Introduction
To envision the future of war requires reflection on its past. Knowing this history can forecast the events of wars to come. While no one can precisely foretell where forces will be implemented in the future, there is a great amount of interest in what future warfare might entail and how we will fight each other on land and in the air during the 21st century. Leaders of military forces have to be prepared for the future because war has devastating consequences. For many leaders, war is considered as a solution. It might solve one specific problem, but the cost is creating bigger problems that never existed. One useful way to begin is to identify trends from the past (Rosen, Stephen P., 2002). What are the consequences of war? Consequences of wars on people have existed from the Seminole war all the way to the Iraqi war by ending cultures, changing nations, dividing people, and damaging both sides. There are many aspects that war entails, but what will be the cause worth fighting for in the future? With the events that have already occurred it is only natural to try and envision what is to come.
War Ends Culture
The United States of America and its desire to achieve manifest destiny, or an expansion west, led to devastation of cultures and the forced eviction from territories of people previously owning those territories or inhabiting them. The times were a lot different than they are today, which leads to some understanding of why the leaders did what they did. People living in those lands were not too fond of being forced off their lands because they had to leave whether they liked it or not. Most of the people that were previous inhabitants of America were American Indians. They lived on these lands for numerous generations passing down their beliefs and values while maintaining a life that supported spirituality. The problem for the US government was that there was a need to move freely without confrontation from the people living in the area. The place the United States was trying to move, the home of the American Indians, was not yet a state and was owned by other countries. The United States ultimate goal was to remove the people who lived there to make way for white settlers.
Pre War Plan
The tribes down in Florida were forced to move from that territory to the western lands that the United States had picked out for them. Oklahoma was the destination for the Natives because the land was thought of as a barren wasteland where the population would die off. “Andrew Jackson himself didn’t want to see the tribes prosper. He wanted them to not survive because of their skin color, different culture and beliefs” (Indian Resistance and Removal, 2013). Some of the tribes fled from Florida and immediately went west because of the fear of conflict. They made the right move because they did not have to deal with the death that resulted from resistance. The next level of resistance faced the Trail of Tears, which was the forced march of many Native Americans to Oklahoma. The others moved further south because of a previous war that had pushed the Creek tribes out of their territory. Those tribes and the Seminoles felt that they still had a right to own land, which led them to take a stand against the United States. Their resistance forced the United States to declare war on the tribe so they could remove them for expansion purposes.
Pre War Plan
The tribes down in Florida were forced to move from that territory to the western lands that the United States had picked out for them. Oklahoma was the destination for the Natives because the land was thought of as a barren wasteland where the population would die off. “Andrew Jackson himself didn’t want to see the tribes prosper. He wanted them to not survive because of their skin color, different culture and beliefs” (Indian Resistance and Removal, 2013). Some of the tribes fled from Florida and immediately went west because of the fear of conflict. They made the right move because they did not have to deal with the death that resulted from resistance. The next level of resistance faced the Trail of Tears, which was the forced march of many Native Americans to Oklahoma. The others moved further south because of a previous war that had pushed the Creek tribes out of their territory. Those tribes and the Seminoles felt that they still had a right to own land, which led them to take a stand against the United States. Their resistance forced the United States to declare war on the tribe so they could remove them for expansion purposes.
Background: The Seminoles
“Seminole Indians were Creek Indians that migrated to Florida after Spanish rule” (John Missall, M. L., 2009), which led them to creating their own sense of Identity. The Europeans defined Seminoles as “those Indians that lived apart or were alienated” (John Missall, M. L., 2009). These alienated people not only included the Seminoles, but also blacks who were runaway slaves and Creek Indians. The slave trade, back in the 18th and 19th century, was a massive boost to the economy and was very profitable to the people in the U.S. The American Indians were acting as protectors to the slaves, and this led to one of the reasons that America forced their resignation. Andrew Jackson had more fuel to get the country behind his war since the Indians were seen as black protectors. With the whole nation at their backs the Seminoles still were not going to go quietly, which resulted in a three--part war. The wars all happened at separate times and led to outbursts by the Seminoles because they didn’t want to leave their land. They were sparked by the greed of the U.S. to try and expand down into the territory and get their slaves back. The U.S. needed to eliminate this threat and would not stop until the entire tribe was removed from the territory.
“Seminole Indians were Creek Indians that migrated to Florida after Spanish rule” (John Missall, M. L., 2009), which led them to creating their own sense of Identity. The Europeans defined Seminoles as “those Indians that lived apart or were alienated” (John Missall, M. L., 2009). These alienated people not only included the Seminoles, but also blacks who were runaway slaves and Creek Indians. The slave trade, back in the 18th and 19th century, was a massive boost to the economy and was very profitable to the people in the U.S. The American Indians were acting as protectors to the slaves, and this led to one of the reasons that America forced their resignation. Andrew Jackson had more fuel to get the country behind his war since the Indians were seen as black protectors. With the whole nation at their backs the Seminoles still were not going to go quietly, which resulted in a three--part war. The wars all happened at separate times and led to outbursts by the Seminoles because they didn’t want to leave their land. They were sparked by the greed of the U.S. to try and expand down into the territory and get their slaves back. The U.S. needed to eliminate this threat and would not stop until the entire tribe was removed from the territory.
First Seminole War (1814-1818)
The first war was an illegal war by all means because the territory of Florida was owned by a different country (Spain), but eventually that country gave it up. “The tactics that Andrew Jackson used were seen as vicious, but they had to be done to liberate the people and get the slaves back to their owners” (SecondSeminole War, 2013). Without remorse, he hung many Seminoles and blacks along with burning some of towns they lived in.
The first war was an illegal war by all means because the territory of Florida was owned by a different country (Spain), but eventually that country gave it up. “The tactics that Andrew Jackson used were seen as vicious, but they had to be done to liberate the people and get the slaves back to their owners” (SecondSeminole War, 2013). Without remorse, he hung many Seminoles and blacks along with burning some of towns they lived in.
Second Seminole War (1835-1842) and Third Seminole War (1856-1858)
The second war happened because the Seminoles were not well equipped in the land they were located to and the “Indian Removal Act of 1830” made the move inevitable. The Seminoles refused to move west and for that the second war started. This war was the most violent of the three resulting in many deaths on both sides. There were at least 1,000 deaths in this war alone and it cost the country 40 million dollars (Indian Resistance and Removal, 2013). Seminoles were doing their best to fight the resistance, but the loss of lives was too much to keep fighting. The resistance by the tribe was thinning, which made claiming the land a lot more achievable. The third war happened because of the Seminoles reluctance to immigrate to another land, Oklahoma, but they eventually gave up selling Florida. The end of this war left only a few hundred Seminoles left in the everglades and the sold of their property in Florida.
