{"id":41614,"date":"2021-07-02T09:32:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-02T13:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=41614"},"modified":"2021-07-12T11:11:14","modified_gmt":"2021-07-12T15:11:14","slug":"what-causes-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/","title":{"rendered":"What Causes War? Indispensable Lessons From History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What causes war? Is war inevitable and even necessary?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In <em>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/race-in-society\/\">Lessons of History<\/a><\/em>, Will and Ariel Durant share what they learned about war in their extensive research of human history. What causes war, they conclude, are the same factors that cause individuals to fight. They also reflect on war and peace in the era of the global communist threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more to learn a historical perspective on what causes war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">War and History<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>War is a constant in history, there being only 268 years of no war in 3421 years of history. But what causes war? War occurs for the same reason individuals fight: to compete for more resources and power, for pride, and to survive under threat. Peace is accomplished only through acknowledged supremacy or equal power. \u201cThe Ten Commandments must be silent when self-preservation is at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The state inherits the will of the individual, without the individual\u2019s normal boundaries. <\/strong>The individual is constrained by morals and laws, because the state guarantees him basic protection in exchange for his submission. But the state is unfettered, either because it is strong enough to defy interference with its will, or because there is no superstate to offer it protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nationalism gives added force in diplomacy and war. Improving communication and means of indoctrination made nationalism far more effective and pervasive than centuries past, involving civilians and combatants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we consider what causes war, we should consider peace. Philosophers will wax about pacifism, but generals believe that war is necessary and, in the military interpretation of history, the final arbiter. The Durants offer a couple of observations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>What would have happened to our heritage if it were not protected against Mongol invasions?<\/li><li>A society that enjoys a long peace may atrophy its martial muscles, making it susceptible to outside attack.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Threat of Communism<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The book was written in the 1970s, and the authors consider what to do about communism, if it threatens to engulf Asia, Africa, and South America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Russia industrialized rapidly under a model of state control. Young nations in developing areas want to imitate this, and so are eager to replicate its practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Should America, at the height of its power, withdraw and let hostile states encroach; or should it consider what future generations wish they had done? Should it resist once, fight on foreign soil, and make the necessary sacrifice to protect America and democracy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/two-schools-of-thought\/\">two schools of thought<\/a>. The philosopher will suggest that the destructiveness of military weapons is unprecedented, and humanity should try a new approach in defiance of history. The philosopher suggests the President should be conciliatory, agreeing to mutual peace and commitment and avoiding subversion and betrayal. We should seek mutual understanding and chances to learn from one another, attempting a radical experiment in history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In contrast, the general laughs, thinking the philosopher has forgotten all of history and what causes war, especially the competitive nature of man. The general believes some fundamental differences cannot be negotiated away, that subversion will continue happening regardless of what is said on the surface, and that world order will arise from a victory so decisive that it will dictate international law. Groups unite only in the face of a common enemy, and mankind will become one only if it faces a foreign enemy together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What causes war? Although the reasons vary somewhat over time and from place to place, the underlying themes of competition, pride, and survival are as constant as war itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What causes war? Is war inevitable and even necessary? In The Lessons of History, Will and Ariel Durant share what they learned about war in their extensive research of human history. What causes war, they conclude, are the same factors that cause individuals to fight. They also reflect on war and peace in the era of the global communist threat. Read more to learn a historical perspective on what causes war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":41618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,275,24],"tags":[410],"class_list":["post-41614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-politics","category-society","tag-the-lessons-of-history","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Causes War? Indispensable Lessons From History - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What causes war? Historians Will and Ariel Durant point to the factors that cause individuals to fight: competition, pride, and survival.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Causes War? Indispensable Lessons From History\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What causes war? Historians Will and Ariel Durant point to the factors that cause individuals to fight: competition, pride, and survival.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-02T13:32:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-12T15:11:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/what-causes-war.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"What Causes War? Indispensable Lessons From History\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-02T13:32:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-12T15:11:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/\"},\"wordCount\":586,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/what-causes-war.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Lessons of History\"],\"articleSection\":[\"History\",\"Politics\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/\",\"name\":\"What Causes War? Indispensable Lessons From History - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/what-causes-war.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-02T13:32:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-12T15:11:14+00:00\",\"description\":\"What causes war? Historians Will and Ariel Durant point to the factors that cause individuals to fight: competition, pride, and survival.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/what-causes-war.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/what-causes-war.jpg\",\"width\":750,\"height\":250},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What Causes War? Indispensable Lessons From History\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\",\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\"},\"description\":\"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.\",\"sameAs\":[\"rina@shortform.com\"],\"award\":[\"Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)\",\"Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)\",\"Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)\",\"Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)\"],\"knowsAbout\":[\"History\",\"Theology\",\"Government\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Senior SEO Writer\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Causes War? Indispensable Lessons From History - Shortform Books","description":"What causes war? Historians Will and Ariel Durant point to the factors that cause individuals to fight: competition, pride, and survival.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What Causes War? Indispensable Lessons From History","og_description":"What causes war? Historians Will and Ariel Durant point to the factors that cause individuals to fight: competition, pride, and survival.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2021-07-02T13:32:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-07-12T15:11:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":250,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/what-causes-war.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elizabeth Whitworth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Whitworth","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/"},"author":{"name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13"},"headline":"What Causes War? Indispensable Lessons From History","datePublished":"2021-07-02T13:32:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-12T15:11:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/"},"wordCount":586,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/what-causes-war.jpg","keywords":["The Lessons of History"],"articleSection":["History","Politics","Society"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/","name":"What Causes War? Indispensable Lessons From History - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/what-causes-war.jpg","datePublished":"2021-07-02T13:32:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-12T15:11:14+00:00","description":"What causes war? Historians Will and Ariel Durant point to the factors that cause individuals to fight: competition, pride, and survival.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/what-causes-war.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/what-causes-war.jpg","width":750,"height":250},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-war\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What Causes War? Indispensable Lessons From History"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13","name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elizabeth Whitworth"},"description":"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.","sameAs":["rina@shortform.com"],"award":["Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)","Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)","Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)","Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)"],"knowsAbout":["History","Theology","Government"],"jobTitle":"Senior SEO Writer","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/what-causes-war.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41614"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41787,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41614\/revisions\/41787"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}