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War Exhaustion represents how much your nation has been ravaged by war. High War Exhaustion will have an increased unrest while also making recruiting regiments and building ships significantly slower. It will also be more expensive to make provinces into core provinces. War Exhaustion can be reduced by spending Diplomatic Power.
War exhaustion, often abbreviated as WE, is the concept of negativity brought on from sustained battles. A nation can't keep their people constantly at war—it will tire them, they will be unhappy at the cost in lives and money and it draws attention from the ministers who should be focusing on domestic issues. In the Europa Universalis games, war exhaustion is the general idea that an empire does not have an infinite will to fight, but a well-fought war will be less frustrating than a poorly fought one.
Maximum war exhaustion is capped out at 20 points. Every point of war exhaustion gives the following:[1]
|
+1.00% |
National unrest
|
|
+2%.00 |
Recruitment time
|
|
+2%.00 |
Shipbuilding time
|
|
+3%.00 |
Core-creation cost
|
|
−1%.00 |
Manpower recovery speed
|
|
−1%.00 |
Sailor recovery speed
|
|
−1%.00 |
Siege ability
|
|
−2%.00 |
Goods produced modifier
|
|
−0.05% |
Commanderies faction influence
|
|
−0.05% |
The aristocrats influence
|
|
−0.05% |
Girondist influence
|
|
+0.05% |
Imperial influence
|
War exhaustion will also increase the liberty desire of subjects by +1 per point of war exhaustion.
Additionally, AI nations are more likely to accept peace deals when they have high WE, and are less willing to join in wars.
War exhaustion is only generated while at war, though its effects may linger long after the guns have fallen silent and certain modifiers, such as attrition, may cause war exhaustion to decay slower than usual even while at peace. The factors that increase war exhaustion are:
Attrition: Minimum is +0.01- Losses in battles: The amount of war exhaustion caused by losses is shown in the battle results window. Large powerful countries will receive comparatively less war exhaustion than small weak countries for the same amount of losses.
- Ports blockaded: +0.1 per month at 100% blockade.
- Provinces occupied: +0.5 per month at 100% occupation.
- Call for peace: appears if the player (not AI) continues a war despite having already achieved near-total strategic victory. It starts at +0.01/month and gradually increases.
In addition to ticking war exhaustion, declaring wars which cause stability losses will also increase war exhaustion by the same amount. For example, declaring war without a casus belli will result in +2 
war exhaustion.
Following effects reduce war exhaustion monthly:
|
Conditions
|
| −0.15 |
for being the  target of the revolution
|
| −0.10 |
at peace
|
| −0.05 |
playing on very easy difficulty
|
| −0.05 |
with  parliament and “Support the War Effort” as active issue
|
| −0.05 |
having a ruler with the  ‘Kind-Hearted’ personality
|
| −0.05 |
as a  Nahuatl country which has passed the “Open up Sumptuary Restrictions” reform
|
| −0.05 |
as a  Fetishist country with  Zanahary cult
|
| −0.04 |
as  American Republic
|
| −0.03 |
as a  Shinto country with ‘Closed Doors’ isolation
|
| −0.03 |
as  emperor of China at 100 mandate
|
| −0.03 |
for being  Defender of the Faith. With  at tier 2-5
|
| −0.02 |
as  Prussian Monarchy
|
Ideas and policies:
|
Traditions
|
Ideas
|
Bonuses
|
Policies
|
| −0.05
|
—
|
- Innovative idea 6: Optimism
|
|
- Diplomatic-Quality: Professional Diplomatic Corps
- Humanist-Defensive: The Preparation Act
|
| −0.03
|
—
|
- Ethiopian idea 3: Hostile Borders
- Norse idea 1: Eternal Struggle
- Rajput idea 4: Rajput Resistance
|
|
- Influence-Defensive: Local Militias
|
| −0.02
|
- Armenian traditions
- Ashikaga traditions
- Satake traditions
|
- Desmondian idea 6: Promote the Culture of Service
- Georgian idea 6: Dasturlamali
- Irish idea 6: Unconquerable Ireland
- Munster idea 2: The Brave and Faithful
- Polish idea 2: Nihil Novi
- Ryazan idea 5: March of Russia
- Tsutsui idea 2: Winner of Eikyo Civil War
|
—
|
—
|
A nation can spend 75 
diplomatic monarch points to reduce war exhaustion by −2. Reducing war exhaustion decreases 
absolutism by -1. The following ideas reduce the cost to alleviate war exhaustion:
|
Traditions
|
Ideas
|
Bonuses
|
Policies
|
| −33%
|
—
|
- Divine idea 3: Friends in High Places
|
—
|
—
|
| −15%
|
|
- Iroquois idea 1: Kainerekowa
- Shawnee idea 1: The Wandering People
|
—
|
—
|
| −10%
|
|
- Afghan idea 1: Pashtunwali
- Aztec idea 1: Flower Wars
- Bengali idea 4: Mustard Oil & Ilish Mach
- Leinster idea 5: Long Memories
- Ottoman idea 4: Autonomous Pashas
|
—
|
—
|
|
|
Conditions
|
| −20% |
Trading in  sugar
|
War exhaustion will be set to 0 when the nation breaks to rebels.
It is advised to keep wars as brief and to the point as possible to avoid excessive war exhaustion. War exhaustion will be lowered once at peace, but it degrades slowly as the nation recovers from the war and it could take months before it fully disappears.
