5 ms·
"Causes of Civil War are also, that the Wealth of the Nation is in too few mens hands, and that no certain means are provided to keep all men from a necessity e
by foxyv 6y ago
"Causes of Civil War are also, that the Wealth of the Nation is in too few mens hands, and that no certain means are provided to keep all men from a necessity either to beg, or steal, or be Souldiers." - William Petty
While this is a quote about civil war, it points out a key fact. A country with a strong middle class is much less likely to send its children to war over stupid things. Even the USA barely sent 177,000 troops to Iraq and, despite a jingoistic upswell from 9/11, it was still terribly unpopular.
In my opinion, if you want peace, study poverty.
- saiya-jin 6y agoRicher folks also tent to study more and have say more options to expand their mind to various views, cultures and places. Far harder to manipulate/outright brainwash those into some patriotic bullshit about defending your home from those evil bad guys. Unless you force drafts with hard punishments for those avoiding of course, but such an army would have very low morale not only these days.
- 8fGTBjZxBcHq 6y agoI guess you aren't in the US because we're possibly at the early stages of a civil war led by a brainwashed bourgeoisie.
- bluGill 6y agoBoth sides have their extremists. The media loves to make them seem worse than they are. That doesn't make them significant. Of course time will tell.
- FooHentai 6y agoEnabled, I would say at a more fundamental level, by an erosion of the middle class. Note the election rhetoric for several iterations now has focused on promising improvements in prosperity for the common man. Nothing new of course, but the subsequent inaction and worsening of the situation by the time the next election cycle rolls around just leads to the rhetoric intensifying and a populace increasingly willing to elect whomever makes the most outlandish promises.
- foxyv 6y agoA conflict large enough to be classified as a civil war would require a great deal more organization than has occurred so far. At best it was a halfhearted coup attempt by a small group of nothing to lose hysterics under cover of a protest. Not much of a plan other than to cause trouble and maybe kill a target of opportunity. Now if, for instance, a group of state legislatures and governors decided to meet and elect Trump as president of their own collective splinter nation I would say we'll have ourselves a "Civil War." Though how long it would last is hard to say.
- jjk166 6y agoThere's a reason why the draft let people pay someone else to take their place - if the wealthy thought they would find themselves in the trenches too then we would never send forces overseas.
- captainredbeard 6y agoIt's an inversion of history, in some ways, as typically the elite were responsible for much of the fighting and defense of the land (e.g. Medieval England).
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- loceng 6y agoBrilliant. I'll take this one step further, if you want peace, study health.
- ip26 6y agoI would nudge your course slightly. Instead of simply poverty, economic opportunity. In poverty, with no economic opportunity, war is your only opportunity.
- jhpriestley 6y agoA lot of the great wars of history have been instigated by rich countries - modern USA, Nazi Germany / Imperial Japan, Spanish Empire, British Empire, Napoleonic France, Roman Empire. This is my qualitative sense from studying history, and it seems to hold up quantitatively based on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll
- nicbou 6y agoI can't speak for the other nations, but Nazi Germany was a very poor country. The standard of living in Germany was relatively bad, in no small part because of the post-war economic turmoil. I submit the first few chapters of Wages of Destruction as my source. I am totally unqualified to summarize it, but it's shock full of data that support this thesis. It's a really good book.
- jhpriestley 6y agoI'd be curious to know more, I'll try to take a look at that book when I get a chance. Are you saying, though, that Nazi Germany was very poor relative to its neighbors (e.g. France, Poland, Italy) or relative to the world at the time (e.g. Mexico) or in an absolute sense (widespread extreme poverty, lack of basic necessities of life)?
- nicbou 6y agoThe comparisons in the book are to Britain, France and the United States. It's an excellent book if you're into economics. It gives you a much better understanding of Germany's hand, and how it affected its politics.
- foxyv 6y agoTotally buying that book now. One of my most memorable classes back in college was Economics of War. While I'm sure Economics isn't the only reason for wars, it seems to be one of the big ones.
- foxyv 6y ago