war footing

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noun

the condition or status of a military force or other organization when operating under a state of war or as if a state of war existed.

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Origin of war footing

First recorded in 1890–95

The country wasn’t really on a war footing, but it was getting there and it certainly wasn’t on a voluntary basis.
3 Myths About Pearl Harbor, According to a Military Historian|Olivia B. Waxman|December 7, 2021|Time
If there is a single mantra that seems to be guiding Powell and the Federal Reserve leadership, it’s that this Fed is on a war footing.
How Jay Powell’s Coronavirus Response Is Changing the Fed Forever|Christopher Leonard|June 11, 2020|Time
They are, to say the least, preparing for civil war (the polling stations are stormed by armed gangs).
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
But what is there more irresponsible than playing with the fire of an imagined civil war in the France of today?
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST

Cold War fears could be manipulated through misleading art to attract readers to daunting material.
How Pulp Fiction Saved Literature|Wendy Smith|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Kennedy: "Mankind must put an end to war — or war will put an end to mankind."
Huckabee 2016: Bend Over and Take It Like a Prisoner!|Olivia Nuzzi|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
It is not a decisive war, with a single, signature victory, but a war of attrition.
Pentagon Doesn’t Know How Many People It’s Killed in the ISIS War|Nancy A. Youssef|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
He distinguished himself in several campaigns, especially in the Peninsular war, and was raised to the rank of field marshal.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
His 6,000 native auxiliaries (as it proved later on) could not be relied upon in a civil war.
The Philippine Islands|John Foreman
"There is no more war," Brion translated for Ulv, realizing that the Disan had understood nothing of the explanation.
Sense of Obligation|Henry Maxwell Dempsey (AKA Harry Harrison)
I cannot reconcile the idea of a tender Heavenly Father with the known horrors of war, slavery, pestilence, and insanity.
God and my Neighbour|Robert Blatchford
We were now masters of the whole country, and the war was apparently at an end.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various