Why is there war?

Memorial Day. The day to honor and mourn the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Brave men and women, who fought for our country.

I am fearful of wars. Like many people in Europe who are close to my age, I have felt the tragic losses of war from an early age. I have never met eight of my uncles and aunts, never met the spouses they didn’t have, couldn’t get to know my cousins because they were never born, and I didn’t meet the grandparents on my mother’s side. My family could have been so large, yet there were only four when I entered this world.

Now sixty years later, I see the brutality of wars in the news -somewhere overseas, far away they are fighting. Sometimes we are involved, many times we are not.

Why are new wars still being started? We know from our own experience that not every problem has to lead to a fight.

I am fearful of war. I have felt war, a couple of times the fighting and the battles came too close. Yet, I was always safe and had enough time to get out -as did most of the other people who were crazy enough to work in countries where unrest, turmoil, and wars took place.

War! How do you explain it?

I came across a webpage where children, 10 years and older explained war and I was stunned by their ability to not just understand but also how they found the right words. All the kids live in Europe. I did not edit or correct anything.

Cihangir A. 10 years

So every day you probably hear about it: “Oh, there’s a war abroad”. You’re sure to say “huh” and move on with life. But what is war and how does peace come about? Okay, let’s say war is forbidden in all countries because all countries have made rules. But countries like Russia don’t follow any rules, so someone has to control it. There is an international police force, but it almost never helps; the military doesn’t help either, so entire countries have to solve it. But most of the time a country is too weak, for example Switzerland against Russia is not possible, so Switzerland has to take other countries with it, or directly threaten retaliation.

In 1945 all countries had the best idea, the UN. The UN helps with war and many other things when the country cannot do it itself. But the big and strong countries are against it because they don’t need the UN. But the UN cannot help with many things, for example, civil wars. These are the wars that happen in a country. Many countries have made deals, which means that if one is attacked, then 5 other countries come to help.

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Svea C.B. 12 years

«HOMO HOMINI LUPUS EST!». It means: “Man is a wolf to man”. Where does the quote come from?

Contrary to what one might assume, the sentence “Man is a wolf to man” (Latin Homo homini lupus est) is not found in the philosopher Thomas Hobbes’ most famous work, “Leviathan” from 1651, but in the letter of dedication to the Earl of Devonshire of his book “De Cive” (On the Citizen), published in 1642 and written in Latin.

After mentioning the Roman civil wars, Hobbes writes: “There is no doubt that both formulas are true, man is a god to man and man is a wolf to man. Philosopher Thomas Hobbes did not write this sentence just like that. He wanted to draw attention to this very thing. We should stop arguing, stop with everything that makes us sad! War is not a nice thing – stop! It only makes us sadder and more anxious.

I say: Stand up, be BRAVE and SAVE our planet!! Otherwise we will end up in the 3rd World War! And that wouldn’t be a nice thing….. We are already helping children who have had to experience the war and that is very bad.

War, torture or flight events can trigger traumas in CHILDREN from which they suffer. This also affects their everyday lives.

P.S. When I grow up, I’ll save our planet!

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Silje 9 years

During a war, a lot is destroyed, and it costs a lot to rebuild it. There was once a war that lasted a hundred years. But that was so long ago that the Hundred Years’ War wasn’t as bad as it would be today, because there were fewer soldiers on a battlefield back then. The armament was shields and swords, that’s not nearly as bad as the weapons today.

Most wars are about whether something belongs to one country or the other. Sometimes a country does not officially exist during a period of time and later the country exists again, such as Poland. There are also very short wars, recently there was one that lasted only 48 hours.

To ensure that there is as little war as possible, we have rules and norms. Actually, there is a better result if you talk to each other, because you have to do that sooner or later anyway.

Civil wars often occur when people in one part of the population are not treated as well as in another.

I saw a picture where a hand holds a glass ball with a dove of peace in it. This symbolizes how firmly you have to pay attention to peace. In the example, peace would stop when the crystal ball falls and shatters or is pressed too hard and breaks.

