What is a war?
One of the most unpleasant words in the world is “war”. The English word “war” derives from the 11th century-old English word “wyrre” and the word from old French “werre”.
War is typically fought by a country or group of countries against an opposing country or group with the aim of achieving an objective through the use of force. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, aggression, destruction, and mortality using regular or irregular military forces. In most cases, wars are initiated by governments, not by population. And, most of the time, they are the result of disputes over resources and land, or of a government’s desire to increase its influence and power.
History of wars?
Wars were happening not only today but also in the past. The earliest evidence of pre-historic warfare was a Mesolithic cemetery in “jumble sahaba” which has been determined to be approximately 14000 years old. That means the wars have also happened in the past. Also another earliest record of war dated around 2700 B.C The ancient Sumerians carved battle records on stones. The conflict was between the Sumerians and the neighboring Elamites, who lived in what is now called Iran. Further, the advent of gunpowder and the development of technological advances led to modern warfare.
In the modern world, many wars were happening among the countries. Among them, the most destructive global conflicts in history. The first world war was started from 1914 to 1918. It was started in Europe and later it spread all over the continents. As a result of this numerous deaths were occur and millions of people become disabled. But it wasn’t finished. The destructive second world war was started in 1939 to 1945. It was the biggest and deadliest war in history, involving more than 30 countries. More than 50 million lives were destroyed-without stopping this unpleasant hazard, people do this again and again. Today there is another crisis has begun. There is an ongoing struggle between Israel and Palestine, when such destructive and property damages and environmental pollution may occur.
Reasons for wars.
Wars begin because humans feel the desire for greedy words, such as wealth, power, and control. Among them, there are many reasons for the wars and conflicts.
- Economic gain.
- Territorial gain.
- Religion.
- Nationalism.
- Revenge.
- Civil war.
- Revolutionary war.
- Defensive war.
Les’s see the causes for wars in brief.
01 Economic gain.
Many wars are caused by one countrie’s wish to take control of another country’s wealth.
eg:- Anglo – Indian war. (1766-1849), Finnish – Soviet war. (1938-1940)
02 Territorial gain.
A country might decide that it needs more land, either for living space, agricultural use, or other purposes.
eg:- Mexican – American war. (1846-1848) Serbo – Bulgarian war. (1885-1886) Arab – Israeli war. (1967-1988)
03 Religion.
Religious wars often have very deep roots. Different religions fight against each other for their believers and for the expansion of ones’ religion.
eg:- The crusades (1095-1291) Thirty years’ war (1618-1648)
04 Nationalism.
Attempting to prove that one country is superior to another by violent subjugation.
eg:- Chichimeca war. (1550-1599) World war (1914-1918)
05 Revenge.
Revenge means seeking to retaliate or punish another country. Revenge also relates to nationalism, as the people of a country which has been wronged are motivated to fight back by pride and spirit, unfortunately, this can lead to an endless chain of wars, which is very difficult to stop.
eg:- World war 2 (1939-1945)
06 Civil war.
These generally take place when there is sharp internal disagreement within a country. This can be about who rules, how the country should be run or the people’s rights.
eg:- American civil war. (1861-1865) Russian civil war. (1917-1923) Spanish civil war. (1936-1939)
07 Revolutionary war.
This occurs when a large section of the population against the rulers of the country because they are dissatisfied with their leadership.
eg:- Portuguese restoration war. (1640-1668) American revolution. (1775-1783) French revolution. (1788-1799)
08 Defensive war.
These wars occur for protection. In the modern world, where military aggression is more widely questioned, countries will often argue that they are fighting in a purely defensive capacity against an aggressor.
eg:- Iraq conflict (2003-present)
Types of war.
1 . Asymmetric warfare.
The conflict between belligerents of drastically different levels of military capability or size.
2 . Biological warfare.
Germ warfare is the use of weaponized biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi.
3. Chemical warfare.
A war that takes place with poison gas as a chemical weapon.
4. Cold warfare.
A state of conflict between nations that does not involve direct military action but is pursued primarily through economic and political actions.
5. Conventional warfare.
A declared war between states in which nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons are not used or see limited deployment.
6. Cyberwarfare.
Actions by a nation or international organization to attack and attempt to damage another nation’s information systems.
7. Information warfare.
Application of destructive force on a large scale against information systems and assets.
8. Nuclear warfare.
Warfare in which nuclear weapons are the primary or a major method of achieving power.
The above mentioned are some types of wars that took place in the world.
Consequences of war.
There are negative and positive effects of war. Following are some main negative influences of wars.
1. Loss of human lives.
2. Injuries and disabled people.
3. Mental stress of the people.
4. Malnutrition.
5. Illness.
6. Sexual violence.
7. Reduction of property and wealth.
8. Environmental pollution.
Some positive effects of war are as follows.
1. The defeat of problematic governments.
2. The correction of injustices.
3. Advances in technology and medicine.
4. Reduction of unemployment.
Even though there are some positive effects of war, according to my point of view, I think that war is a bad thing, because it involves deliberately killing or injuring people and this is a fundamental wrong abuse of the victims’ human rights.
War leads to wide destruction. Destruction of people, land, wealth, and peace. It is not the way to find the peace. So it is better to stop these destructive and inhuman wars.
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2 comments
One of the most important articles I ever read.
Thank You So Much.