Full Idea
War gives no right to inflict any more destruction than is necessary for victory.
Gist of Idea
War gives no right to inflict more destruction than is necessary for victory
Source
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (The Social Contract (tr Cress) [1762], I.4)
Book Reference
Rousseau,Jean-Jacques: 'The Social Contract', ed/tr. Cranston,Maurice [Penguin 1972], p.57
A Reaction
This is the principle at stake in discussion of the bombing of Germany in 1942-5. We all seem to agree with this principle, and are shocked by breaches of it, but I am not sure why. Destruction must be a fundamentally bad thing - a basic value.