Second World War as a Holy War

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Second World War as a Holy War There are several factors to be considered when discussing whether the Second World War was a Just War or a Holy War. Thomas Aquinas's Just War Theory consists of six criteria or conditions which a war must fulfil to be considered justified. Firstly, the war must be started and controlled by the authority of the state or the ruler as war's outcomes would involve the people of the whole country and hence their views must be taken into account and discussed in the Parliament. In the case of the Second World War, it was the critical decision of the British government to declare war on Germany for her blatant aggression over weaker European countries. Therefore, the Second World War fulfils the first criteria as the government was the authority of the state which considered it was necessary to start a war for the protection of European people from Hitler's exploits. Moving on, the second condition of the Just War Theory states that there must be a just cause for the outbreak of war and those attacked must deserve it. The outbreak of the Second World War also satisfies this second condition as Britain and France declared war on Germany on the 2nd of September, 1939 because they considered Hitler's invasions of Poland and Czechoslovakia as a threat not just to Britain and France but to the whole of Europe. Thirdly, the Theory also mentions that the war must be fought to promote good or avoid evil and that peace and justice must be restored afterwards. From the perspective of World War Two, it can be assumed that Britain and France declared war on Germany with the sensible intention of putting a s... ... middle of paper ... ... religious group of people attempting to convert the other of their religion. Obviously, this wasn't the issue at the start of World War Two in 1939 as France and Britain only intended to protect Europe from Hitler's exploits but didn't endeavour to convert the Germans into any religious group as such. However, the religious purposes were apparent in the later stages of the War as 6 million Jews were tormented and killed by the Nazis which had discriminating views based on Hitler's prejudice and dislike of the Jewish community. In conclusion, I believe the Second World War can be classified as a Just War to a much larger extent than a Holy War. This is because it satisfies most of the Just War Theory whereas the religious discrimination was not measured a major issue until later on in the war, in the Holocaust.

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