"Under the influence of politicians, masses of people tend to ascribe the responsibility for wars to those who wield power at any given time. In World War I it was the munitions industrialists; in World War II it was the psychopathic generals who were said to be guilty. This is passing the buck.
The responsibility for wars falls solely upon the shoulders of these same masses of people, for they have all the necessary means to avert war in their own hands. In part by their apathy, in part by their passivity, and in part actively, these same masses of people make possible the catastrophes under which they themselves suffer more than anyone else. To stress this guilt on the part of the masses of people, to hold them solely responsible, means to take them seriously. On the other hand, to commiserate masses of people as victims, means to treat them as small, helpless children. The former is the attitude held by genuine freedom fighters; the latter that attitude held by power-thirsty politicians."
-- Wilhelm Reich, The Mass Psychology of Fascism
War has as many people to blame as there are people involved. If you look in the right places, you can find any reason you want. Undeclared wars usually have very political reasonings behind them, but wars officially declared by Congress were usually started for any number of unknown reasons.
Although I am unfamiliar with WWI, I think WWII was started solly by Germany in the NAZI campaign of global domination. On a side-note, Adolph Eikman was largely responsible for the mass destruction of Jews. Adolph Hitler thought every non-German should be killed. And although Japan did join in the war and perform many inhumane acts, I believe America still needs to issue an official apology to Japan and to all Japanese-Americans - to Japan for the atomic bombings, and to Japanese-Americans for their cruel treatment during WWII.
The undeclared Vietnam conflict was a series of battles with no purpose and no winner.
The illegal invasion of Iraq was started because Saddam was pondering switching his official currency to the Euro. If this happened, the US Dollar would no longer be the official currency of oil, which is the only thing supporting our fragile economy. All of the reasons for going over there proved to be illusions, and now, as Americans, we must set up a democracy and declare Iraq to be our responsibility.
Taking it all the way back to tribal days, war is pretty simple. One group has either offended another group OR has something another group wants. Becoming offended has become even easier today with the speed and availability of the media. I think there are actually groups out there that live to be offended. Not being able to say Christmas Holiday at schools...come on! Desire is also very easy - Grass is always green on the other side. After WWII, Russia had a goal of spreading communism throughout the Middle East and Asia. Their goal was conquest of people and governments. The West's goal after WWII (a few countries) was to stop the spread of communism. This is a difficult goal to see today.
Just a thought,
Vincenzo
International Level: International Guru / Political Participation: 863 86.3%
Taking World War II as an example, a large part of the blame goes to the people that support or at least didn't oppose Adolf Hitler. Alone he was just a nut job, but when a nut job gathers a crowd, you got a disaster just waiting to happen.
International Level: New Activist / Political Participation: 21 2.1%
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Taking World War II as an example, a large part of the blame goes to the people that support or at least didn't oppose Adolf Hitler. |
International Level: Activist / Political Participation: 29 2.9%