“Examine what is meant by a Just War and Pacifism” A just war is a war, which religious believers may fight in under certain conditions. While life may be sacred, at times killing in war may be justified. Pacifism is the belief, which may or may not be religious that killing in war may not be justified. The Just War came from the Romans in the times of early Christians who were pacifists. However they needed to fight and therefore they decided to create rules in order to have a fair war which they were able to fight in such as having a legitimate authority to authorise the war and a justified cause which initiates the war.
Taylor wrote a book called “The Struggle for Mastery in Europe”, in this book A.J.P. Taylor claimed that German ambitions were the cause of the war. All of these views have merit; however, while imperialism was one of the causes of World War 1, the Alliance system and militarism in the pre-war period were definitely the major causes of the war. The Marxist historian, Eric Hobsbawn, came up with a theory, the "zero-sum game" theory. This theory was applicable to World War One because it was an "age of total war", therefore the war was "zero-sum game".
According to Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, war is described as “a state of hostility, conflict, or antagonism; a state of usual open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations; a struggle between opposing forces or for a particular end.” This is a logical explanation, but it brings up a question. Is war all bad? Can’t war have good points as well as bad ones? There are good things, too. You don’t believe me?
His views fell between those of Clemenceau and those of Wilson. He was under huge pressure from the public to punish Germany. Yet at the same time he believed he should not punish Germany too harshly. He saw this action as disastrous for future peace, for Germany would seek revenge in the near future if the treaty was too harsh. “We want a peace which will be just, but not vindictive.
At the beginning of World War I America attempted to stay neutral and focus on asserting their dominance throughout the western hemisphere, but as the war progressed it became clearer that America wanted and needed to enter the war. While many things had a profound impact on America’s entrance into WWI, American economic interests, Woodrow Wilson’s idealism, and American claim to world power, weighed heavily on the final decision to declare war on Germany. War provides a great opportunity for economic and industrial growth, a chance to change, and claim world power, as long as the country wins the war. American economic benefits of the war were not as prominent a factor as others, but nevertheless it did affect America’s decision to declare war. The economic side effects of entering a war can be beneficial to a country.
Contrastingly, James Joll suggests that Germany’s defensive offensive war rooted from a fear of encirclement from the countries that it borders, and so presents the opinion most opposing to that of the question. L.F.C Turner’s opinion arises somewhere between the two other historians’ arguments, and states that Germany was aggressive during Europe’s last month of peace before war, but there were other factors that should be considered equally. On the one hand, it was German aggression that was responsible for the outbreak of a general European war in August 1914. One example of suggested German aggression can be seen in their long term foreign policy, ‘weltpolitik’ (world politics), which had been implemented in 1897. The aim of this foreign policy was to spread German influence throughout the world, the meaning of which is interpreted differently by different people.
Of all the ideas and theories Clausewitz presented in On War, my belief is that the most important and enduring elements are his idea that war is an extension of policy, his analysis of strategy, the trinity theory and his explanation of the components of war including friction in war, the fog of war and his centre of gravity theory. These ideas and theories from Clausewitz’s On War will be discussed in this essay and presented as his most important and enduring contributions to the theory of warfare. Clausewitz defined war as “an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfil our will” (Clausewitz, P101) but argued that war should only be entered into when diplomatic methods fail as war is a continuation of politics and controlled by a political objective which is aimed at improving the situation. However war can therefore can vary depending on the nature of the policy and society of the time in which the war is waged. Clausewitz stated that success in war requires clear political aims and an adequate strategy (Clausewitz, P101).
Can War Ever be Justified Can war ever be justified? Some people believe it can be in exceptional circumstances, whilst others believe that it can never be justified and there is no circumstance in which it can be justified. ‘In the west there is a long standing culture of differentiating between “just” and “unjust” wars’( taken from an unknown author on about.com.) This is a good example because it shows that even in the same culture people believe different things and that different thing makes war just whilst other things make war unjust. The strongest argument is that war is acceptable if it’s in self defence or in the defence of a weaker power incapable of defending its self against a stronger power; in liberating people from an oppressive dictatorship or government; finally where the conflict will save more people than it kills.
Van Evera focused on how there were numerous factors, such as structural, political/environmental, and perceptual factors in which nationalism was a main cause of war. I believe that this article is the more accurate of the two articles, and this is because he is able to take the constructivist/ideological views that Suny uses, and incorporate them into his article, and rather than only explaining to the reader the political and historical ideologies that a nation may have. Van Evera also explicates his hypotheses by explaining that although there are constructivist ideologies such as: mythical beliefs, like self-glorification,
key causes of war: Depending on which conflict that is being referred to the key causes of war are many and very broad. The key causes that are put foward include the theory of Structuralism which refers to the changing in the distribution of power within the global system as the primary factor in determining a states behavior. Enduring rivalries which is prolonged competition between great powers or other pairs of countries whos conflicting interests often lead to war. Balance of power which explains the tendency of opposed coalitions to be formed so the distribution of military power is balanced to prevent one single power from dominating others. Rational choice is the theory that decison makers choose on the basis of what is best for themselves and their states.