why wars exist?

Question

most of the pl hate wars ,& if u talk to anyone he 'll say i hate wars so what causes wars? i myself hate wars;i dream of the day when peace will be settled.is it hatred & anger that generate wars & violence or what?

Answer 1

Everybody hates mowing the lawn, too. And yet we do. Why is that? Why don't we all just burn our lawn mowers? Wouldn’t we all be happier? Unfortunately, no. Certain things need to happen and need to be done, whether or not you hate them. You can't just wish things away.

Pleasant thoughts and naïve concepts of peace and war aren’t going to make war go away, any more than it would make crime go away to just announce that everybody hates crime.

The problem is, although everybody dislikes the idea of war, EVERYBODY, no matter how pacifist you are, believes war is justified under some circumstances. That includes you. I bet if a Afghanistan sent people with guns over here to enforce Muslim law and make all women wear burqas, you would expect our police and military to protect you. (What is that called again? Oh yeah, war. Don't tell me that in the name of peace you'd roll over and give up your rights to vote, drive, watch movies and expose your wrists!)

Does that sound outlandish? Why? This exact scenario has played out multiple times, except that the United States wasn't on the receiving end. It's happened in the Middle East, Rwanda, Bosnia, it's happening right now in the Philippines, and even France and Spain. It doesn't happen in the United States precisely because we have a top notch military. Several middle-eastern countries have publicly announced their desire to impose Muslim law on the entire world, including the United States. And when this kind of thing happens to another country, as it has many times, are other countries justified in helping out, or should they sit back and let the smaller countries get bullied?

War exists because it needs to exist, and every single war in the history of mankind has been fought for reasons that both sides felt were important.

To other posters: Quit blaming them all on religion! That's almost as naïve as saying war would go away if everyone just learned to be nice. Some have religious causes, but those are the minority. Name one war the US has fought that was driven by religion. Just one. The revolutionary war? Nope, not that one. England and the colonies agreed about most religious matters. The civil war? Nope. Economics, the rights of states, and to a limited extent slavery, but not religion. The Spanish-American war? Spain was catholic and the US was largely protestant, but no, that was disputes over land ownership. World wars I and II? Lots of causes there, but not one of them was religious. Vietnam? Korea? No, that was communism. Like it or love it, but don't call it a religious war. Desert Storm? The current Iraq war? Arguable, but I don't think you can realistically call it a religious war. In fact, many wars have been prevented because of religious intervention.

Every day thousands of conflicts are settled without war. The current issue with North Korea may well be settled without a war. Remember when an American spy plane was clipped by a Chinese fighter jet and made an emergency landing in China? China arrested the pilots and confiscated the plane. According to international law that could have been considered an act of war, but we resolved it without war. We spent years staring back and forth with the Soviet Union and it didn't end up in war. The Cuban Missile Crisis? No war. And those are just the big ones. Conflicts get resolved peacefully every day.

War is, and will always be, a last resort. But it will never go away, nor should it. I challenge you to find a solution to the problems of the Civil War that would have satisfied both sides and NOT lead to war. Study the positions of both sides before responding. Have you thought of one yet? Nope, that one won't work. If there were any solutions you can think up, I guarantee somebody else thought of them and proposed it at the time. NOBODY wanted a war, and everybody was looking for peaceful resolutions. There were compromises and agreements that delayed the war by decades, but it came in the end.

Saying that war would vanish if people just put their guns down is dangerously naïve and woefully ignorant. War will happen.

Answer 2

As you said, nobody really wants a war. But war generally results when one people's supposed rights conflict with another people's supposed rights. This generally takes place in arguments over resources or land. To use a relevant example, Israel's conflict with Palestine: both feel they have a right to the land, but although Israel content with the current arrangement, the surrounding people feel their right's have been infringed upon. Ironically, the hatred and anger aspect of war doens't usually come into play immediately before the war actually begins, and in some cases even after.

