Warm War
Contents
Cold War
According to [1], a Warm War is defined as one of three possible types of war in diplomatic situations. A Cold War, much like the diplomatic situation extant between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, can be described as a running feud between two nations where the countries themselves never fight, but tensions are always present. In the case of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the two superpowers occasionally fought their ideological battles through client states, as evidenced by the Vietnam War. However, neither side would risk the war going hot.
Hot War
A hot war is the diplomatic term for a situation when negotiations have completely broken down and the two countries have proceeded to combat. This is when an actual declaration of war has taken place by either or both parties.
Warm War
According to the linked article, a Warm War exists while both countries are continuing negoitations for a peaceful settlement of tensions, but continue to mobilise their forces and implement war plans for an anticipated order to fight. Where a Cold War would be more of a standoff and a hot war would be a fist fight, a Warm War could be considered in the same vein as a prize fighter putting on his boxing gloves or a gunfighter loading his pistol with bullets and cocking the gun.
Example
The best recent example of a Warm War in NationStates terms is the Sarzonia-Chacor border dispute on the Atlantian Oceania boards. The two countries always seemed one step away from fighting in spite of efforts by both sides to avoid full-scale war. The cold war became warm when Sarzonia mobilised its Third Incorporated Army under Lt. General Ryan Kennedy and prepared a full-scale invasion of Chacor. The situation was only resolved when Chacoran Prime Minister Tommy Douglas flew to Woodstock and made concessions to Sarzonia.
