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>War is almost never to "make a profit" Where did you get that idea? >war is a matter not so much of arms as of money -Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesi

>War is almost never to "make a profit" Where did you get that idea? >war is a matter not so much of arms as of money -Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War

ksdale 11y ago
Without looking it up I'd still be willing to bet that Thucydides meant war is expensive, not that it's profitable.
- alanwatts 11y ago
  And so following your logic, since war is expensive, it would be rational for any empire to have colonies to increase their profits and thus their ability to secure themselves economically and geographically. I might add for clarification: war is almost never profitable for the common people but is highly profitable for those in power. >Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. -James Madison
- ArkyBeagle 11y ago
  The Athenian culture was a money culture. The Spartan (League) culture was not. The Athenians won.
ArkyBeagle 11y ago
How could anyone ever think that a war could be a mechanism for making money? No doubt many have, but it's nearly prima facie false. It's possible for certain kinds of wars of conquest to leave improved trade networks in their wake - the Mongol Conquest worked this way - but the currency of violence is blood, not treasure. History is full of examples of ruinous wars. It has very few that worked out ... financially even for the victors.

>War is almost never to "make a profit" Where did you get that idea? >war is a matter not so much of arms as of money -Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War

ksdale 11y ago

Without looking it up I'd still be willing to bet that Thucydides meant war is expensive, not that it's profitable.

alanwatts 11y ago
And so following your logic, since war is expensive, it would be rational for any empire to have colonies to increase their profits and thus their ability to secure themselves economically and geographically. I might add for clarification: war is almost never profitable for the common people but is highly profitable for those in power. >Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. -James Madison
ArkyBeagle 11y ago
The Athenian culture was a money culture. The Spartan (League) culture was not. The Athenians won.

ArkyBeagle 11y ago

How could anyone ever think that a war could be a mechanism for making money? No doubt many have, but it's nearly prima facie false. It's possible for certain kinds of wars of conquest to leave improved trade networks in their wake - the Mongol Conquest worked this way - but the currency of violence is blood, not treasure. History is full of examples of ruinous wars. It has very few that worked out ... financially even for the victors.