Answer 3

Hatred and anger i beleive have little to do with it. I beileve war is of Human nature. i have to say i do not like war,but think about it. Have you ever gotten mad, mad enough to almost threaten or harm another person. Now think of these moment's, and think of what they were about, were they of something small and simple, like a small insult the just got pushed on, or was it something physical or humiliating. The human is mentally wired to take actions on what they know or see around them, and sometimes this is taken over by a state by which we become very low and attack or harm people. These action's by other people are what start threats. But all people are wired diffrently, and some are wired as non-caring and domination. And sometimes people like this get in high places in the world and start to take over. But then again most wars are started by crazy people.

Answer 4

Desmond Morris has given the best and most objective answer to this question that I've ever come across in his books "The Naked Ape" and "The Human Zoo." I highly suggest them both. I will attempt a limited summation.

In the natural world conflicts occur amongst animals for one of two reasons: to establish their dominance in a social hierarchy or to establish their territorial rights to a particular piece of ground. Humans are unlucky in that we are subject to both of these forms of agression, and have even evolved one of our very own: protection of the pair-bonded family unit.

Looking back in history, even relatively recently, there were constraints on serious bloodshed. Leaders were, themselves, much more likely to be involved on the front lines. The fighting men were not specialists, they were composed of every able bodied man able to wield a weapon. The entire tribe was involved in the conflict making the risk incredibly high.

When Farming Man became Urban Man another vital step was taken towards more savage conflict. The division of labor and specialization meant that one category of the population could be spared for fulltime killing.

After Urban Man social growth became so rapid that it's development in one area easily became out of phase with it's progress in another. The more stable balance-of-tribal-power was replaced by the serious instability of super-tribal inequalities.

As civilizations flourished and expanded they frequently found themselves faced, not with equal rivals who would make them think twice and indulge in the ritualized threat of bargaining and trade, but with weaker and more backward groups who could be invaded and assaulted with ease.

As super-tribes become bigger and bigger the task of ruling the sprawling, teeming populations grew, and the frustrations of the super-status race became more intense. Modern urban living has made--some of us more than others--more than a little crazy. Looking for an outlet to all this stress and agression Inter-group conflict provides this outlet on a grand scale.

For the modern leader, then, war has many advantages that his historical counterpart did not enjoy. To start with he doesn't have to worry about getting his face bloodied. Also, the men he sends to die are not personal acquaintances of his; they are specialists, and the rest of society can go about it's daily life without the conflict directly affecting them.

Having an outside enemy, a villain, can make a leader into a hero, unite his people, and make them forget the squabbles that were giving him so many headaches.

In summation War is a result of the manifold psychological and sociological pressures tied to being urban-dwelling super-tribal primates.

This brief explanation only begins to hint at the basic reasons for war, if you're interested in a more in-depth explanation of Mr. Morris's views on why we do the things we do, definitely hit the library and check out his books.

Answer 5

Wars are caused because the government and world leaders are to childish and immature to sit down and TALK about problems and fix them. Unless they can get a grip on some real intellect, we're screwed

Answer 6

"ppl" haven't been the cause of wars for a long time, although they are the ones who have to die in them. Religions are used to justitfy them.

Without trying to sound like a marxist-commie-type, if you read history you'll see that governments and leaders primarily act for those who have or control wealth and who have some interest in acquiring or preserving control over some lucrative ($$$) situation.

Ask "who benefits", or who has the most $$$ to gain/lose and you'll start to see some of the causes of war.

Answer 7

wars exist because no one can settle things in a calm peaceful way and resort to fighting. many humans do so, if they cant settle a problem, they simply break into a fight. its the human way of doing things and I, myself, don't think its the smartest way to do things. though who care for my opinion. I'm, after all, only a teen -sigh-

Answer 8

Wars exist because of human ignorance, which unfortunately every single one of us contributes to in some way.

Answer 9

everyone hates wars other than idiotic people who think neutral is bad what causes wars are land(Japan wants land) and trade I think that for land just make artificial islands and for trade pay the other countries more.

Answer 10

i think war exists because its part of our nature. animals have survival of the fittest, we have war so that the best from our race gets to carry on, the worst dies. in our case, its countries that die.