Sociology

Throughout the years, people have engaged in numerous conflicts in order to show their dominance over others. Some of the reasons why conflicts arise in many social entities are scarcity of resources, differences in ideology or for defensive purposes. No matter what the cause is, these conflicts still aim to change the social hierarchy and dominate others. Wars, or the aforementioned conflicts, are universal phenomena which are waged by social groups between each other in order to gain power and authority.

By definition, war is a duel on an extensive scale which aims to render the opponent incapable of further resistance. In order to achieve victory over the opponent, utmost use of power or physical force is used therefore causing much bloodshed (Clausewitz 2). Wars also do not start and end in one instantaneous blow. It takes months or years before a war is waged between two opposing nations or forces and the same amount of time before it ends.

Because of the extensive damages caused by warfare, many researchers and philosophers contemplate as to why wars happen in the first place. Some people believe that just like any other natural calamities in the world, war is a part of human existence (Codevilla 34). Others also believe that wars are results of human beings exercise of their free will because men choose the war that they would participate in. there are also researchers who point out that the search for peace causes war. They believe that peace can be sought not through spiritual growth but through drastic social changes such as constituting a war.

False hopes regarding victory in war also heightens the chances of prolonging warfare. If nations are aware of the cost and damages brought about by participating in wars, then perhaps there would be fewer wars. Because of the illusion and false hope that one country can win in a war they wage, they use huge amounts of money and human force to defeat their opponents (Van Evera 14).

Throughout history, there are many kinds of wars which countries participated in, in order to gain upper hand in resources and colonies. International wars are those which are waged between two countries such as the World War I and II. During the primitive times, tribes fight against each other for hunting ground or shelter (Dickinson 17). When a member of their tribe or family dies, they war ends and this scenario is far from the wars we heard from our grandparents or read from history books. Nowadays, when we talk about war, we talk about modern machinery and arms. Casualties and damages even to civilians are more pronounced unlike before when men only wage war for food and shelter.

Wars, either internationally or within a nation affects the society and the people in various ways. The people, either civilians or the soldiers are affected emotionally by the war. Soldiers are often affected emotionally and psychologically by the wars they participate in and this is called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. Soldiers and civilians who have been traumatized by the war often have intrusive thoughts and nightmares. Based on some researches, crimes such as homicides and suicides increase greatly after wars because of the change in the economic condition of the country. Economic instabilities such as unemployment perhaps drive a person to commit a crime (Ausenda 212). In terms of destruction, there is no doubt that wars cause utter destruction in the society. At the end of World War II, women were forced to work in place of the men who joined the war. The demographic profile of countries which participated in wars was also affected. The ratio of men to women was greatly imbalanced in Germany after the World War II.

Effects of the war which took place over the years were not all negative so to speak. There were great technological advances during the course of war. Massive researchers regarding nuclear weapon technology impacted the scientific community and opened doors for further discoveries. Ballistics and code breaking method were also discovered during the war period and these paved way for advancements in computer technology. The wars benefited the military sector in terms of weapon advancements. Weapons which were ineffective in the previous wars were rendered obsolete and replaced with more technologically advanced machineries and weapons. These gave rise to the weapons used by military forces around the world today.

The question now is, is waging a war morally right or wrong During the ancient times, wars were seen as noble for people sacrifice themselves in order to protect their nation. Through the course of years, when wars grew more advanced and gave harsher effects not only to the participating countries but also to other countries as well, people started to question whether wars are morally right or wrong. Some believe that wars are necessary in order to protect their respective countries and others believe that wars are inherently wrong and should never be fought.

I believe that wars are neither right nor wrong in a sense that it cannot be justified fully as either moral or immoral. Even though the aim of waging a war is to protect and defend the country, the aftermath of the war is wrong. Likewise, if a country is not prepared for a war, a single attack to the country can be very fatal to the people. For an instance, the 911 attack which killed thousands of people can be seen as a result of the failure of the country to defend itself well. However, the extensive damages caused by the war the United States waged against foreign countries as a counter-attack to the 911 incident, affected many innocent people as well.

Indeed wars which happened throughout the years shaped the history and culture of the world and its people. Different opinions may be said about the causes and effects of warfare. Nevertheless, it is important to remember the people who contributed and sacrificed their lives in line of duty just to save their country and their fellowmen. Justifying whether a war is morally right or wrong can be very difficult especially if we scale the reasons behind it.