The term status quo ante bellum comes from Latin meaning literally, as things were before the war. No side gains or loses territory, economic, or political rights. One example of a war that ended status quo ante bellum was the War of 1812, which was concluded with the Treaty of Ghent in 1814; the treaty left no gains or losses in land for either the US or Britain, though the US had sought to annex Canada. The term was originally used in treaties to refer to the withdraw of enemy troops and restoration of prewar leadership.

It has been generalised to form the phrase status quo.