declaration of war these would often

come in two forms one via direct

communication with a foreign government

by delivering a letter or telegram or

two through a government minister asking

for the passport of a foreign ambassador

thereby revoking the diplomatic immunity

but since the Second World War there

have been very few formal declarations

of war and none by the major global

powers which raises the question why not

why did nations stop formally declaring

war

so to give examples of why we're going

to look at two conflicts from the Cold

War the Vietnam War between the USA and

North Vietnam and the Falklands War

between Britain and Argentina be aware

that the general reasons for their not

being declarations of war in these

conflicts can be applied to most other

conflicts too so the first major

difference between the world pre and

post World War two is that a new

international framework existed the

United Nations and the UN had very

strict guidelines and what were legal

grounds for war so in the case of

Vietnam there was no declaration of war

for several reasons the first was that

the u.s. saw itself as aiding one side

in an already ongoing civil war it

didn't recognize North Vietnamese

independence and thus it had no one to

declare war on as far as the US

government was concerned it was aiding

the legitimate Vietnamese government

against an uprising not fighting a war

against any legitimate state the second

reason was the United Nations there was

no way that the USSR was going to

approve a war against a fellow communist

state and the third reason was that

domestically there was no need to you

see normally a declaration of war was

needed to implement the draft but for

America the draft from world war ii had

never technically ended after the Gulf

of Tonkin incident in which a US

destroyer in the region was attacked by

Vietnamese patrol boats Congress passed

the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which gave

president lyndon b johnson the right to

deploy troops for combat operations

without a formal declaration of war and

after the vietnam war the u.s. never

needed to declare war because often its

conflicts were much smaller so no need

for a draft so what about the Falklands

War why didn't Margaret Thatcher declare

war on Argentina in 1982 after it sees

the Falkland Islands that should've

actually inquire as to whether or not a

declaration of war was necessary and she

was told not to and the reasons that she

was advised against such action were

simple

first of all self-defense is illegal

right according to the UN and second it

would complicate relationships with

neutral

country's neutral states aren't allowed

to provide arms for belligerence

fighting nations can't use their

territories or waters for transiting war

materials and they have to detain troops

who enter their lands along with many

other restrictions the two nations of

particular concern were Spain and Chile

Spain was against the war but had some

sympathies towards the argentinian

position plus given the placement of

Gibraltar British naval ships entering

Spanish waters by accident had to be

detained and if they weren't this could

jeopardize Spanish neutrality and as for

Chile some British troops were stationed

there for reconnaissance and if Britain

were to declare war than Chile would

legally have to detain those troops

would be considered a co-belligerent and

as for Argentina it was sourcing weapons

from other countries and getting

reconnaissance from the USSR hence why

declaration of war benefited neither

side and it's these reasons which

determined why many nations have no need

to formally declare war any more

domestic powers to fight wars are

largely much greater than they used to

be and wars are often small-scale enough

that nations don't want to deal with the

hassle of formally declaring war and yet

the main reason is that if a nation

doesn't formally declare war it doesn't

change his relationship with other

states meaning for them it's as if the

war was never happening meaning nothing

has to change I hope you enjoyed this

episode and thank you for watching with

the special thanks to my patrons James

Bissonnette John lucid a man of culture

Danny Maloney little holiday John

biscuits Rob Waterhouse mo James

Castaneda Aaron the white Jordan Longley

Gustav Swann Marcus asana rashid ali

spinning three plates filled oink oink

david silverman maggie packs Kowski

spencer Lightfoot Lexi Schwinn Kelly

moneymaker

Anthony Beckett Robert Wetzel Skye

Chappell Marvin Castle Winston Hayward

and Izzy a declaration of police action

just doesn't have the same ring to it