Excuse my strained alliteration, but in any war, at least one side rationalizes one or more of the following nine reasons for starting it. Unless these imagined needs are met, one side’s status, privilege or existence is perceived to be at risk.
Real estate … an expanding population wants more space to sustain itself. The Nazis invaded Eastern Europe for “lebensraum” or “room to live” for Germanic peoples.
Resources … one side wants those controlled by another. Americans can’t always claim innocence on this one.
Retention … of one of the first two items that might be lost to an enemy, so the current owners launch preemptive war.
Realignment … of boundaries, especially of territories that have been lost in previous conflicts or …
Retribution … to correct an enemy’s past wrongs are two sometimes morally justifiable motives for war.
Revenge … is the darker side of retribution fueled by hatred and a desire to weaken or exterminate an enemy.
Rewards … financial benefit for those who produce military materiel or otherwise benefit from conflict.
Repression … to thwart an ascendant society that might challenge another or to repress a society whose people, culture, language, religion, race, etc. are deemed inferior or that might compete with another’s way of life.
Religion … is more often a justification for one of the above rather than a reason in and of itself. If an invisible divine being is your ally, however, how can you be wrong about your desires and actions? American manifest destiny was a quasi-religious justification for people of European origin to conquer North America. White Christian nationalism today could one day provide cover for a civil war against one’s fellow citizens rationalized along ideological and religious lines.
The major conflicts in the world today — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Israeli/Palestinian war — feature all of these reasons, and one wonders if we humans will ever get beyond them.
Jim Catano, Salt Lake City