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Denis Y. 10 years

With a war, one side wants to achieve that it can command the other side. For example, a country may attack its neighboring country in order to make it part of its own country. Or you want to rob the other country. People are afraid of the other country and think to themselves “We’d rather attack first before the other country attacks us.” Or you think that something bad is being done in the other country and you want it to stop.

War can also begin when governments and politicians of different countries stop talking to each other in order to resolve their conflicts in a peaceful way. When it comes to war, there are always many injured and dead. People often suffer from the consequences of a war even after the war is long over.

The longest war in the world is the Hundred Years’ War. It was a war between England and France. It lasted 116 years (1337 – 1453). The shortest war lasted only 2 days (48 hours)! That was the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The First World War lasted from 1914 to 1918 and the Second World War from 1939 to 1945. This has cost the lives of millions of people.

War destroys many things, and most of the time people die. There is almost constant war somewhere in the world. Many politicians and other people are trying to prevent war. UNO is a globally active organization for peacekeeping. An international police force that helps with wars.

The most common cause of civil wars is the poorer treatment of part of the population.

Arrests and murders due to the war of aggression in Ukraine, Israel and the Gaza Strip, as well as in many places around the world, many people are currently fighting against people. I ask myself, why are there wars again and again? Why can’t we live in peace? Why have there been and still are people at all times who think war is great? What can we do in the future so that there will be no more war in the world?

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Sophia 9 years

In the past, the war was less bad because the weapons were even less dangerous and afterwards the whole country was not destroyed.

The Second World War was 80 years ago and lasted 6 years. After that, the UN was created, which has been helping countries ever since. Funnily enough, I visited the UN headquarters in Geneva during the last Easter holidays.

War can also occur between countries that are not exactly next to each other. That surprised me, because I thought there were always two neighboring countries fighting each other. The poor men are the ones who fight, the rich men rather less. I know it sounds crazy, but luckily there is more peace than war.

I learned that neutral people or countries help both warring parties. Switzerland, for example, is neutral.

Wars are actually forbidden.

Peace comes when a country gives up or the warring parties find a way to get along again. I wish so much that there would be no more war in the whole world!

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Alexander

Today I heard a lecture on the topic of war and peace. We have learned what the UN is, and that several countries should make sure that there are no more wars, but unfortunately, it is not working at the moment. This is because some countries do not agree and they want more, more material and more land area.

There are more than one god but they don’t seem to like each other. The people disrespect other gods only the one they know is a good god. They fight over who god is better.

A civil war is when a country fights against itself, for example North and South Vietnam and Korea.

Peace comes about when a country gives up, for example, or when presidents talk together and find solutions. Why don’t they do it first?

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Heinrich Anatole

A war can arise when a country thinks that it cannot benefit from something that benefits its neighboring countries. Sometimes countries find a solution or help the other country. If that doesn’t happen, it attacks one country. The country that is attacked is allowed to defend itself. Then there is war. This is forbidden and is sometimes punished. The goal of a war is not to conquer the country or destroy it, but to achieve its original goal when a country surrenders. This usually does not happen because states have made pacts with each other, they have allied themselves. When one country is attacked, another country supports that country. A pact is useful and useless at the same time.

The UN is a big pact. It was founded after the 2nd World War and is committed to less war. Almost all states have signed this treaty but great powers such as Russia or the USA have a veto right. If a country is attacked, they don’t have to send aid packages.

Switzerland and Luxembourg are neutral states. This means they are allowed to express political opinions and send relief supplies such as tents or food to the countries, but are not allowed to participate militarily in the war.

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Eileen Z. 9 years

The topic of war and peace has been a topic that has interested me for a very long time. It was exciting to finally take a closer look. It was interesting that there were short wars, such as the war, which lasted 48 hours, and there were also long wars.

But I also learned and heard a lot about peace. We need more love, hate is not good.

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