After Effects
The conclusion of these wars led to many changes in the way the Seminoles lived life. They had to move from the land they cherished and were relocated to a hostile environment. Some of the people were not in agreement with how the wars happened, “the stain on the honor of a great nation” (Seminole History, 2013). The effects of war may never be healed, but war can be looked at as a place to learn. Today there are about 15,000 people that identify themselves with the Seminole nation, which is about the same number of people that existed back when the war started. The people today live off of tourism, gambling and tobacco. They also have received some retribution from the United States “a sum of money totaling $12,347,500” (Seminole History, 2013), and they have adopted a constitutional government system (July 21, 1957).
Human Effect
Today many cultural values that I could have had are lost because of the war. War hindered the Seminoles’ ability to teach very important values and traditions to their children. Identity is a rare commodity amongst the Seminole tribe. Out of 313 million people in the U.S. about 15,000 of them are recognized by the Seminole tribes in Oklahoma and in Florida. On top of that, the language is hardly spoken anymore unless one is exclusive to that tribe, and is very privileged to be a part of one of the few clans that kept the traditions flowing. One of my biggest regrets is that I didn’t have a fair opportunity to preserve my culture and language. Seminoles now have to be very centralized in their way of life in order to preserve traditions and pressure mounts on future generations to keep them going. In my clan there is now a choice to preserve the culture and live poorly, or to have success in life and let go of most of the culture. Ultimately it’s now up to this next generation to change that and make sure there is preservation of culture and also success in life. The war was one of the last attempts at the Seminoles’ preservation of their beliefs and values; however, the resistance proved futile, only showing the hearts of a culture that would slowly decay into a tenuous existence.
The second war happened because the Seminoles were not well equipped in the land they were located to and the “Indian Removal Act of 1830” made the move inevitable. The Seminoles refused to move west and for that the second war started. This war was the most violent of the three resulting in many deaths on both sides. There were at least 1,000 deaths in this war alone and it cost the country 40 million dollars (Indian Resistance and Removal, 2013). Seminoles were doing their best to fight the resistance, but the loss of lives was too much to keep fighting. The resistance by the tribe was thinning, which made claiming the land a lot more achievable. The third war happened because of the Seminoles reluctance to immigrate to another land, Oklahoma, but they eventually gave up selling Florida. The end of this war left only a few hundred Seminoles left in the everglades and the sold of their property in Florida.
After Effects
The conclusion of these wars led to many changes in the way the Seminoles lived life. They had to move from the land they cherished and were relocated to a hostile environment. Some of the people were not in agreement with how the wars happened, “the stain on the honor of a great nation” (Seminole History, 2013). The effects of war may never be healed, but war can be looked at as a place to learn. Today there are about 15,000 people that identify themselves with the Seminole nation, which is about the same number of people that existed back when the war started. The people today live off of tourism, gambling and tobacco. They also have received some retribution from the United States “a sum of money totaling $12,347,500” (Seminole History, 2013), and they have adopted a constitutional government system (July 21, 1957).
Human Effect
Today many cultural values that I could have had are lost because of the war. War hindered the Seminoles’ ability to teach very important values and traditions to their children. Identity is a rare commodity amongst the Seminole tribe. Out of 313 million people in the U.S. about 15,000 of them are recognized by the Seminole tribes in Oklahoma and in Florida. On top of that, the language is hardly spoken anymore unless one is exclusive to that tribe, and is very privileged to be a part of one of the few clans that kept the traditions flowing. One of my biggest regrets is that I didn’t have a fair opportunity to preserve my culture and language. Seminoles now have to be very centralized in their way of life in order to preserve traditions and pressure mounts on future generations to keep them going. In my clan there is now a choice to preserve the culture and live poorly, or to have success in life and let go of most of the culture. Ultimately it’s now up to this next generation to change that and make sure there is preservation of culture and also success in life. The war was one of the last attempts at the Seminoles’ preservation of their beliefs and values; however, the resistance proved futile, only showing the hearts of a culture that would slowly decay into a tenuous existence.
How War Affects the Nation
Sometimes, war makes us who we are: as individuals, as families, and as nations.
How does war affect people? I would like to tell two stories from my and my husband’s families and explain how it affects us until nowadays. We suffer some family relational issues because our family’s past culture was damaged by wars and revolutions and it was reflected in future generations. My family was from the agricultural landlords (“kulak”) and we owned farm on which my ancestors were working from sunup until sundown, raising kids and giving them an education. They were happy and lived in peace. After the Soviet government took over the country my family lost everything and the NKVD (later KGP, a soviet type of secret police at that time) sent my great-great-grandfather to the concentration camp; he also lost two kids. All other family members could not go to the school because they got a “kulak” mark from the soviet administration and were defined as a sort of enemy of society. My great-great-grandmother could not accept all the problems and she died soon after the Great Bolshevik Revolution. Only three kids were left and they had to “wash out the family shame” during World War II. My great grandmother, who spoke five languages, was not able to find a good job due to her family past. She only could get a good job after the war, because she became a war hero and her family past didn’t matter anymore. She was an enemy of the Soviets and the Nazis, and she had to report for execution two times. After that, many generations’ fates were destroyed.
My husband’s family history: His grandfather was from an orphanage and lost his parents during World War I; he had never seen his parents. He never learned how to love and be soft with his family, and this was inherited from generation to generation until this day.
As for the Ukrainian people, because of multiple wars with Russia and genocide from the Russian empire, we lost much of our unique culture, cuisine, language, religion, and even history. Ukraine had never been interested in the Bolshevik Revolution and tried to create a separate country with its own president in 1918. Russia decided that Ukraine was supposed to be part of the USSR and “after the Russian Civil War ended in 1922 Ukraine was proclaimed as a soviet republic with a powerless republican government” (Zhukovsky 2).
Why Ukrainians Do Not Appreciate Russians
All the historical facts do not show any bright moments with Russians.
Ukrainian-Russian relations started with good intentions at the “Pereyaslov Treaty,” signing the “Pereyaslov Articles” as a confederation between Ukraine and Russia, but it ended up that Ukraine was colonized by the Russians and the Ukrainian population was enslaved. Basically this happened not only for Ukraine but for all the other nations of which Russia consists right now.
