War is a prolonged state of violent conflict between two or more states. War has been conducted for many purposes, such as the acquisition of goods, seizing enemy territory, to satisfy the honor of the sovereign, eliminating a threat to the homeland, stamping out rival religious sects (see Religious war), or exporting political ideologies. Warfare between factions within a single state is called civil war.
Wars have often been periods of great technological innovation as each side finds itself faced with the necessity of creating new methods of offense and defense to ensure national survival. Modern warfare has to be adaptive to the practicalities of an ever-changing battlefield. Investing in complex expensive systems that take years to perfect can limit adaptability and flexibility and lead to defeat in war.
The American Civil War, coming shortly after the Industrial revolution in the United States, introduced mechanized warfare to the world with accurate rifles, metal warships, railroad transportation of forces and material, and instant communication via the telegraph.
World War I (1914-1918) introduced air combat, chemical warfare, submarine and tank warfare, and the large scale deployment of the machine gun.
World War II (1939-1945) refined tank tactics in the form of the Blitzkrieg, and introduced large-scale strategic bombing of enemy cities. The aircraft carrier took mastery of the seas. It ended with the first (and only) use of nuclear weapons.
When the Cold War began in 1947, there have been a few international wars and many civil wars with outside actors, such as the Vietnam War and the Korean War.
Clausewitzian theory
Carl von Clausewitz was Prussian military officer during the Napoleonic wars. Clausewitz' treatise On War, published posthumously, remains a fundamental study on the Art and Theory of war.
Clausewitz defines war as an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will. The object is to disarm the enemy.
World War I, World War II and Darwinism
Historically, the most prominent and vocal defenders of the theory of evolution which employs methodological naturalism have been atheists or agnostics.[1]
The founder of Darwinism, Charles Darwin, was an agnostic/weak atheist (see: Religious views of Charles Darwin).
There is historical evidence indicating that Darwinism was a causal factor for WWI and WWII (see: Irreligion/religion and war and World War I and Darwinism).
Academic studies consistently challenge link between religion and war
Academic studies and other research consistently challenge the link between religion and war.[2] See: Irreligion/religion and war
Louise Ridley in her article entitled Does Religion Really Cause War - And Do Atheists Have Something To Answer For?:
| “ | But academic studies consistently challenge the link between religion and war. Research published in October from the New York and Sydney-based Institute for Economics and Peace looked at all of the wars that took place in 2013. It found no 'general causal relationship' between religion and conflict.
In fact, religious elements played no role at all in 14 (40%) of the 35 armed conflicts in the research, and only five (14%) had religious elements as their main cause, the report showed. All of the wars had multiple causes, and the much more common motivation was opposition to a government, or to the economic, ideological, political or social systems of a state, which was named as a main factor in nearly two thirds of the cases studied. The Encyclopedia of Wars, an extensive study published in 2008, chronicles 1,763 wars throughout human history. It names just 123 as 'religious in nature' – a little under 7%. |
” |
Further reading
- Dupuy, R. Ernest, and Trevor N. Dupuy. The Harper Encyclopedia of Military History: From 3500 B.C. to the Present (1993)
Quotes
- God created war so Americans would learn geography. - Mark Twain
- War is a racket. - Smedley Butler
- If wars can be started by lies, they can be stopped by truth. Julian Assange
See also
References
- ↑ Multiple references:
- Batten, Dr. Don (December 1997). "A Who’s Who of evolutionists". Creation Ministries International. Originally published in Creation 20(1):32. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
- Sarfati, Jonathan, Ph.D., F.M. (1999). "Chapter 1: Facts and bias", Refuting Evolution. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
- ↑ Does Religion Really Cause War - And Do Atheists Have Something To Answer for? by Louise Ridley, assistant news editor at the Huffington Post UK