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>Gain land/people? If there's a thriving economy there, war will probably change that quickly. If there's no thriving economy, what's the point? The point of w

>Gain land/people? If there's a thriving economy there, war will probably change that quickly. If there's no thriving economy, what's the point? The point of war in the modern world may in fact be the denial of a thriving economy or industrial base to an adversary. For instance in a large scale nuclear war many of the plans call for the destruction of enemy nuclear weapons as to protect your own infrastructure/population and to destroy enemy infrastructure/population to gain an economic and industrial advantage after the war ends. War is also not always an economic calculation: humanitarian concerns, revenge, fear, upholding the law, alliances and thoughts of glory can often motivate a conquest that holds no real value to the victor. Why did Alexander engage in his wars? He didn't seem to particularly enjoy the job of government. What was the economic value to Rome of destroying Carthage?

robbiep 8y ago
Ultimately the answer to the economic value of Rome destroying Carthage was that Rome became the undisputed ruler of the Med for 500 years. Up until not that much time prior to the Punic wars, it wasn't at all clear that Rome would become the power that it did. Obviously the animosity between the two played a huge part in the desire to salt the fields of Carthage, but that is almost exactly how The Entente and the Central powers felt towards each other after 2 years of war - neither of them could stomach laying down their arms, because so much blood had been spilt. So they had to keep going, and going, and going
- EthanHeilman 8y ago
  > neither of them could stomach laying down their arms, because so much blood had been spilt. Lets hope sunk cost fallacy doesn't doom our global civilization. =/
  - kamaal 8y ago
    Unfortunately politics works exactly that way. See how far Japan got in WW2, knowing very well what could be the end of it. In fact the most scary situations in the entire WW2 was the time between the first nuclear weapon and the second nuclear weapon drop and the time after that till surrender. Here is a paragraph from the statement of Emperor of Japan. Moreover, the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is, indeed, incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives. Should we continue to fight, not only would it result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_of_Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_of_Japan Now imagine if the emperor had thought, they might as well endure a little further and let it continue. Then you have no other option but to the bomb the earth to biological extinction. Its very dangerous to posses a powerful weapon(like nuclear weapons), what's more dangerous is an enemy country deciding to be oblivious of it.
wrmsr 8y ago
"At the end of the war if there are two Americans and one Russian left alive, we win!"

robbiep 8y ago

Ultimately the answer to the economic value of Rome destroying Carthage was that Rome became the undisputed ruler of the Med for 500 years. Up until not that much time prior to the Punic wars, it wasn't at all clear that Rome would become the power that it did. Obviously the animosity between the two played a huge part in the desire to salt the fields of Carthage, but that is almost exactly how The Entente and the Central powers felt towards each other after 2 years of war - neither of them could stomach laying down their arms, because so much blood had been spilt. So they had to keep going, and going, and going

EthanHeilman 8y ago
> neither of them could stomach laying down their arms, because so much blood had been spilt. Lets hope sunk cost fallacy doesn't doom our global civilization. =/
- kamaal 8y ago
  Unfortunately politics works exactly that way. See how far Japan got in WW2, knowing very well what could be the end of it. In fact the most scary situations in the entire WW2 was the time between the first nuclear weapon and the second nuclear weapon drop and the time after that till surrender. Here is a paragraph from the statement of Emperor of Japan. Moreover, the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is, indeed, incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives. Should we continue to fight, not only would it result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_of_Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_of_Japan Now imagine if the emperor had thought, they might as well endure a little further and let it continue. Then you have no other option but to the bomb the earth to biological extinction. Its very dangerous to posses a powerful weapon(like nuclear weapons), what's more dangerous is an enemy country deciding to be oblivious of it.

wrmsr 8y ago

"At the end of the war if there are two Americans and one Russian left alive, we win!"