Even when Ukraine was under Polish administration, slavery was not enforced. But after Russia took over the Ukraine, most of the land was given to Russian noble people. This land became their property and could be sold from one owner to another. Russians who got Ukrainian land introduced a serfdom which had never existed before, and they went even further when Ukrainian peasants could be sold with or without land. Ukraine was not the only satellite land that had slavery. Russians introduced it in some parts of Siberia, Georgia, Baltic States and Finland.
The Ukrainian Cossacks army together with the Zaporizka Host was destroyed by Catherine and moved to the southern end of the Russian empire to avoid Ukrainian independence and create a protective buffer on the south frontier of the empire.
After the Russian Bolshevik revolution, Ukraine decided to become independent and created its own government and elected its first president. But Russia had a completely different plan. They started a military invasion in 1918. Most of the population was against the Russian expansion but even students were conscripted. Ukraine lost and became part of the USSR. But that was not the end of the troubles. Josef Stalin decided that Ukraine was “overpopulated” and created starvation in 1932-1933 (Holodomor) which killed about 7.5 million of the Ukrainian population. The word Holodomor literally translated from Ukrainian means "death by hunger," or "to kill by hunger, to starve to death." “According to estimates about 81.3% of the famine victims in Ukrainian SRR were ethnic Ukrainians, 4.5% Russians, 1.4% Jews and 1.1% were Poles” (Institute of History of Ukraine 32). Many Belarusians, Hungarians, Volga Germans and other nationalities became victims as well. Soviet leadership used the famine to attack Ukrainian nationalism and thus the events may fall under the legal definition of genocide. For example, special and particularly lethal policies were adopted in and largely limited to Soviet Ukraine at the end of 1932 and 1933; "each of them may seem like an anodyne administrative measure, and each of them was certainly presented as such at the time, and yet each had to kill" (Snyder 42-46).
Human Effect
Together with starvation, the NKVD (later KGB), which is a Soviet type of secret police, created many concentration camps on Ukrainian territory which executed more people before World War II than during it by Germans. I lived close to one of those NKVD work camps named “Bikovnya,” and I have visited it myself and have seen lists of hundreds of thousand Ukrainians killed during a period of 1932-1937.
During Soviet times from 1918 until 1991 Russians were changing Ukrainian culture as they wanted. In Ukrainian schools the Russian language was mandatory to study, but at the same time the Ukrainian language was optional. History was written from the Russian point of view. Most of the Ukrainian heroes like Ivan Mazepa were defined as traitors, but historically we can see that the Russian tzar was one. Years after Mazepa and his army fought for the Tzar in the Baltic, losing between 50 percent and 70 percent of their soldiers, the Tzar refused to help when Sweden invaded Ukraine on their way to Russia. After that, Ivan Mazepa allied with Sweden to save his nation. Ivan Mazepa wanted better for his own country but Russians see it differently. The same thing happened with the first Ukrainian president, Mykhailo Hrushevsky, who was elected in 1918 by the Ukrainian nation but he does not exist in a Russian version of history. Literature was mostly Russian; very few recommended writers were Ukrainians. Russians even changed the Ukrainian alphabet; they removed some letters and sounds, and introduced new ones. They tried making the Ukrainian language closer to Russian. Russians tried to destroy Ukrainian culture and partially succeeded. Many Ukrainians of the younger generation speak Russian as a mother–tongue. Lots of Ukrainian youngsters do not know Ukrainian writers and poets and they do not know the real history which is not a Russian version.
Russia even now tries to control Ukraine as a country. Ukraine is a very dependable customer of the natural gas resources from Russia, and Russians are using these natural resource dependencies to have political speculations, resulting in pro-Russian president elections.
It is very unpleasant to have a superior friend. Russians truly do not think that they are equal to all nations in the region. That is why many Russian neighbors do not like them. Friendship cannot be healthy in unequal parties’ relationships. A slave cannot be a good friend to the master. That is why Ukrainians do not appreciate Russians – because we have very long abusive history with them.
How does war affect people? I would like to tell two stories from my and my husband’s families and explain how it affects us until nowadays. We suffer some family relational issues because our family’s past culture was damaged by wars and revolutions and it was reflected in future generations. My family was from the agricultural landlords (“kulak”) and we owned farm on which my ancestors were working from sunup until sundown, raising kids and giving them an education. They were happy and lived in peace. After the Soviet government took over the country my family lost everything and the NKVD (later KGP, a soviet type of secret police at that time) sent my great-great-grandfather to the concentration camp; he also lost two kids. All other family members could not go to the school because they got a “kulak” mark from the soviet administration and were defined as a sort of enemy of society. My great-great-grandmother could not accept all the problems and she died soon after the Great Bolshevik Revolution. Only three kids were left and they had to “wash out the family shame” during World War II. My great grandmother, who spoke five languages, was not able to find a good job due to her family past. She only could get a good job after the war, because she became a war hero and her family past didn’t matter anymore. She was an enemy of the Soviets and the Nazis, and she had to report for execution two times. After that, many generations’ fates were destroyed.
My husband’s family history: His grandfather was from an orphanage and lost his parents during World War I; he had never seen his parents. He never learned how to love and be soft with his family, and this was inherited from generation to generation until this day.
As for the Ukrainian people, because of multiple wars with Russia and genocide from the Russian empire, we lost much of our unique culture, cuisine, language, religion, and even history. Ukraine had never been interested in the Bolshevik Revolution and tried to create a separate country with its own president in 1918. Russia decided that Ukraine was supposed to be part of the USSR and “after the Russian Civil War ended in 1922 Ukraine was proclaimed as a soviet republic with a powerless republican government” (Zhukovsky 2).
Why Ukrainians Do Not Appreciate Russians
All the historical facts do not show any bright moments with Russians.
Ukrainian-Russian relations started with good intentions at the “Pereyaslov Treaty,” signing the “Pereyaslov Articles” as a confederation between Ukraine and Russia, but it ended up that Ukraine was colonized by the Russians and the Ukrainian population was enslaved. Basically this happened not only for Ukraine but for all the other nations of which Russia consists right now.
Even when Ukraine was under Polish administration, slavery was not enforced. But after Russia took over the Ukraine, most of the land was given to Russian noble people. This land became their property and could be sold from one owner to another. Russians who got Ukrainian land introduced a serfdom which had never existed before, and they went even further when Ukrainian peasants could be sold with or without land. Ukraine was not the only satellite land that had slavery. Russians introduced it in some parts of Siberia, Georgia, Baltic States and Finland.
