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A review by karp76
On the Origins of War: And the Preservation of Peace by Donald Kagan
5.0
William Shakespeare wrote, "War gives the right to the conquerors to impose any condition they please upon the vanquished." And from this point, Kagan begins his study. He argues that the free state of existence of humanity/world/states is not peace, not harmony yet war:
"That apart from education the chief course advised to maintain peace is restraint: the avoidance of actions that will destroy peace that is the natural order of things. The evidence provided by the experience of human beings living in organized societies for more than five millennia suggests otherwise. Statistically, war has been more common than peace, and extended periods of peace have been rare in a world divided into multiple states. The cases we have examined indicate good will, unilateral disarmament, the avoidance of alliances, teaching and preaching of the evils of war by those states who, generally, satisfied with the state of the world, seek to preserve peace, are of no avail. What seems to work best, even though imperfectly, is the possession by those states who wish to preserve peace of the preponderant power and of the will to accept the burdens and responsibilities required to achieve that purpose."
It is the dilemma of war and peace. The struggle of the humanity to abide the better angels of nature.
This is an excellent and exemplary read. A fine wine, not to be devoured but savored and mulled, perhaps only tasted, spit out and another sip needed. Before we retire, on last passage to consider. A moving one, a poignant one. Kagan writing on how British contemporaries hailed PM Chamberlain's achievement of appeasement by getting Hitler to promise not to invade Czechoslovakia or any other part of Europe:
"If the motives alleged were the only ones at work we should nonetheless need to point out that Munich was also the triumph of an unrealistic muddle-headedness that based its idea of justice on a gross misreading of history and its notion of safety on the promises of a demonic and ruthless leader of a brutal totalitarian regime whose writings, speeches, and actions over a decade and a half showed the he [Hitler] had no intention of keeping them [promises not to invade]. It is also hard to find nobility in a policy that sought peace at the expense of a small and weak nation (Czechoslovakia) that had put its trust in the nations who threw it to the very ferocious wolves to preserve, so they thought, their own safety."
"That apart from education the chief course advised to maintain peace is restraint: the avoidance of actions that will destroy peace that is the natural order of things. The evidence provided by the experience of human beings living in organized societies for more than five millennia suggests otherwise. Statistically, war has been more common than peace, and extended periods of peace have been rare in a world divided into multiple states. The cases we have examined indicate good will, unilateral disarmament, the avoidance of alliances, teaching and preaching of the evils of war by those states who, generally, satisfied with the state of the world, seek to preserve peace, are of no avail. What seems to work best, even though imperfectly, is the possession by those states who wish to preserve peace of the preponderant power and of the will to accept the burdens and responsibilities required to achieve that purpose."
It is the dilemma of war and peace. The struggle of the humanity to abide the better angels of nature.
This is an excellent and exemplary read. A fine wine, not to be devoured but savored and mulled, perhaps only tasted, spit out and another sip needed. Before we retire, on last passage to consider. A moving one, a poignant one. Kagan writing on how British contemporaries hailed PM Chamberlain's achievement of appeasement by getting Hitler to promise not to invade Czechoslovakia or any other part of Europe:
"If the motives alleged were the only ones at work we should nonetheless need to point out that Munich was also the triumph of an unrealistic muddle-headedness that based its idea of justice on a gross misreading of history and its notion of safety on the promises of a demonic and ruthless leader of a brutal totalitarian regime whose writings, speeches, and actions over a decade and a half showed the he [Hitler] had no intention of keeping them [promises not to invade]. It is also hard to find nobility in a policy that sought peace at the expense of a small and weak nation (Czechoslovakia) that had put its trust in the nations who threw it to the very ferocious wolves to preserve, so they thought, their own safety."