Includes index.

The problem of understanding just war tradition. Approaches to the restraint of war ; The significance of history for the restraint of war : two perspectives ; The cultural regulation of violence ; Natural law as a language for the ethics of war -- Rival conceptions of war and its limits. Perspectives on the birth of a tradition : the middle ages ; The transition to the modern era ; The limited war idea and just war tradition ; Historical concepts of total war and just war tradition -- Modern war and attempts at restraint. The onset of modern war and the development of restraints ; The just war tradition and contemporary war.