At one and the same time:

- the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be

lasting, grave, and certain;

 - all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or

ineffective;

- there must be serious prospects of success;

- the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be

eliminated. The power of modem means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating

this condition.

These are the traditional elements enumerated in what is called the "just war" doctrine

(CCC, 2309).

Since all four criteria must be met at the same time for a war to be considered just, each

point is extremely significant. The first part of the doctrine is concerned with the severity of the

injustice that is occurring. A country should not go to war over a trivial event such as a simple

misunderstanding. There must be a certain evil being committed by the aggressor. The second

part of the doctrine reminds us that war must be treated as the final resort when dealing with an

international dispute. Diplomatic means of resolving the conflict must have been tried and any

other way to resolve the issue must be determined to be impossible before war should ever be

considered. The third piece of the doctrine requires that the defending country must have a

decent chance of winning the war. This ensures that lives are not lost for no reason. The fourth

and final part of the doctrine forbids a country from causing more harm by going to war than the

aggressor is causing to others. To cause more harm than the aggressor would be counterintuitive

and instead of solving the issue, the evil occurring would only be amplified. In modern times, we

have access to nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction, which could easily violate this

criteria. The responsibility to analyze these criteria to determine if going to war would be just or
not in a given situation falls upon the leaders in society that have responsibility for the common

good.

What, then, would be an example of a war that can be considered just? It can be argued

that the Second World War from the allied perspective would be considered a just war. More

specifically, the decision for Britain and France to declare war on Germany. To prove this

conjecture, it would be appropriate to review the four criteria of the just war doctrine to ensure

that all the criteria for a just war have been met in the case of allied intervention in World War II.

At the beginning of the war, Germany was inflicting lasting, grave, and certain damage

on Poland. On September 1, 1939, about 1.5 million German troops invaded Poland while the

German Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields and civilians in Polish cities. Also, German U-boats

attacked the Polish navy in the Baltic Sea. Hitler wanted to invade Poland to gain Lebensraum,

which was living space for his German people (Germans Invade Poland). Germany also had

previously invaded the country of Czechoslovakia. The aggressive invasion of Poland and

Czechoslovakia by Germany ensures that the first part of the criteria for just war is met.

The decision to declare war on Germany came as a result of a failed attempt at

appeasement. Appeasement means “giving in to someone provided their demands are seen as

reasonable” (World War Two - Causes). Even though Hitler began to build up his army (which

was not allowed according to the Treaty of Versailles), British and French politicians allowed it

because they believed the treaty of Versailles was unfair to Germany. Then, Hitler wanted to

station his troops in the Rhineland, which was also permitted. Furthermore, The Munich

Agreement was signed, which stated that Germany would also be allowed to take the

Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, but no more. Of course, Hitler broke this agreement as

well and invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia. Even then, Britain and France still did not declare
war until Germany invaded Poland in 1939 (World War Two - Causes). Obviously, diplomatic

means of resolving the issue were tried and failed, and the only option left to stop Nazi Germany

from invading more countries was armed intervention. On September 3 1939, England declared

war on Germany (Germans Invade Poland).

The third part of the doctrine is easily satisfied, as England and France were both world

powers which together had a strong chance of defeating Germany in war. Finally, the fourth part

of the doctrine is easily met as well. Even though German concentration camps were kept secret

for much of the war, the allied powers did not come close to causing the destruction that Nazi

Germany caused. The Nazis killed around 6 million Jews, 7 million Soviet civilians, 3 million

Soviet prisoners of war, 1.8 million Non-Jewish polish civilians, and nearly 1 million others

(Documenting Numbers of Victims). The allies did not come close to these astronomical

numbers, and certainly did not systematically exterminate people as the Nazis did. As you can

see, the four criteria for just war have been met. World War II from the allied perspective is an

example of a just war in the eyes of the Catholic Church.

 Works Cited

“Catechism of the Catholic Church.” Vatican,

www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a5.htm.

“Documenting Numbers of Victims of the Holocaust and Nazi Persecution.” United States

Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,

encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/documenting-numbers-of-victims-of-the-

holocaust-and-nazi-persecution.

“Germans Invade Poland.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 4 Mar. 2010,

www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-invade-poland.

Hedges, Chris. “'What Every Person Should Know About War'.” The New York Times, The

New York Times, 6 July 2003, www.nytimes.com/2003/07/06/books/chapters/what-

every-person-should-know-about-war.html.

“World War Two - Causes.” History, 14 Nov. 2018, www.historyonthenet.com/world-war-two-

causes.