The Ukrainian Cossacks army together with the Zaporizka Host was destroyed by Catherine and moved to the southern end of the Russian empire to avoid Ukrainian independence and create a protective buffer on the south frontier of the empire.
After the Russian Bolshevik revolution, Ukraine decided to become independent and created its own government and elected its first president. But Russia had a completely different plan. They started a military invasion in 1918. Most of the population was against the Russian expansion but even students were conscripted. Ukraine lost and became part of the USSR. But that was not the end of the troubles. Josef Stalin decided that Ukraine was “overpopulated” and created starvation in 1932-1933 (Holodomor) which killed about 7.5 million of the Ukrainian population. The word Holodomor literally translated from Ukrainian means "death by hunger," or "to kill by hunger, to starve to death." “According to estimates about 81.3% of the famine victims in Ukrainian SRR were ethnic Ukrainians, 4.5% Russians, 1.4% Jews and 1.1% were Poles” (Institute of History of Ukraine 32). Many Belarusians, Hungarians, Volga Germans and other nationalities became victims as well. Soviet leadership used the famine to attack Ukrainian nationalism and thus the events may fall under the legal definition of genocide. For example, special and particularly lethal policies were adopted in and largely limited to Soviet Ukraine at the end of 1932 and 1933; "each of them may seem like an anodyne administrative measure, and each of them was certainly presented as such at the time, and yet each had to kill" (Snyder 42-46).
Human Effect
Together with starvation, the NKVD (later KGB), which is a Soviet type of secret police, created many concentration camps on Ukrainian territory which executed more people before World War II than during it by Germans. I lived close to one of those NKVD work camps named “Bikovnya,” and I have visited it myself and have seen lists of hundreds of thousand Ukrainians killed during a period of 1932-1937.
During Soviet times from 1918 until 1991 Russians were changing Ukrainian culture as they wanted. In Ukrainian schools the Russian language was mandatory to study, but at the same time the Ukrainian language was optional. History was written from the Russian point of view. Most of the Ukrainian heroes like Ivan Mazepa were defined as traitors, but historically we can see that the Russian tzar was one. Years after Mazepa and his army fought for the Tzar in the Baltic, losing between 50 percent and 70 percent of their soldiers, the Tzar refused to help when Sweden invaded Ukraine on their way to Russia. After that, Ivan Mazepa allied with Sweden to save his nation. Ivan Mazepa wanted better for his own country but Russians see it differently. The same thing happened with the first Ukrainian president, Mykhailo Hrushevsky, who was elected in 1918 by the Ukrainian nation but he does not exist in a Russian version of history. Literature was mostly Russian; very few recommended writers were Ukrainians. Russians even changed the Ukrainian alphabet; they removed some letters and sounds, and introduced new ones. They tried making the Ukrainian language closer to Russian. Russians tried to destroy Ukrainian culture and partially succeeded. Many Ukrainians of the younger generation speak Russian as a mother–tongue. Lots of Ukrainian youngsters do not know Ukrainian writers and poets and they do not know the real history which is not a Russian version.
Russia even now tries to control Ukraine as a country. Ukraine is a very dependable customer of the natural gas resources from Russia, and Russians are using these natural resource dependencies to have political speculations, resulting in pro-Russian president elections.
It is very unpleasant to have a superior friend. Russians truly do not think that they are equal to all nations in the region. That is why many Russian neighbors do not like them. Friendship cannot be healthy in unequal parties’ relationships. A slave cannot be a good friend to the master. That is why Ukrainians do not appreciate Russians – because we have very long abusive history with them.
War Divides People
Genocide Rwanda
The deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group is the Webster Dictionary definition of genocide. Genocide is nothing new to the world, though the term was only defined in December of 1946, after the holocaust of World War II; the systematic destruction of races, political parties and cultural groups has been going on for thousands of years. The Rwandan genocide was a very recent incident that happened in 1994 over the course of 100 days.
Pre-Genocide
Shortly after Germany’s defeat during World War I, Rwanda fell into the hands of the Belgian, who quickly began creating a division among the people of Rwanda who consisted of three different but very similar groups: the Hutu who made up approximately 90 percent of the population, the Tutsi about 10 percent of the population and the Twa who made up a very small percentage of the population (Spalding 9). The Tutsi were a largely land owners and farmers and were considered the upper class. It was very common for a Hutu to become a Tutsi by owning more land or becoming wealthier, and vice versa for a Tutsi to become a Hutu (Spalding 7). The Tutsi were considered to be more important by the Belgians because they had more “Caucasian” features than the Hutu or Twa (Spalding 10). In an effort to classify who was who, making it easier for the Belgian to favor the Tutsi, the Belgians made everyone register whether they were Hutu or Tutsi making it almost impossible for a Hutu to become a Tutsi anymore and creating a great division among the two groups.
In 1959, a Hutu rebellion removed the ruling Tutsi from power, abolishing the monarchy and causing approximately ten thousand Tutsi to flee Rwanda to live in exile. In 1973, Juvenal Habyarimana, the new Hutu President, was elected. He remained in power for the next twenty years. Habyarimana continued the oppression of the Tutsi by giving all government jobs to Hutu; he also created a militia called the Interahamwe who, though the government later denied it, was solely created to carry out the carefully planned genocide of the Tutsi.
The Genocide
April 6, 1994, President Habyarimana’s plane was shot down and he was killed in the crash. The shooting down of the plane was blamed on the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a primarily Tutsi group, though there is no proof it was actually them. Some even believe that it was Hutu extremists who wanted a reason to put the plans to massacre the Tutsi in motion. The genocide lasted from April 6, 1994 to July 16, a total of 100 days in which approximately 800,000 people were murdered (Surf Survivors Fund). The people doing the killing made no distinction between who they killed, whether it be men, women or children. Only about 25% of the population of the Tutsi survived the 100 day slaughter, most of whom survived by dodging the mobile murder squads and fleeing the country (Spalding 36). During the genocide, between 200,000 to 500,000 women were raped, and as a result of those rapes nearly 20,000 children were born (Surf Survivors Fund). Women who had children as a result of rape were often considered outcasts and shunned by many of their own villages and families (Spalding 48). About 75,000 of the survivors were orphaned by the genocide; there were also far more widows than widowers left after the attacks (Surf Survivors Fund). Because of the speed of the killing and how short the genocide actually lasted, it is estimated that six men, women and children were killed every minute during the hundred days (Surf Survivors Fund). During the course of the attacks the greater majority of the killings were not done with guns but with machetes. A machete is a tool/weapon that has been around for hundreds of years and is still commonly used around the world today as a tool for harvesting a variety of crops.
