Assignment 9 - Kyle Hosey

Any history course, be it that of American, World, or European (especially European) is inevitably tied in with a great amount of warfare. From the ancient Persians and Greeks to Napoleon and to Hussein, human history is laced with its fair share of armed conflict. The vast majority are wars of aggression -  X country wants Y country's resources, so X country takes it by force. Y country is always Poland. It is, as Tom Clancy says, "armed robbery writ large." As a species, I believe that we are seeing, within our own lifetimes, the end of this pattern. Just 100 years ago, the rights of a sovereign included the right to initiate war - for two decades the world plummeted into conflict as Europe tore itself apart not once, but twice in 20 years. The global atmosphere surrounding that kind of aggression has changed greatly since then. Condemnation of Russia's attempt to acquire the Crimea - and possibly the rest of the Ukraine - was nearly universal, and any territorial aggression draws disapproval from around the globe, whereas apathy or even enthusiasm were common a century ago. However, the fact that condemnation is necessary is undeniable evidence that this particular problem is not yet dead. In pursuit of that goal, I believe war to be necessary - even morally correct - in defensive situations. Unjust invasions simply cannot be tolerated in the modern world, and few would disagree that the victimized country has every right to defend itself. That, however, is the only circumstance under which war is an absolutely defensible and moral option. Every other situation varies so greatly that it is impossible to place a set of absolute values on them pertaining to the option of warfare. Two American actions in the Middle East demonstrate this point well. When Hussein invaded Kuwait in one of recent history's more memorable conflicts, the US and her allies drove back the Iraqi armies, then stopped at the border having successfully repelling Hussein's play for Kuwait's oil. A decade later, we did invade Iraq, this time on less that convincing evidence. That turned into one of the worst foreign policy decisions in US history, creating circumstances far beyond what anyone could have foreseen. Defensive warfare is a right; anything else is circumstantial.