Page 173 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

1950 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

weapons or ways of fighting might be taboo, quite liter- modern war has often been associated with other mod-
ally. Ritual penance often served as an obligatory after- ern political movements aimed at expanding human
math of killing in war. While often connected to or rights generally. Jane Addams, best known as the founder
interpreted within a framework of religion (including the of Hull House and for her efforts for women’s suffrage,
salvation religions), such limits tended to be somewhat also worked for world peace; Gandhi used nonviolent
localized and displayed the malleability of custom and resistance against British imperialism and worked for
tradition, not the legalism of exegesis. peace; and Martin Luther King Jr. adopted Gandhi’s tac-
Many of the most destructive wars in history resulted tics to work both for civil rights and against U.S. involve-
from the breakdown of such norms of warfare, either ment in Vietnam.While the work of individuals and even
because of “cheating” by an internal player in the cultural groups in promoting peace may seem unrealistically ide-
system or, more often, because of the intrusion into the alistic against an ongoing backdrop of civil wars, terror-
system of an external invader who did not know or play ism, and rogue nuclear powers and in the wake of the
by the rules.Warfare that crossed lines of culture, in other bloodiest century in human history, there are trends that
words, tended to be bloodier than intra-cultural warfare, seem more hopeful.
whether the lines of culture were drawn along linguistic, Political scientists like to point out that no two democ-
religious, ethnic, or class lines.Whether it occurred in the racies have ever gone to war with each other (the Civil
warfare of Greek city-states in the wake of the Persian War between the USA and the CSA forming a contro-
invasion, in the European conquest of the Americas, or versial exception), and the world at the turn of the mil-
in the eruption of terrorism into NewYork City in 2001, lennium is more democratic than ever before. The
the breakdown of an unstated but pervasive set of rules economists’ version is that no two countries with
of war has usually stimulated both the most vehement McDonald’s have gone to war with each other (although
calls for further war and the most impassioned pleas for NATO did bomb Belgrade); perhaps increasing global
peace—from Aristophanes’ Lysistrata to Bartolomeo de interdependence through economic ties tends to mitigate
las Casas’ arguments in favor of los Indios to modern against warfare. On the other hand, environmental crises
anti-war movements. played a role in the origins of war, and they may play a
Terrorism is seen to violate norms that have acquired role in its continuation in the twenty-first century. What
the force of international law, and the formalization of rit- is certain is that questions of war, peace, and human
ual limits on warfare, not just in law but in regulated sys- rights are now global concerns.
tems of diplomacy, has also served at times to mitigate
Stephen Morillo
the effects of warfare.The nomad-sedentary frontier was
a frequent site of both breakdowns of warrior convention
and the construction of diplomatic ties that created new, Further Reading
broader cultures of acceptable war. While the inherent Ackerman, P., & DuVall, J. (2000). A force more powerful: A century of
instability of the steppes often rendered such efforts non-violent conflict. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Barash, D., & Webel, C. (2002). Peace and conflict studies. Thousand
impermanent, longer-lasting state-based systems of inter- Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
national diplomacy and understanding have perhaps Barfield, T. (1989). The perilous frontier: Nomadic empires and China.
Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
worked to greater effect, and have produced in the twen-
Black, J. (1998). War and the world. Military power and the fate of con-
tieth century mechanisms such as the UN aimed at cre- tinents, 1450–2000. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
ating a global culture of peace rather than war. Black, J. (2003). War:An illustrated history. Gloucestershire, UK: Sutton
Publishing.
Bradford, A. (2001). With arrow, sword and spear: A history of warfare
Modernity: Beyond War and Peace? in the ancient world. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Crone, P. (1989). Pre-industrial societies. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
The rise of modern peace movements as an aspect of
Diamond, J. (1997). Guns, germs and steel.The fates of human societies.
mass politics and in reaction to the destructiveness of New York: Norton.