Post Genocide
On July 4, the RPF, who had been fighting their way into Rwanda since the genocide began, finally reached and captured the city of Kigali where the headquarters of the genocidal regime was located. Shortly after this the genocide ended on July 16. After the genocide was over, nearly two million Hutu fled the country to what is now called the Democratic Republic of Congo to get away from the RPF, who had begun killing Hutu in retaliation for the genocide (Peoples Pledge Union Information Genocide). The RPF established a new government that had its first presidential election in 2003 in which a Hutu was made president and a Tutsi was made vice president. The main focus of the new government was to reintegrate the two peoples back together as a society. The Hutu and Tutsi now live as neighbors again but for many there is still tension. Many Tutsi now live next to someone who was involved in killing members of their family and friends. Many Hutu now help to rebuild the houses and support the families of those they had a hand in killing.
Human Effect
The genocide that took place in Rwanda has given me reason to stop and think what I would have done in a position of power. Many world powers stood by complacent when this was happening, I would not want to be one of those just standing by. I believe in standing up and defending those who don’t have the ability to do so themselves. In the future I would stand up and say something to help.
The deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group is the Webster Dictionary definition of genocide. Genocide is nothing new to the world, though the term was only defined in December of 1946, after the holocaust of World War II; the systematic destruction of races, political parties and cultural groups has been going on for thousands of years. The Rwandan genocide was a very recent incident that happened in 1994 over the course of 100 days.
Pre-Genocide
Shortly after Germany’s defeat during World War I, Rwanda fell into the hands of the Belgian, who quickly began creating a division among the people of Rwanda who consisted of three different but very similar groups: the Hutu who made up approximately 90 percent of the population, the Tutsi about 10 percent of the population and the Twa who made up a very small percentage of the population (Spalding 9). The Tutsi were a largely land owners and farmers and were considered the upper class. It was very common for a Hutu to become a Tutsi by owning more land or becoming wealthier, and vice versa for a Tutsi to become a Hutu (Spalding 7). The Tutsi were considered to be more important by the Belgians because they had more “Caucasian” features than the Hutu or Twa (Spalding 10). In an effort to classify who was who, making it easier for the Belgian to favor the Tutsi, the Belgians made everyone register whether they were Hutu or Tutsi making it almost impossible for a Hutu to become a Tutsi anymore and creating a great division among the two groups.
In 1959, a Hutu rebellion removed the ruling Tutsi from power, abolishing the monarchy and causing approximately ten thousand Tutsi to flee Rwanda to live in exile. In 1973, Juvenal Habyarimana, the new Hutu President, was elected. He remained in power for the next twenty years. Habyarimana continued the oppression of the Tutsi by giving all government jobs to Hutu; he also created a militia called the Interahamwe who, though the government later denied it, was solely created to carry out the carefully planned genocide of the Tutsi.
The Genocide
April 6, 1994, President Habyarimana’s plane was shot down and he was killed in the crash. The shooting down of the plane was blamed on the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a primarily Tutsi group, though there is no proof it was actually them. Some even believe that it was Hutu extremists who wanted a reason to put the plans to massacre the Tutsi in motion. The genocide lasted from April 6, 1994 to July 16, a total of 100 days in which approximately 800,000 people were murdered (Surf Survivors Fund). The people doing the killing made no distinction between who they killed, whether it be men, women or children. Only about 25% of the population of the Tutsi survived the 100 day slaughter, most of whom survived by dodging the mobile murder squads and fleeing the country (Spalding 36). During the genocide, between 200,000 to 500,000 women were raped, and as a result of those rapes nearly 20,000 children were born (Surf Survivors Fund). Women who had children as a result of rape were often considered outcasts and shunned by many of their own villages and families (Spalding 48). About 75,000 of the survivors were orphaned by the genocide; there were also far more widows than widowers left after the attacks (Surf Survivors Fund). Because of the speed of the killing and how short the genocide actually lasted, it is estimated that six men, women and children were killed every minute during the hundred days (Surf Survivors Fund). During the course of the attacks the greater majority of the killings were not done with guns but with machetes. A machete is a tool/weapon that has been around for hundreds of years and is still commonly used around the world today as a tool for harvesting a variety of crops.
Post Genocide
On July 4, the RPF, who had been fighting their way into Rwanda since the genocide began, finally reached and captured the city of Kigali where the headquarters of the genocidal regime was located. Shortly after this the genocide ended on July 16. After the genocide was over, nearly two million Hutu fled the country to what is now called the Democratic Republic of Congo to get away from the RPF, who had begun killing Hutu in retaliation for the genocide (Peoples Pledge Union Information Genocide). The RPF established a new government that had its first presidential election in 2003 in which a Hutu was made president and a Tutsi was made vice president. The main focus of the new government was to reintegrate the two peoples back together as a society. The Hutu and Tutsi now live as neighbors again but for many there is still tension. Many Tutsi now live next to someone who was involved in killing members of their family and friends. Many Hutu now help to rebuild the houses and support the families of those they had a hand in killing.
Human Effect
The genocide that took place in Rwanda has given me reason to stop and think what I would have done in a position of power. Many world powers stood by complacent when this was happening, I would not want to be one of those just standing by. I believe in standing up and defending those who don’t have the ability to do so themselves. In the future I would stand up and say something to help.
War Hurts All Sides
What Started The War In Iraq?
There are several reasons why the United States invaded Iraq, and everyone has a different story and different point of view to say. But what is the real reason behind it? We may never know. William Clark, the author of Petrodollar War: Oil, Iraq, and the Future of the Dollar, says that it is not about weapons of mass destruction, not to eliminate the tourist, and not even for oil. It is only to cover the cheating and fraud that an invisible group is doing because they would benefit from that war. According to Clark, after Iraq stopped trading their oil in dollars and they switched to Euros, that hurt the United States economy badly, and that is when they started thinking about invading Iraq. Clark says that one of the justifications to invade Iraq is that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Millions of people concluded reasons to why the United States invaded Iraq:
· The first reason is oil; the U.S. government wanted to expand its powers by controlling the country that was rich with oil.
· Revenge for what happened in September 11.
If people would ask the soldiers who were deployed in Iraq, most of them would wonder if it was worth it. Said one, “we liberated Iraq from a madman, and saved them from perhaps a later, worse fate. So much blood, and where are the Iraqi people now? Are they in a better situation?”(Sashin).
