Why Countries go to War?
Wars have been part of life since the beginning of time. As long as there has been humans, there has been conflict, and with conflict killing. But in the past the causes for war were different than today. God played the most important role in most people’s lives, and so when people went to war they thought they were doing it because it was their duty and the orders came from God. Rulers were appointed by God and were carrying orders from above. After all, if the Gods favored one or the other side to win a particular war it was for the good of all. Now people no longer believes in those things; in fact, most people find it appalling to act in such a way.
Over time people’s views became more materialistic and practical. Empires took a more nationalistic form, and the fight for raw materials were the main point of wars. Recently, the largest empire was lead by the British, and a continuation of it could be thought of as the American empire. Britain has fought and spread her influenced all over the world, that is how it gained the name “The empire on which the sun never set”. Since the very beginning it has been in conflict with her neighbors in Europe, but specially France. It fought in India and China to produce and sell tea, opium (going to war to be able to sell drugs to China is a most interesting thing), and many other goods. In Africa to get gold, diamonds and other raw materials. And in the Americas against the Spanish Empire and later the US colonies.
Late on, right after the industrial revolution the problem was not only the materials and goods. Then, Empires were also fighting for markets. There were many countries producing more and more. Since the British industries were a little older than the German counterparts, the latter could sell more at a better price. In fact, right before War World I started, the German economy had been increasing consistently and was about to reach or even surpass the British. That all had to change, and everyone prepaired for the worst. Right after the first war, an attempt was made to prevent such a war from starting again. It was a complete failure, a few years later an even bigger war broke out. Thereafter, the United Nations was created. There has been many wars since, but at least not a major one. The most recent one is the war in Ukraine. This one seems to be about reducing Russia’s influence and making Europe buy energy from western/western-friendly countries.
Will there be another large war among countries? China and Russia are painted as an enormous threat, kind of the same way Germany was last century. They are both the two largest arm forces after the USA in terms of power. Russia fought on the side of the west during the first two world wars. If there is a third war it will probably be against China. It is the second economic power after the USA and will never be allowed to be the first one. There is a documentary by award winning journalist John Pilger called “The Coming War on China” warning us about it. According to Wikipedia, the US has 128 military bases around the world, China has 4. The conflict this time is around a product we all use every day; it is the chips in our smartphones and our computers.
There is however something else about war. The next big war might not be about a military conflict in the classical meaning of war. It could evolve to something different. The pandemic had such a big impact all over the world, many things changed-not only medical policies-but social habits and norms. Many businesses never came back and online businesses continue to grow. As our reliance on technology and electronics increases by the day there are new opportunities for attacking people. Advanced weapon development is classified information, so we can only speculate.
I won’t get into conspiracy theories like 5g, weather manipulation or biological weapons. Instead I’ll go over two quotes that points to a war on our minds. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said “we are in an information war and we are losing that war.” MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski said talking about Trump “…he could have undermined the messaging so much that he can actually control exactly what people think. And that is our job.” It is a war against individual thinking, and both side of politics want to control it. We were told during the pandemic that we should not research and make our own decisions. We are to trust the experts; that they know better what is good for us. That is a slippery slope; humans are capable of terrible things when we have to follow orders. A 1963 scientific experiment called The Milgram Experiment shows to what degree people will do harm to others when they obey authority and forgo independent thinking and action. The future of war might look like that terrible experiment within societies.