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Suing for peace is an act by awarring party to initiate a peace process.
"Suing for", in this older sense of the phrase, means "pleading or petitioning for". Suing for peace is usually initiated by the losing party in an attempt to stave off anunconditional surrender. The nation holding the upper hand may find, in the losing party's offer of making peace, an opportunity for relief from the necessity of having to continue to wage a costly war.
Pressing for peace may sometimes, however, be started by the winning faction as a means to end the war for several reasons, such as if additional conflict would not be in the perceived best interest of the winning party. In that case, demands might be made, or both nations may agree to a "white peace", which is a return to thestatus quo ante bellum (the prewar situation).
TheFirst Sino-Japanese War (1 August 1894 – 17 April 1895) was fought between theQing Dynasty of China and theEmpire of Japan, primarily over influence ofKorea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the Chinese port ofWeihaiwei, the Qing government sued for peace in February 1895.[1]
The archives abound with attempts to halt World War I, but most attempts were unofficial and of no effect. On 2 December 1916, prior to his coronation later that month,Charles I of Austria took over the title of Supreme Commander of the army fromArchduke Frederick. In 1917, he secretly entered into peace negotiations with France. He employed his brother-in-law,Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma, an officer in the Belgian Army, as intermediary. The negotiations of theSixtus Affair for a sued peace failed.[original research?]