War: For the good or bad?

[zacharyrychlo]

After talking about how Canada really didn't become a nation until the war was underway and all of the ways the war changed us for the better it made me think. Is war a good thing or a bad thing? Now, don't get me wrong I still think war is horrible on the battlefield and shouldn’t happen. But judging from what we learned from WW1 and what Canada has become through it and more recently looking at Afghanistan and how much it has changed for the better(i.e. Women’s movements, elections, ect.), does war accelerate change for the better?

[Mr. Delainey]

War does accelerate change often for the better. World War II led to the creation of the United Nations (an international body of nations with some teeth compared to the League of Nations).

My grand parents’ generation fought and defeated the evils of Nazism during the Second World War. Unlike the years following World War I, the post-World War II world experienced unparalleled prosperity. There were jobs, jobs, and more jobs. Factories dedicated for the manufacture of machines of war were converted to build cars, stoves, and refrigerators, and the like, for consumers. The freeway, the mall, and the suburb appeared as if out of nowhere. Compared to before the war the income of the average North American increased 4.5 times. The war made this economic growth possible, how?

Government leaders were concerned that we'd head right back into an economic depression if consumer spending dropped. So politicians continued to encourage government spending and consumer spending (both of which stimulated the economy). I'm not sure if you were aware of this but the only reason the Great Depression ended was countries increased military spending to arm themselves for World War II. Without that war we have the Great Depression going perhaps well into the 1940s...

[zacharyrychlo]

I guess you also have to bring "learning from your mistakes" into the picture also. It teaches us things that build better nations throughout the world. This really got me thinking on where we would be without war? And could their really be a world without war? i think not (to the second question) because we are all human and (I know it sounds corny but...) we all make mistakes. War has been always happening through history and, in my mind, will continue to happen. I think it shapes and creates us as a world. But on the flip side it’s a horrible reality where millions of people die for their friends and family back home. So is this "accelerated change" really worth it?

Ugh! So many questions! So little blog space!

[Mr. Delainey]

So long as the following exists the conditions for war will exist indefinitely:
1). Competition over a valued but limited resource.
2). National pride.
3). Countries that believe they can get what they want through war as opposed to diplomacy (or that the risks of war are acceptable).
4). People forget the lessons of history.
5). Stupid/proud people continue to exist and push their nations to war.