Free «Causes and Effects of War» Essay Paper

War is an organized conflict that is characterized by extreme aggression, high mortality rates, and social disruption. It often involves two or more countries, states, communities and other parties. Different schools of thoughts have different interpretations about warfare. Some scholars consider it as an integral and inescapable part of human culture while others consider it to be inevitable under specific ecological and socio-cultural circumstances. There are wars in the different parts of the world. These wars are between different countries and some could be within a country between communities .There are so many reasons as to why people go to war some of which could be political, social, and religious, economic or greed for power and wealth.

A country may want to prove its military prowess over another country which seems to be more powerful than it thus triggering war (Eveva 121). It may also be necessary for a country to go to war if it wants to achieve a certain goal and is unable to due to interference from other countries. This is to make it to be recognized in the world as a powerful country or a force to reckon with. A country will also go to war if its boundaries are interfered with. Most countries will go to any length to protect its boundaries however small the interference may be. A country may be indulging in activities that could be dangerous to other nation like the manufacture of nuclear weapons. In such cases, war may be necessary to stop it if it refuses to stop the dangerous activities upon request. In case a country tries to prove its prowess by manufacturing many weapons, it may lead to tension as other countries will try to do the same. This will be done to counter the large weapons possessed by that one nation so that they could be equal in terms of weapon possession.

 

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There is also a belief countries go to war for economic reasons. Eveva (94) argues that one of the participants of war may have vetted interests in the natural resources of the other participant. Therefore, by going to war, one country stands to benefit from such resources such as oil. Apart from country-to-country war, people or ethnic groups within a country may wage war between themselves. Within a country war may be necessary if the government oppresses its people or because of dictatorial tendencies, Violation of human rights or even unequal distributions of resources, whereby some people enjoy a large percentage of the countries wealth while others languish in poverty.

There is a number of devastating effects of war. The most common and most devastating effect of war is the loss of human life. Apart from those who die in the battle field, many other innocent people often loose their lives. The physical damages done to people are also enormous like blindness, or there could be permanent damage to the limbs. War leads to more social changes as people are forced to move from their homes to search for peaceful places to live. There are changes in social roles since men who participate in war are killed. This leaves their children to be brought up by single parents. Moreover, women are forced to take the role of men in the family and society. During war, the economies of the participating nations are affected due to inflation. Young (144) contends that this inflation usually occurs after governments spend huge sums of money in paying soldiers, buying other necessities like food and uniform.

War also leads to the destruction of infrastructure like roads, railway lines, and telecommunication facilities. The destruction could be very massive beyond repair. There is environmental degradation as dangerous fumes from weapons are released causing air pollution. This could be a health hazard to the people around. It is during war that some of the cruelest violations against human life take place. Deery (122) asserts that crimes such as rape, child abuse and human trafficking are just a few to mention often increase during war. There is a positive side to war where manufacturers of weapons and other equipment used during war like uniform benefit a lot during wars. People who escape from war come out of it with positive attitudes towards life. They have a new admiration for their families and friends. They try to live their lives to the fullest.