The
evils of war Responsible
citizens of all countries today, have learnt to hate and mistrust warfare as a
means of resolving international disputes through the bitter experience of two
world conflagrations in this century. Between the wars, the major powers
established the 'League of Nations'. Its dual role was to attempt to substitute
negotiation for warfare and to press for multi and unilateral disarmament, but
certain ambitious powers treated it with cynical contempt, and it was powerless
in the face of German, Italian and Japanese empire building. Since 1945, a
somewhat more realistic organization, the U.N.O., has come into being, and by
means of its international 'police' forces has successfully quenched many
'bushfires' which would otherwise have become conflagrations. yet, it is
doubtful whether even U.N.O., could halt a major power, and it is a sinister
fact that certain of them ether ignore its decisions or absent themselves from
its councils Most sane individuals condemn warfare absolutely, but not all
governments. History has taught us that there will always be warfare, because a
government may display the lowest common denominator of human characteristics,
and act upon it. Accepting war was a periodic fact, therefore, peace-loving
nations usually feel compelled to arm themselves with the most powerful and
effective weapons of defense, including nuclear weapons, and refuse to part
with them, unless their competitors do the same we thus reach the position of
an armed truce, based on parity of weapons, and the paradoxical situation of
having to avoid the evils of war, by manufacturing the very weapons and
training the very armies which alone can bring them about. The alternative is
pacifism. The disarmers, the 'Ban the Bomb' movement in Britain would have the
Commonwealth abolish arms and armies, believing that non-resistance to
aggression, even the acceptance of invasion, is the only sure way to peace. But
is it ? it was certainly not so in Britain in 1939, when the declaration of war
called a halt to German expansion, and when, without an all-out arms effort,
Britain would have been overrun and her people enslaved, even exterminated. In
1939, the true evil of war, deprivation of freedom, was avoided by the very act
of going to war. It cannot be over-emphasized that, while every sane person
must condemn warfare 'in vaccuo', the same person, realistically viewing the
world in which we live, must distinguish between the greater evil of losing his
freedom and the lesser, of both suffering and inflicting the evils of warfare.
In certain clearly defined circumstances, it is right to inflict the evils of
war.
But nobody doubts the miseries which are
inevitably caused. Psychologically, the effects are disastrous. A people at war
ceases to think of the enemy as 'people' like themselves. Propaganda, the
one-sided or even lying, reporting inflammatory incidents, creates hatred of
the enemy. The 'other side' become targets at the end of a gun, vermin to be
exterminated by the napalm fire-thrower, or the nuclear bomb. This, and the
actual horrors of experiencing warfare, cause frequent mental breakdowns,
feelings of self-reproach, psychological scarring which are often indelible.
Fear, both experienced and imposed, has its shattering effects. Brutality is at
a premium, in the prisoner-of-war and concentration camps. Racial hatred is
stirred up; it is believed that the whole Jewish population of Europe would
have been wiped out, had the war gone on for another year. Greed, of course,
becomes paramount. War always means food and luxury rationing. 'Black Market'
operations begin, and the unscrupulous grow far at the expense of the poor.
Personal freedom is inevitably lost. All fit men are expected to join the
forces or be branded as cowards; all civilians exist in a welter of government
controls which completely regulate their lives. Overwork, fatigue and
irritability are only minor by products. Much more important is the fact that
everything is geared to the war-effort, and cultural and humane discoveries and
developments come to an abrupt halt.
Physically and materially, the evils of war
are catastrophic. Enemy control of the seas and skies may reduce countries
which rely on imports to famine. It is the poor and the children who suffer
most. Cities and countryside are laid waste. Hospitals are filled with those
who are injured, or blinded, or crippled, or poisoned by gas or radioactivity.
wealth ad resources are wasted, fine men and women squandered, buildings,
art-treasures, historic places obliterated.
Countries may be forced to resort to the evils
of war, but humanity will always condemn warfare because it is humanity which
suffers.
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