War may be hell, but we are too often attracted to it like moths to the flame. "I have loved war too much," King Louis XIV of France confessed in 1710. "It is well that war is so terrible--we should grow too fond of it," General Robert E. Lee wrote similarly in 1862. And here we are, at the start of the twenty-first century with yet another war with yet another justification for terror, mayhem, and killing. Perhaps, then, there is something to Henry Ward Beecher’s observation in Proverbs From Plymouth Pulpit (1887): "It is not merely cruelty that leads men to war, it is excitement."
How do you feel about war? Is it justified as a means of self-defense? Is it justified as a means of retaliation? Should we make bombs, not butter? Examine your feelings about war in the activities for this chapter.
Examine the economics of a defensive war by calculating the costs of military weapons using the military budget planner. |
|
|
|
Define and describe the goals and conduct of war by classifying various types of scenarios as one of three types of war: Unconventional; Conventional; Mass destruction. |
|
|
|
Examine the major issues surrounding strategic nuclear war by analyzing some basic concepts such as Mutually Assured Destruction and Counterforce. |
|
|
|
Review recent defense expenditures, numbers of refugees, and arms trade by reviewing data on a table. |
|
|
|
Update your knowledge of armed conflicts around the world by looking at a recent table. You'll be surprised at where in the world people are fighting each other. |
|
|
|
Learn more about war and world politics by researching material in the Web links selected specifically for this chapter. |