If you want peace, study war
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If you want peace, study war
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Re: If you want peace, study war
#2I think the author's point could be broadened to just say, if you want peace, study the historical reasons for conflicts and how to avoid them.
Or even more broadly, if you want peace, study history and make it an important part of your decision making process.
Re: If you want peace, study war
#3> However, part of the shift away from war studies owes to the quest for “social justice”
...
> history overall is worryingly in decline as an academic subject
There might be a connection there.
People who want to think about social justice will go to the political science department. Nothing wrong with that. But people who are passionate about history want professors who are also passionate about history.
History and social justice can go together, of course, but the passion really goes behind one or the other.
Re: If you want peace, study war
#4I think the author's point could be broadened to just say, if you want peace, study the historical reasons for conflicts and how to avoid them. Or even more broadly, if you want peace, study history and make it an important part of your decision making process.
> if you want peace, study the historical reasons for conflicts and how to avoid them
I've always heard: if you want peace, prepare for war
Re: If you want peace, study war
#5I have a theory that offensive weaponry advancements produce peace, while defensive advancements produce war. If you're in a castle, it's easier to send armies around, knowing that you'll be safe. But if there are nukes and ICBMs, just stick with the status quo.
Any validity to this theory?
Re: If you want peace, study war
#6"If You Want Peace, Study War" the groups I heard about that adopted that or similar motto were all aggressive and originators of the violence.
Re: If you want peace, study war
#7I have a theory that offensive weaponry advancements produce peace, while defensive advancements produce war. If you're in a castle, it's easier to send armies around, knowing that you'll be safe. But if there are nukes and ICBMs, just stick with the status quo. Any validity to this theory?
Armchair general here, I've never been in any war. The biggest highlight of my general career was tower defence rushing unsuspecting human players in Warcraft 3 with orcs.
With that said: I think that whenever a human or organization has a stable situation with their current affairs, they can afford to take more risk. Attacking weapons don't necessarily make a situation stable, they simply give an edge when you have them. However, when you're the only one that has them and are stable enough, then you might be able to annihilate entire civilizations (e.g. the Aztecs versus a few hundred Spanish people). But when more people have them, then they can point them at you, making your own situation more unstable if you provoke those people.
Re: If you want peace, study war
#8> However, part of the shift away from war studies owes to the quest for “social justice” ... > history overall is worryingly in decline as an academic subject There might be a connection there. People who want to think about social justice will go to the political science department. Nothing wrong with that. But people who are passionate about history want professors who are also passionate about history. History an…
I think that bigger effect is that economy is not that great, college expensive and students are choosing major they perceive as practical.
Re: If you want peace, study war
#9I think the author's point could be broadened to just say, if you want peace, study the historical reasons for conflicts and how to avoid them. Or even more broadly, if you want peace, study history and make it an important part of your decision making process.
> if you want peace, study the historical reasons for conflicts and how to avoid them I've always heard: if you want peace, prepare for war
My father would drill that into me as a kid.
That and the fact that war is not like in books or movies: it is ugly and best avoided.
Re: If you want peace, study war
#10I think the author's point could be broadened to just say, if you want peace, study the historical reasons for conflicts and how to avoid them. Or even more broadly, if you want peace, study history and make it an important part of your decision making process.
> if you want peace, study the historical reasons for conflicts and how to avoid them I've always heard: if you want peace, prepare for war
From the classic Latin “Si vis pacem para bellum” [0]
I’d always interpreted this to imply that deterrence was good - appear strong to prevent others picking a fight with you, rather than studying.
I always wondered if the 9mm Parabellum cartridge was named after the saying too, but no such enlightenment is available on the Wikipedia page at least [1]
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Si_vis_pacem,_para_bellum