The Art of War
March 11th 2008 01:33
500 years before Christ's birth Sun-Tzu in his legendary military manuel, The Art of the War, stated
'There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.' - Art of War, Chapter 2, Paragraph 6.
Sun-Tzu was no douby right then and is no doubt right now. However, little has changed after 2500 years of world history and still much of the world lives during times of war.
'There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.' - Art of War, Chapter 2, Paragraph 6.
Sun-Tzu
Sun-Tzu was no douby right then and is no doubt right now. However, little has changed after 2500 years of world history and still much of the world lives during times of war.
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Comment by Wide-eyed and Gentle
You see Mr Redfearn, war is also one of the great engines of progress. Depending on your socio-analytical bent, the rise of Europe (or ‘the West’) throughout the middle ages and past the renaissance – achieving superiority over any other continent in terms of concentration of power, technological progress, and standards of living – has been largely due to the fact that Europe until the 1950’s was in a perpetual state of war, and if not, of preparedness for war. On an abstract level, war gives civilizations the impetus to create and to persevere, and on a practical level, demands the involvement of every strata of society, resulting in enormous productive output and the distillation of a strong national identity. In this respect, despite the profound suffering inflicted on Europeans throughout the ages due to loss of life, persecution, and population movements, ‘prolonged warfare’ has done them a lot of good. France, Germany and Britain achieved hegemony at different stages of history because of prolonged warfare, and their populations (or at least parts of them) reaped the benefits in the long term, and the overwhelming majority certainly still do today.
In a more recent context, the United States is has reaped the benefits of ‘prolonged warfare’ more than any other nation in history. The rise of the ‘Military-Industrial Complex’, as Eisenhower termed it, has propelled the US economy for over 50 years. This not only involves arms sales – one of the primary exports of the United States, housing the biggest arms industry in the world – but the integration and direction of enormous sectors of industry and research into advancing combat-related technologies and expertise. Since the end of WWII, America has been involved in over 45 foreign armed interventions and conflicts (excluding Iraq and Afghanistan) – much of its economic and political success, and the comfort and wealth of its citizens, is inexorably linked to the perpetuation of war, and the industry which is behind it. The same holds, although to a lesser extent, for countries like France, Pakistan, and Russia.
So Sun Tzu, who I assume is in this quote is referring to countries as entities in some sort of cost/benefit strategic/realist sort of way – as Machiavelli does in ‘The Prince’ – and not so much in terms of individual suffering, has become rather outdated, don’t you think?
But that’s just me, I’m just Wide Eyed and Gentle.