A Definition of War

War is the objectification of politics.
- Tom Philo

This is similar to the Carl von Clausewitz quote: "War is politics carried out by other means."

The difference is that politics is both the spoken and written words - once you start putting into physical terms the ideas that have been talked about once everyone sees the policty only then do they really understand it and usually only then do people really notice both for and against. Not the best way to show policy, but it does get noticed once people start to die.