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I think the main change over the last hundred years or so is that most people will no longer accept "we should go to war because war is in itself glorious and w

I think the main change over the last hundred years or so is that most people will no longer accept "we should go to war because war is in itself glorious and we will win", or "to be a warrior is the ideal way for a man to live a flourishing life." I agree entirely that if a country's leaders manage to persuade their people that they should go to war against their neighbour because they are Evil then the result is likely to be worse than if they just have a war because they think that marching an army in to take over a couple of counties is a legitimate thing to do. But nonetheless I think that getting the latter generally seen as illegitimate is Progress with a capital P.

humanrebar 9y ago
We've transferred the motivation from war to political strife. "I should hate other voters because they have it coming, history is on my side, and we will win!" Generally, there's less physical violence, so I guess it's an improvement on those merits. Assuming this doesn't end in Civil War II.
watwut 9y ago
Isn't that just simplification of past politics influenced by contemporary pop culture? Wars were complicated and each had element of "we will win and it is glorious" element, but that was not the only argument in play and they had opposition. Plus, we still keep claiming we will win easily.