Human conflict … what an endless subject!

palace revolution – overthrow of a ruler by those who are already in the ruling group

In Prussia and especially in Russia, where palace revolutions were not uncommon, the sovereign dreaded the aristocracy …
– Georges Lefebvre and Elizabeth M. Evanson, The French Revolution

When he [Karl Menninger] had turned 71 and still was not ready to relinquish command, impatient subordinates staged a palace revolution and kicked him upstairs to be chairman of the board.
– Time Magazine, Aug. 6, 1973

A palace revolution in athletics was triggered yesterday with a demand for the resignation of the world governing body's president. Luciano Barra, one of the sport's most respected officials, sent a seven-page letter to … the International Association of Athletics Federations' president, and copied it to council members.
– The Herald (UK), Sept. 19, 2006

dragoon – 1. to subjugate or persecute by imposition of troops 2. to compel by violent measures or threats; coerce
[from Fr. dragon carbine, musket, because the guns "breathed fire" like a dragon]

Michelangelo, dragooned against his will by the importunate Pope, painted the Sistine ceiling …, worked alone on a scaffold for four years, allowing no one but the Pope to inspect his progress.
– Barbara W. Tuchman, The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam

Bonus word:
importunate – persistent or pressing in entreaty (with the overtone of being annoyingly so)

casus belli – an act or situation provoking or justifying war

There is good reason for the preoccupation with finding an Iraqi connection [with Al Qaeda]. As the administration edges closer and closer to military engagement, it badly needs a casus belli (roughly translated, smoking gun) as a justification for an act of war.
– Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 9, 2002

sortie – an attack by troops breaking out of a defensive position; also, a flight by a military aircraft

But the meaning has expanded to a non-military sense, not thoroughly noted in the dictionaries.

sortie – a incursion into new territory

Citröen is considering a sortie into Canada, a move that would position its cars closer to the US border than at any time since grey-market importation ended in the 1990s.
– Jalopnik, Oct. 6, 2006

jihad – 1. a holy war waged on behalf of Islam 2. a crusade for a principle or belief

The secord, figurative use is rare, but more interesting. I would say it typically has the sense of a vendetta.

If there are real crooks in Canada's financial markets, the country's top regulators have demonstrated an uncanny ability to not find them. Instead, the record is littered with … over-the-top prosecutions of people who have done little or no wrong. We're thinking here of the Ontario Securities Commission's jihad against David Rankin, Scott Paterson and mutual fund operators …
– National Post (Canada), Oct. 26, 2006

polemology – the study of war, esp. as an academic discipline

So says OED, but notice the second quote. I suppose it all depends on your point of view.

To speak about the nature and causes of violence … must appear presumptuous at a moment when … eminent natural scientists – biologists, physiologists, ethologists [sic], and zoologists – have joined in an all out effort to solve the riddle of "aggressiveness" in human behavior, and even a brand-new science, called "polemology," has emerged.
– Hannah Arendt, On Violence (1970)

Francis A. Beer advocates the adoption of a more scientific perspective in "polemology" or "peace science."
– Jongsuk Chay, Culture and International Relations

antebellum – of the period preceding a particular war
(but almost always used with reference to the U.S. Civil War; that is, pre-1861)

There are unwritten rules of etiquette for a Vice President's wife that correspond roughly to the antebellum definition of a lady: her name should appear in the papers only on the occasion of her marriage or death.
– Time Magazine, Jan. 23, 1989