The Effects of War:
The war on Iraq did not only hurt the Iraqis, it also affected the United States in many ways. Let’s start on how the Iraqi war damaged the United States:
Economy:
According to the Washington Post, the Iraqi war cost the United States more than $3 trillion. The Iraqi war distracted the government’s attention from the Afghani, war multiplying both the duration and cost. The Afghani war took more than ten years, and if the U.S. government had focused on controlling the Taliban, the U.S. would have suffered fewer causalities. “In 2003—the year we invaded Iraq—the United States cut spending in Afghanistan to $14.7 billion (down from more than $20 billion in 2002), while we poured $53 billion into Iraq” (Stiglitz). In 2004-2006, the United States spent quadruples the amount of money in Iraq as in Afghanistan. So the United States could have devoted fewer resources to focus on and end the conflict in Afghanistan. Instead they declared war on Iraq in 2003 and lost control of the Taliban, letting them reestablish control.
According to the Washington Post, when the United States went to war in Iraq, the price of oil was less than $25 a barrel, and markets expected it to remain constant; by 2008 prices started to increase, reaching $140 a barrel. Higher oil prices had a devastating effect on the economy. The war on Iraq added significantly to the federal debits. It was the first time in American history that the government cut taxes as it entered a war. That led to borrowing U.S. debt to fund that war. “The U.S. debt soared from $6.4 trillion in March 2003 to $10 trillion in 2008. And that doesn’t include future health care and disability payments for veterans, which will add another half-trillion dollar to the debt” (Stiglitz). The Iraqi war caused the unemployment rate to remain high. “It seems like without this war, not only would America’s standing in the world be higher, our economy would be stronger” (Stiglitz). According to Robert Pollin, who is a director of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the government could have spent all these resources to provide Medicaid-level health insurance for 45 million American who are uninsured. The government could also have added 30,000 elementary and secondary schoolteachers and built four hundred schools. They could also have provided basic home weatherization for 1.6 million homes. This could have made a difference in lots of people’s lives.
The Military:
The Iraqi war has so far seen 33,184 US soldiers wounded in action, in addition to 100,000 troops killed. Those wounded soldiers include those with gunshots and shrapnel wounds, and lost limbs caused by landmines and bombs. Less well known are those soldiers with brain and psychological injuries. “The war has seen unusually high rates of traumatic brain injury (TBI). This head injury causes life-long damage in many cases. Symptoms include memory loss, difficulty with attention and reasoning, headaches, confusion, anxiety, irritability and depression” (Kelly). According to Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital in Washington DC, more than two thirds of the wounded soldiers suffer from that condition (Kelly).
The soldiers cannot detect that they have a TBI until the soldier returns to his or her family, and they will be the ones to notice. The San Francisco Chronicle reported the case of sergeant Alec Giess whose truck rolled over him when he was trying to avoid a landmine. Giess’s wife noticed that after her husband returned he was not that easygoing relaxed father he had been before deployment. She noticed that he would get angry really fast, and he could not remember the family’s daily schedule. She also mentioned that he would jump up screaming when their cat would land on their bed. According to Giess he could not stand crowds, and he felt like he was cut off from his emotions. “When my kids come and hug me, I don’t feel a thing” (Kelly).
There have been more than thirty suicides reported among soldiers in Iraq. Some suicides occurred when soldiers were in Iraq and some occur with those who have finished their mission. “The killing and brutalization of the Iraqi people has triggered guilt, shame and serious psychological problems for many soldiers” (Kelly). Jeffery Lucey is a 23-year-old marine who suffered from serious depression after coming back from his mission in Iraq in July of 2003. He became dependent on alcohol and drugs. He told his sister how he was ordered to kill two unarmed Iraqi soldiers. His sister said, “On Christmas he took off two dog tags around his neck, and then threw them at me and said, ‘don’t you understand? Your brother is a murderer’” (Kelly). Lucey ended up committing suicide in June.
Human Effect
Since March 2003, US forces have killed and injured a large number of innocent Iraqi civilians. According to a Global Research, US forces in Iraq killed more than 100,000 civilians between March 2003 and October 2004. Most of those killed were women and children. That estimate excluded the data for the Fallujah, because the brutality was too big to include it in the study. In Fallujah the US forces committed crimes against humanity. I had family from my dad’s side who lived in Fallujah, and thankfully they survived to tell their story to my family. The American troops were planning to kill a group of people who were targeting military tanks and hummers, and they got information that these people were then in Fallujah. So they decided to control the area and refuse to let anyone in or out of Fallujah. Then they started to hit people’s houses, killing people who were wandering in the streets and they did not care if they were children. They also used chemical weapons. Corpses were left lying in the streets. No one was able to move them and bury them because the military would shoot anyone who would try. People watched and mourned about their loved ones from their house windows and watched them decay for two weeks.
As a child when I was in Iraq, I have seen things that children should never see. I almost died twice. For children in Iraq death is something that they have to face every day, because it happens so much that most children get used to it. During the war neither rich nor poor are able to survive. People get kidnapped, and their families are asked to pay an imaginary number of money. Whether or not the family decides to pay, either way, in a week they will get a call to come to identify the body of their loved ones, which is exactly what happened to my mom’s cousin. My elementary school was bombed twice because the jihadists were targeting the American troops. I remember that it was the last day of my finals and my friends and I were so happy and excited for the summer break. Students were playing in the school’s yard. Suddenly all I could hear was screams, and my friends were lying on the ground with blood all over their faces. Three of my friends died as I was standing in shock, and many died as they were waiting in the street with their parents to go home. But I did not witness their death because I was inside the school. I was the lucky one to survive.
This is one story of the many that I alone have experienced. After that a group of people called themselves “They Army of Al Mahdi” threatened to kill my dad by putting an envelope that had a bullet inside and they put it in front of our front door. A night after that we took what was only necessary and fled Iraq.
Tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis were in prison without any charges. Those prisoners included women and children. They were abused and tortured, and many were murdered in cold blood just because the U.S. authorities could not get information out of them, and some prisoners disappeared. The war on Iraq opened the Iraqi boarders for the neighboring countries like Iran. Many Iraqis blame outside forces for the turmoil that happened in Iraq. Doctor Mohammed Al-Obaidi, a member of the People’s Struggle Movement (PSM), says that hundreds of university professors, military pilots, scientists, and doctors were killed in Iraq. So how would the national Iraqi resistance benefit from killing its own scientists, and its most talented people? He says, “It is clear to all Iraqis that there are foreign fingers pulling the triggers to commit these crimes and murder the human resources of Iraq, all the while attempting to steal the country’s natural resources” (Hassan).
