Will There Always Be Wars?
ON JULY 1, 1916, in the pleasant farming region of Picardy in Northern France, the First Battle of the Somme began. After tremendous artillery bombardments and aerial attacks, the British and the French forces launched what they hoped would be a decisive breakthrough of the entrenched German armies that faced them. But there was no breakthrough. Instead, on the first day, 20,000 British soldiers were killed. As the weeks dragged on, the battle continued with still no breakthrough. In October torrential rains turned the battlefield into a sea of mud. By mid-November the Allies had advanced a mere five miles [8 km]. Meantime, 450,000 German, 200,000 French, and 420,000 British lives had been lost. More than a million soldiers, most of them young men, perished in that battle!
This was merely an episode in the first world war. And the first world war was only one—albeit the worst up until then—of the innumerable wars that have been fought throughout history. What a senseless waste of human life!
Why do humans insist on killing one another in this way? There are many factors involved, among which we could mention selfishness, ambition, greed, as well as a lust for power and prestige. Another cause of warfare has been nationalism. Indeed, warfare reflects the accuracy of the observation on human history found in the Bible: “Man has dominated man to his injury.”—Ecclesiastes 8:9.
Religion too has often fomented war. The crusades of the Middle Ages were fought by religious nations for an ostensibly religious purpose: to win back Palestine for Christendom. In both world wars of this century, clergy from different denominations have tried to harness the religious feelings of the soldiers to make them more willing to kill their contemporaries on the other side. And some of the conflicts that are raging right now have a strongly religious aspect.
Gleams of Hope
Is there any hope that one day wars will cease? Yes, there is. Jesus Christ is called the “Prince of Peace.” When he came to earth, he lived up to this name, teaching people to love their neighbors as themselves. He even told them to love their enemies. (Isaiah 9:6; Matthew 5:44; 22:39) As a result, those who paid heed to his teachings in the first century became a peaceful, international brotherhood. It was unthinkable for them to wage war on one another. Unfortunately, however, the pure faith of these early Christians was later contaminated. In time, churches meddled in politics and their hands came to be drenched with the blood of the wars of the nations.
Much later, winds of change began to blow over Europe. It seemed as though mankind was becoming tired of incessant warfare. In 1899 and again in 1907, international conventions were held in The Hague, the Netherlands. At the convention of 1899, an agreement was adopted for the “Pacific [peaceful] Settlement of International Disputes.” So as the 20th century dawned, many hoped that the world would gradually outgrow its penchant for waging war. Such hopes, however, were shattered by the guns of the first world war. Did this mean that mankind’s hopes for peace would never be fulfilled?