As we begin our Meanings and Myths of War class, we almost immediately begin to wonder why we start them in the first place. What encourages a group of people to initiate a conflict that ends in bloodshed? A good way of understanding is by observing past conflicts and the motives behind them.
One of the many conflicts we can look at is the First Crusade. The First Crusade was a war that began to halt the expansion of the Muslim Seljuk Turks and to recapture Jerusalem. To help rally an army, Pope Urban II assured Christians that any who died fighting for such a noble cause would be forgiven for their sins. In this case religious belief is what seemed to be the driving motive for this conflict and the eight other ones that occurred afterward. But is it really surprising that men would voluntarily go to war time and time again and commit such heinous crimes after being promised a paradise after death? It's fairly obvious that if a person can be completely absolved of their guilt that they really wouldn't worry to much about the morality of their actions.
War isn't always waged on the foundation of a Religious belief. Other times they're waged on a moral disagreement. Take the American Civil War for example. One motive for the war, although not the only one, was the issue of slavery. The Confederacy, made up of Southern states that supported slavery, fought against the Union, Northern states which sought to halt the expansion of slavery. One side was trying to abolish a crime against mankind while the other sought to keep a comfortable way of life. Of course now we feel that it was definitely necessary to abolish slavery and begin paving the path to true equality, but is it wrong to question how different life would be if the Confederacy had won? After all, history is written by the victor.
Other times the motive for conflict can be out of a sense of competition. During the mid 1880's the European countries squabbled over African territory for the rich resources that could be found there. Although not a war, the Race for Africa turned out to be a competitive mess, leaving the Africans in a worse shape. While the countries were definitely out to get resources for themselves they also did it to deny other countries of the same resource.
The causes for wars are many. Regardless of whether or not we see them as justifiable or not, they always end up leaving someone in ruin and in discontent. Perhaps further on in our discussions we can begin to dig deeper into why humans are so susceptible to conflict as a whole.