After the war Iraqi people started to differentiate between two branches of Islam, which is Sunni and Shia. Before the war the government did not allow that, which kept everything in its place. After the invasion Shia started to kill the Sunnis and they also started to make their own territories. That led to a never ending conflict between the two. The war is still going in Iraq. After the American troops left Iraq, a civil war started between Christians, Kurds, Sunni, and Shia. And according to the Sharqiya news just two days ago, thirteen young men were killed only because they are Sunnis.
Was the war worth it? Did the United States liberate the Iraqis? The deaths of soldiers who risked their lives to protect their country, and innocent people who were tortured for a crime they did not commit; everyone suffered. Stalin once said “The death of an individual is tragedy; the death of a million is statistics” (Geliştirici).
There are several reasons why the United States invaded Iraq, and everyone has a different story and different point of view to say. But what is the real reason behind it? We may never know. William Clark, the author of Petrodollar War: Oil, Iraq, and the Future of the Dollar, says that it is not about weapons of mass destruction, not to eliminate the tourist, and not even for oil. It is only to cover the cheating and fraud that an invisible group is doing because they would benefit from that war. According to Clark, after Iraq stopped trading their oil in dollars and they switched to Euros, that hurt the United States economy badly, and that is when they started thinking about invading Iraq. Clark says that one of the justifications to invade Iraq is that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Millions of people concluded reasons to why the United States invaded Iraq:
· The first reason is oil; the U.S. government wanted to expand its powers by controlling the country that was rich with oil.
· Revenge for what happened in September 11.
If people would ask the soldiers who were deployed in Iraq, most of them would wonder if it was worth it. Said one, “we liberated Iraq from a madman, and saved them from perhaps a later, worse fate. So much blood, and where are the Iraqi people now? Are they in a better situation?”(Sashin).
The Effects of War:
The war on Iraq did not only hurt the Iraqis, it also affected the United States in many ways. Let’s start on how the Iraqi war damaged the United States:
Economy:
According to the Washington Post, the Iraqi war cost the United States more than $3 trillion. The Iraqi war distracted the government’s attention from the Afghani, war multiplying both the duration and cost. The Afghani war took more than ten years, and if the U.S. government had focused on controlling the Taliban, the U.S. would have suffered fewer causalities. “In 2003—the year we invaded Iraq—the United States cut spending in Afghanistan to $14.7 billion (down from more than $20 billion in 2002), while we poured $53 billion into Iraq” (Stiglitz). In 2004-2006, the United States spent quadruples the amount of money in Iraq as in Afghanistan. So the United States could have devoted fewer resources to focus on and end the conflict in Afghanistan. Instead they declared war on Iraq in 2003 and lost control of the Taliban, letting them reestablish control.
According to the Washington Post, when the United States went to war in Iraq, the price of oil was less than $25 a barrel, and markets expected it to remain constant; by 2008 prices started to increase, reaching $140 a barrel. Higher oil prices had a devastating effect on the economy. The war on Iraq added significantly to the federal debits. It was the first time in American history that the government cut taxes as it entered a war. That led to borrowing U.S. debt to fund that war. “The U.S. debt soared from $6.4 trillion in March 2003 to $10 trillion in 2008. And that doesn’t include future health care and disability payments for veterans, which will add another half-trillion dollar to the debt” (Stiglitz). The Iraqi war caused the unemployment rate to remain high. “It seems like without this war, not only would America’s standing in the world be higher, our economy would be stronger” (Stiglitz). According to Robert Pollin, who is a director of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the government could have spent all these resources to provide Medicaid-level health insurance for 45 million American who are uninsured. The government could also have added 30,000 elementary and secondary schoolteachers and built four hundred schools. They could also have provided basic home weatherization for 1.6 million homes. This could have made a difference in lots of people’s lives.
The Military:
The Iraqi war has so far seen 33,184 US soldiers wounded in action, in addition to 100,000 troops killed. Those wounded soldiers include those with gunshots and shrapnel wounds, and lost limbs caused by landmines and bombs. Less well known are those soldiers with brain and psychological injuries. “The war has seen unusually high rates of traumatic brain injury (TBI). This head injury causes life-long damage in many cases. Symptoms include memory loss, difficulty with attention and reasoning, headaches, confusion, anxiety, irritability and depression” (Kelly). According to Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital in Washington DC, more than two thirds of the wounded soldiers suffer from that condition (Kelly).
The soldiers cannot detect that they have a TBI until the soldier returns to his or her family, and they will be the ones to notice. The San Francisco Chronicle reported the case of sergeant Alec Giess whose truck rolled over him when he was trying to avoid a landmine. Giess’s wife noticed that after her husband returned he was not that easygoing relaxed father he had been before deployment. She noticed that he would get angry really fast, and he could not remember the family’s daily schedule. She also mentioned that he would jump up screaming when their cat would land on their bed. According to Giess he could not stand crowds, and he felt like he was cut off from his emotions. “When my kids come and hug me, I don’t feel a thing” (Kelly).
There have been more than thirty suicides reported among soldiers in Iraq. Some suicides occurred when soldiers were in Iraq and some occur with those who have finished their mission. “The killing and brutalization of the Iraqi people has triggered guilt, shame and serious psychological problems for many soldiers” (Kelly). Jeffery Lucey is a 23-year-old marine who suffered from serious depression after coming back from his mission in Iraq in July of 2003. He became dependent on alcohol and drugs. He told his sister how he was ordered to kill two unarmed Iraqi soldiers. His sister said, “On Christmas he took off two dog tags around his neck, and then threw them at me and said, ‘don’t you understand? Your brother is a murderer’” (Kelly). Lucey ended up committing suicide in June.
Human Effect
Since March 2003, US forces have killed and injured a large number of innocent Iraqi civilians. According to a Global Research, US forces in Iraq killed more than 100,000 civilians between March 2003 and October 2004. Most of those killed were women and children. That estimate excluded the data for the Fallujah, because the brutality was too big to include it in the study. In Fallujah the US forces committed crimes against humanity. I had family from my dad’s side who lived in Fallujah, and thankfully they survived to tell their story to my family. The American troops were planning to kill a group of people who were targeting military tanks and hummers, and they got information that these people were then in Fallujah. So they decided to control the area and refuse to let anyone in or out of Fallujah. Then they started to hit people’s houses, killing people who were wandering in the streets and they did not care if they were children. They also used chemical weapons. Corpses were left lying in the streets. No one was able to move them and bury them because the military would shoot anyone who would try. People watched and mourned about their loved ones from their house windows and watched them decay for two weeks.
