Suing for peace is an act by a war

War

War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...

ring nation to initiate a peace process in which the peace terms are more favorable than an unconditional surrender

Unconditional surrender

Unconditional surrender is a surrender without conditions, in which no guarantees are given to the surrendering party. In modern times unconditional surrenders most often include guarantees provided by international law. Announcing that only unconditional surrender is acceptable puts psychological...

. Suing for peace is usually initiated by the losing party in an attempt to stave off an unconditional surrender, and may sometimes be favorable to the winning nation, as prosecuting a war to a complete or unconditional surrender may be costly.

However, pressing for peace may sometimes be started by the winning faction as a means to end the war for several reasons, such as where additional conflict would not be in the perceived best interest of the winning party. In this case, demands might be made, or the two nations may agree to a white peace or Status quo ante bellum

Status quo ante bellum

The term status quo ante bellum is Latin, meaning literally "the state in which things were before the war".The term was originally used in treaties to refer to the withdrawal of enemy troops and the restoration of prewar leadership. When used as such, it means that no side gains or loses...

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