Casus Belli
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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Casus Belli
a term used in diplomacy to designate an event or fact serving as a direct formal ground or pretext for the declaration of a state of war. For example, the casus belli for World War I was the murder in Sarajevo of the Austrian archduke Ferdinand.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.