hroughout history wars hv been significant factors in the business of globa1 change, that is why they are ften regarded as motor of history. War is an ancient institution, which has existed for at least six thousand years. It was always wicked and usually foolish, but in the past the human race managed to live with it. Modern technological progress has changed this. Either Man will abolish war, or war will abolish Man. Is it possible to persuade mankind to liv without war? It does not seem easy to change age-old habits, but this is what must b attempted.
here are those who say that the adoption of this or that ideology would prevent war. But ll ideologies are based upon dogmatic assertions, which are, at best, doubtful, and, at worst, totally false. heir adherents believe in them so fanatically that they are willing to wage war in support of them.
he rimary legacy of the twentieth century just passed is World War. he rich industrial nations of the world developed destructive technology and used it in ways that m close to destroying the earth. he century included two global conflicts, World War I and World War II, and climaxed with the invention of weapon that killed hundreds of people, and eventually had th potential to destroy itself. Both wars had mjr effect n the globa1 po1itica1 m and mad unprecedented demands upon the resources of the conflicting nations, 1arge1y because of the size of the armed forces involved, the weapons employed, the duration of the conflict and to 1esser degree its geographical spread.
An uneasy Cold War followed as two military superpower nations, the United States and the Soviet Union, competed for supremacy. Both nations stockpiled enough arms to secure the destruction of th planet man times over. his policy was known as Mutually Assured Destruction or li of Deterrence, and whi1e cost1y and terrifying, it worked. Neither nation used their deadly arsenal, but bth sustained smaller wars to advance their interests.
For the present, it is nuclear weapons that cause the gravest danger, but bacteriologica1 or chemica1 weapons m, before long, offer an even greater threat. If we succeed in disposing of nuclear weapons, ur work will not b done. It will never b accomplished until we have succeeded in abolishing war. do this we need to persuade mankind to look upon international questions in new way, not as contests of force, in which the victory goes to the side which is most skillful in massacre, but b arbitration in accordance with agreed principes of 1aw. Today there are organizations such as th United Nations to halt war and to keep , and instantanus communication allows people to understand what is happening throughout the world. We are unlikely to experience global conflict in ur time, but it is important to understand how close the world m to ruin, and how the forces of the past century influence ur lives.
In World Wars the villains are more monstrous, the heroes more courageous, and the victims more tormented than most imaginations allow. Steve Spielberg's film, Schidler's List and Savig Private Rya, are graphi and inappropriate for younger students, but they help demonstrate the evil, the daring, and the grief of global warfare.
