Before even discussing the pros and cons of war I believe it is necessary to recognize war as an inevitability, a by product of the animal nature of the human species. We have evolved in such a way so as to fill a unique ecological niche and have become a force of nature in our own right but humans are still just as animalistic as any other species. Nature is full of dominance and submissiveness, predator and prey relationships and the human species plays these out everyday, just in the manner in which we are capable of doing so.
If we recognize that humans are an animal species just like any other then we can recognize that combat, war, and plays of power are an inevitability of that nature. War and international conflict is the mechanism that drives and advances societies, a human world is not possible without it. Through war society collectively expresses what it sees as right and wrong and has a field on which to test that. Over centuries war has been the driving element behind the propagation of an ideology as it followed military campaigns and diffused into cultures.
Despite the heavy loss of human life, the tremendous impact on an environment, and the myriad other seemingly negative aspects affiliated with war, the conflict is both necessary and good. War has been used to stop evil tyrants in their paths and save countless lives, in the US war has led to the creation of a military which is constantly leading the way in scientific and technological innovation all while providing invaluable disaster relief capabilities. Wars of the past have led to the creation of peace bringing supranationalistic organizations such as NATO and the UN too. War in general is the inevitable manifestation of animal conflict in the human species, and from it so much more good has come.
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