Si vis pacem, para bellum


Si vis pacem, para bellum is a Latin adage translated as "If you want peace, prepare for war".

Background

The phrase Si vis pacem, para bellum is adapted from a statement found in Latin author Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus's tract De Re Militari, in which the actual phrasing is Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum. The idea which it conveys also appears in earlier works such as Plato's Nomoi and the Chinese Shi Ji. The phrase presents the counter-intuitive insight that the conditions of peace are often preserved by a readiness to make war when necessitated.

Notable uses

Whatever the source, the adage has become a living vocabulary item itself, used in the production of different ideas in a number of languages.

Si vis bellum para pacem

For example, historian Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne made reference to the foreign policy of Napoleon Bonaparte:
In other words, a leader who is planning a war should put other nations off guard by cultivating peace. Conversely, another interpretation could be that preparing for peace may lead another party to wage war.

Si vis pacem para pactum

The idea of ensuring peace by deterring warlike powers through armaments took an ominous turn in the 20th century with the increased militarism of Nazi Germany and other Axis Powers, suggesting that perhaps merely being prepared for war is not enough and that it is necessary to wage war in order to deter war. In the United States, the National Arbitration and Peace Congress of 1907, presided over by Andrew Carnegie, had addressed this issue years earlier:

Si vis pacem fac bellum

"If you want peace, make war". The solution does not cover the case of the nation that does not desire peace. Imperial Germany went to war in 1914 and was castigated by Richard Grelling, a German-Jewish pacifist, in J'Accuse. In 1918 Grelling wrote again, this time as an expatriate in Switzerland. Citing Woodrow Wilson's "The world must be safe for democracy" speech before Congress on April 2, 1917, Grelling says:

Si vis pacem para pacem

"If you want peace, prepare for peace." The great wars of the 19th and 20th centuries were opposed by the philosophy of pacifism, which in the 19th century was associated with early socialism, even though the socialism of the 20th century often lacked pacifistic tendencies, preaching violent revolution instead. The pacifism that opposed the world wars traced its lineage to Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin, an early French socialist and one of the founders of Saint-Simonianism. As early as April 2, 1841, he had said in a letter to General Saint-Cyr Nugues:
with reference to Algeria. By way of elucidation Enfantin goes on to say that war could have been avoided if a proper study of Algeria had been made.

The parabellum

The main clause of the adage was used as a motto by German arms maker Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken, and is the source of the term Parabellum as applied to firearms and ammunition. The term is an opposed parallel to the American use of "peacemaker" to mean the Colt Single Action Army handgun.

Mottos

Various military organizations use or used this phrase as a motto: