military retaliation to discourage theme

The following kind of dilemma is illustrated: Is it right to retaliate after an offence in order to dissuade an enemy from further violence? Or will that just lead to a vicious circle of vendetta?

Examples

Captain Kirk chased down Gorn marauders to discourage them from further aggression in tos1x19 "Arena". It had nothing to do with vengeance, nothing!

2 total · 1 major · 1 minor

StoryLevelMotivation
movie: Dr Strangelove (1964) major Plan R was a retaliation plan
tos1x19 minor Kirk vs. Spock about pursuit