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what starts war?

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by 2295wynberglad (U7761102) on Tuesday, 26th August 2008

  I know that this will seem a strange question.
  I was asked by a young lad once if religions was the cause of all wars, and I had to say yes it often was i.e. 1630 Magdeburgh catholic V protestant and Breitenfield in reverse, then the English Civil War and of course the battle of the Boyne. But the second world war was started by the very harsh terms set by the allies on Germany. Back came the reply No it was because Hitler hated the Jews, for amoment I had to say that was not the reason.
  Have I made a mistake.

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Philip25 (U11566626) on Tuesday, 26th August 2008

  As with most things historical, the answer is about INTERPRETATION.
  
  The same war might be perceived to have different causes by various participants - just to one, immoral to another; defensive or aggressive; the result of grievances...
  
  Wars can have many causes and one war several. take World War One, a few suggestions might be:
  
  * the problem of Germany i.e her strategic position in Europe since 1870
  * revanche - France's desire for revenge since 1870 (and for the return of Alsace/Lorraine
  * the alliance system
  *Germany's fear of encirclement
  * Britian's fear of the purpose of the new German High Seas Fleet which could only be aimed against Britain
  * a mistake (Germany's blank cheque to Austria/miscalculations about what GB would do)
  * HIM The Kaiser's aggressive foreign policy over 25 years
  *the weakness of Austria-Hungary
  *Serbia and the need for A-H to teach her a lesson
  * Russia's need not to back down as the defender of Slavdom as it had done in 1912
  * economic causes
  * natural causes - the world needed to reduce surplus population!!
  * the arms race
  * miscalculations about modern war (a short war like 1870 was expected, something rather different resulted)
  * the inflexibility of the German war plan and railway timetables
  * the existence of huge standing armies of conscripts and the huge mobilisation plans
  * the German invasion of Belgium in violation of the 1830 treaty of which GB was a guarantor
  * the perceived need for Germany to defeat France before Russia could mobilise
  
  All these are valid, but some might emphasise X or Y, someone else A & B. Different decades find different concensuses. Books in the 1920s or 1950s might have a different tone or emphasis than those written today.
  
  And of course my reasons explain different things perhaps:
  
  - why a certain kind of war long not short etc
  - why in 1914 9 not in 06, 10 or 16
  - why at all?
  
  Different periods might have different themes:
  
  claims to thrones (Edward III and Henry V against France)
  to consolidate a nation state (Louis XIV or Bismarck)
  trade
  slaves
  military glory (Pomeius Magnus and GJ Caesar)
  La Gloire (Napoleon)
  Revenge or restoration of the status quo (Kuwait/Iraq 1992)
  To defend allies or for treaty reasons (GB 1914 and 1939)
  Tension between states
  Annexation (Rusiia/Georgia 2008)
  Pre-emptive strike to remove a perceived strategic threat (Iran 200???)
  
  How long do you want me to go on.
  
  I had a history master at school who found stydying the CAUSES of war much more interesting than the wars themselves.
  
  At it is, of course all about perception and the angle you look from. A geo-political strategic view of (say) the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, might say they were about exporting revolution and new ideas, about modernising Europe and abolishing the old monarchist /absolutist regimes. Or as economic clashes between GB and France. Napoleon is then just an actor.
  
  Write a biography of Napoleon you might chose a different explanation, in which Napoleon (or Caesar or Alexander in their times) was the instigator and onlie begetter...
  
  I'll be interested to read the views of others.
  
  Phil
  

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• Message 3

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  Posted by suvorovetz (U12273591) on Tuesday, 26th August 2008

  But the second world war was started by the very harsh terms set by the allies on Germany. Back came the reply No it was because Hitler hated the Jews, for amoment I had to say that was not the reason.
  Have I made a mistake. Β 
  
  Yes, you have, but it's not the mistake you probably have in mind:
  
  

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• Message 4

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by TimTrack (U1730472) on Wednesday, 27th August 2008

  "...Back came the reply No it was because Hitler hated the Jews, for amoment I had to say that was not the reason.
  Have I made a mistake..."
  
  
  As Philip stated, there is much debate about the cause of each particular war.
  
  However, in the case of WW2, the Jews had nothing whatsoever to do with it in practice. Hitler, it should be said, did blame the Jews. But I think that we need not take that at face value. He blamed them for almost everything.
  
  If we accept that the invasion of Poland marks the start of WW2 then the direct cause is expansionism, Germany was first in, later followed by the Soviets. 'Versailles revisionism' was really what created the background to German expansionism and the reaction to it.
  
  But the invasion of Poland has nothing to do with this. The Nazi regime had decided long before that they needed huge tracts of land to the east to expand into. It was imperialism.
  
  As for religion, well, yes, it is implicated in many wars, but by no means all of them. It can be fun getting Christian fanatics to wriggle out of their religion playing a role in the crusades.

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• Message 5

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Mani (U1821129) on Wednesday, 27th August 2008

  2295wynberglad
  
  
  "But the second world war was started by the very harsh terms set by the allies on Germany. Back came the reply No it was because Hitler hated the Jews, for amoment I had to say that was not the reason.
  Have I made a mistake."
  
  No. It's a bit of a naive view from whoever said that. The 'Jewish question' wasn't an issue till well into the war. Also, it's about prospective.
  
  Why The Germans were combatants in the war was different to France, France different to the UK, The Soviet Union, Poland, Japan, the US, China, Romania, Finland, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand etal. However, none of them entered the war because of the so called Jewish question.
  
  
  

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• Message 6

  , in reply to message 5.

  Posted by peteratwar (U10629558) on Wednesday, 27th August 2008

  Answering the thread's starter.
  
  Greed, arrogance, fear or a mixture of all or any of them.
  
  Goes for virtually every war I would think.
  
  Religion has been used as a cloak for these

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