Are all these wars and conflicts necessary?

Question

Are they not really the results of pride(better/stronger than you), greed (for other folks things) or just plain ol stupidity. We have more conflicts worldover in 10 years than we've had in the previous 100...and we have not experienced real peace. Why?

Answer 1

Wars are often necessary, and the earlier one confronts aggressors, the more peaceful the world will be.

Let's look at history, rife with examples.

In the 1930's, all the European powers were so wedded to a peace-at-any-price philosophy that they ignored actions by aggressors.

When Hitler rearmed Germany, they did nothing.
When Hitler re-occupied the Rhineland, they did nothing.
When Hitler started the operations against Jews, they did nothing.
When Hitler annexed Austria, they did nothing.
When Hitler demanded the Czech Sudatenland, they gleefully sold out Czechoslovakia, in return for the illusion of peace. Even Poland joyfully took a chunk of Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain proclaimed this action brought peace.
All the while, Churchill was screaming for action to stem Hitler's ambitions. He was dismissed as a war-mongering crank.
When Hitler and Stalin invaded Poland, all the appeasement of Hitler was revealed as the dishonorable and cowardly actions they truly were.

The lesson was easy to learn here - appeasement and inaction in the face of aggression only leads to more aggression. I'm just surprised that so many people cannot grasp this lesson.

Or we could look at the great "non-wars" of recent history. I'm sure you are all pleased at the inaction of the UN and the US in Rwanda. They did nothing, but stood idly by while 800,000 people were slaughtered. I suppose that was better than actually taking action to prevent this? Or we could look at the slaughter in Sudan. Only some million or so people slaughtered so far, but hey, at least there's no war! I guess that means there is peace??

It is ridiculous and contrary to all history to state that wars are never necessary.

Answer 2

If you keep up closely with where just the US Marines have been, I think you'll find they were never without something to do.
We live in a pretty small world. People think of globalization as a new phenomenon, but it ain't necessarily so. Since I picked on the Marines to start with, let me continue: "the halls of Tripoli" in the Marine Hymn occurred over two hundred years ago in protecting merchant shipping from the Bey. Call it greed if you want, but it's capitalism. Also, we have treaty obligations all over the globe, and it would be difficult to justify abrogation of those treaties. Plus there's the history of our previous unpreparedness. Are they necessary? Not with great intelligence and diplomacy, but those are in short supply.
"Si vis pacem para bellum" must be balanced against "if you only have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."

Answer 3

No war is "necessary" - they happen because a few people think that they might get an advantage of some kind from conflict. The reason that there are now more wars is that there are no longer great Powers willing to make smaller and trouble-making societies or governments behave themselves. There is often a lot of talk about peace-keeping. What is needed is more action on peace-making.

Answer 4

Yes all these wars are necessary, in a capitalist society, there must be losers, to work the field. It's still the old method go to war conquer and use it's people as slaves, the cosmetic have change but not the concept.

Answer 5

Why do people rob other people? Why do people steal, lie and cheat? When you can answer this question you'll know why we have wars. Wars are large scale versions of what happens on a small scale every day.
When we no longer need the police then we will no longer need armies.

Answer 6

The closer the world gets...the more we realize why we moved so far away from each other! Reality, people(in general) will never get along with people that are different. It is just not human nature.