What exactly is a just war? These two words seem to form an oxymoron. War is usually
             thought of as a type of hostile conflict, which would therefore make war seem unjust.
             Throughout history, there have been many different broad interpretations of what exactly
             makes a war just. St. Augustine was one of the first writers to say that the objective of
             war should be peace. He specifically called for three conditions to go to war justly
             (www.eclectica.org). He said that there must be lawful authority, a purpose of securing
             peace, and the absence of improper motives for making war. He specifically said:
             "The desire for harming, the cruelty of revenge, the restless and
             implacable mind, the lust for dominating, and similar things are not
             justifiable reasons for going to war. Once at war, the minimum force
             required to achieve peace is all that is permitted" (www.eclectica.org).
             This however, is the opinion of just one. What composites of war make that war
             St. Augustine's ideas about what a just war should be certainly seem to make
             sense. I feel that most would agree that obtaining peace should be a major purpose in
             going to war. Another Saint also had similar ideas on the doctrine of war. St. Thomas
             Aquinas felt that in order for a war to be just, it must be waged by a lawful authority,
             with just cause, and must be fought for the right intentions (www.eclectica.org). These
             three conditions of a just war are very similar to what St. Augustine said, although
             Aquinas does not specifically include the word peace. He does, however, specifically say,
             "War must be fought in order to achieve some good, or avoid some evil."
             If we flash forward about four hundred years, we can find another historical
             figure that had views on what classifies a war as just. The Dutch Protestant Hugo Grotius
             presents thre...