As a child when I was in Iraq, I have seen things that children should never see. I almost died twice. For children in Iraq death is something that they have to face every day, because it happens so much that most children get used to it. During the war neither rich nor poor are able to survive. People get kidnapped, and their families are asked to pay an imaginary number of money. Whether or not the family decides to pay, either way, in a week they will get a call to come to identify the body of their loved ones, which is exactly what happened to my mom’s cousin. My elementary school was bombed twice because the jihadists were targeting the American troops. I remember that it was the last day of my finals and my friends and I were so happy and excited for the summer break. Students were playing in the school’s yard. Suddenly all I could hear was screams, and my friends were lying on the ground with blood all over their faces. Three of my friends died as I was standing in shock, and many died as they were waiting in the street with their parents to go home. But I did not witness their death because I was inside the school. I was the lucky one to survive.
This is one story of the many that I alone have experienced. After that a group of people called themselves “They Army of Al Mahdi” threatened to kill my dad by putting an envelope that had a bullet inside and they put it in front of our front door. A night after that we took what was only necessary and fled Iraq.
Tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis were in prison without any charges. Those prisoners included women and children. They were abused and tortured, and many were murdered in cold blood just because the U.S. authorities could not get information out of them, and some prisoners disappeared. The war on Iraq opened the Iraqi boarders for the neighboring countries like Iran. Many Iraqis blame outside forces for the turmoil that happened in Iraq. Doctor Mohammed Al-Obaidi, a member of the People’s Struggle Movement (PSM), says that hundreds of university professors, military pilots, scientists, and doctors were killed in Iraq. So how would the national Iraqi resistance benefit from killing its own scientists, and its most talented people? He says, “It is clear to all Iraqis that there are foreign fingers pulling the triggers to commit these crimes and murder the human resources of Iraq, all the while attempting to steal the country’s natural resources” (Hassan).
After the war Iraqi people started to differentiate between two branches of Islam, which is Sunni and Shia. Before the war the government did not allow that, which kept everything in its place. After the invasion Shia started to kill the Sunnis and they also started to make their own territories. That led to a never ending conflict between the two. The war is still going in Iraq. After the American troops left Iraq, a civil war started between Christians, Kurds, Sunni, and Shia. And according to the Sharqiya news just two days ago, thirteen young men were killed only because they are Sunnis.
Was the war worth it? Did the United States liberate the Iraqis? The deaths of soldiers who risked their lives to protect their country, and innocent people who were tortured for a crime they did not commit; everyone suffered. Stalin once said “The death of an individual is tragedy; the death of a million is statistics” (Geliştirici).
Possible Human Effects of Upcoming War
An important measure the military are taking nowadays is the ability to be less detectable to sensors. Stealth is using technology to advance through land, water, and air further without being observed. These applied technologies can enable armies to deliver powerful attacks (Bowie, Haffa, Mullins, 2003). Since these stealth technologies will form the majority of the force structures for years to come, investments in this area will continue to grow.
One of the major concerns of future wars is that of habitat destruction. War is waged differently today, of course, and has widespread environmental impacts that last much longer. A famous example of this happened during the Vietnam War, when the Agent Orange herbicide was sprayed over millions of acres of land. Some areas of this land are still not expected to recover for several more decades (Lallanilla,2013). Imagine what forthcoming poisons may do.
Modern chemical, biological and nuclear warfare has the potential to ruin the environment. Fortunately, we haven’t seen that yet. The production, testing, transport and use of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons is perhaps the most destructive effect of war on the environment.
Weapons of mass destruction have emerged as a serious concern for potential opponents and will most likely appear in future conflicts whether they are nuclear, chemical, or biological. The low cost of these forces has fueled abundance of these weapons all around the world. Vice President Cheney gravely stated in 2002 that “deliverable weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a terror network, or a murderous dictator, or the two working together, constitute as grave a threat as can be imagined.” (Bowie, Haffa, Jr.,Mullins, 2003). As military planning progresses, it becomes evident that the environment is an important aspect in effective combat, even after wars end.
What we concluded from war and its effects on people is that war ends cultures, changes nations, divides people, and damages both sides. The culture of the Seminoles was decimated leaving the forced implementation of the United States way of life. The Native Americans established their culture in Florida, and by the U.S. taking their land it took a part of their culture. With the Ukrainian war we saw that Russia was trying to erase an entire nation. One way of changing their nation was replacing the Ukrainian alphabets. The genocide in Rwanda divided the Hutu and the Tutsi. The Hutu did not want to be oppressed, and so they wanted to erase an entire population of Tutsi to remain in control. The war on Iraq did not only affect the Iraqis, it also affected the United States. The United States is still trying to recover financially, along with all the causalities. Maybe the United States freed the Iraqis from what they call a dictator, but instead it started a civil war in Iraq. Eventually war is not only going to affect people but it will affect the environment. Even if we don’t kill each other because of war, harming the environment due to the ramifications of war will eventually kill us. War is only a temporary solution. It could solve one problem, but create many others later. Globally we need to take a stand against whether we like that solution because if we don’t question the purpose then we would be repeating the same mistakes in history.
One of the major concerns of future wars is that of habitat destruction. War is waged differently today, of course, and has widespread environmental impacts that last much longer. A famous example of this happened during the Vietnam War, when the Agent Orange herbicide was sprayed over millions of acres of land. Some areas of this land are still not expected to recover for several more decades (Lallanilla,2013). Imagine what forthcoming poisons may do.
Modern chemical, biological and nuclear warfare has the potential to ruin the environment. Fortunately, we haven’t seen that yet. The production, testing, transport and use of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons is perhaps the most destructive effect of war on the environment.
Weapons of mass destruction have emerged as a serious concern for potential opponents and will most likely appear in future conflicts whether they are nuclear, chemical, or biological. The low cost of these forces has fueled abundance of these weapons all around the world. Vice President Cheney gravely stated in 2002 that “deliverable weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a terror network, or a murderous dictator, or the two working together, constitute as grave a threat as can be imagined.” (Bowie, Haffa, Jr.,Mullins, 2003). As military planning progresses, it becomes evident that the environment is an important aspect in effective combat, even after wars end.
What we concluded from war and its effects on people is that war ends cultures, changes nations, divides people, and damages both sides. The culture of the Seminoles was decimated leaving the forced implementation of the United States way of life. The Native Americans established their culture in Florida, and by the U.S. taking their land it took a part of their culture. With the Ukrainian war we saw that Russia was trying to erase an entire nation. One way of changing their nation was replacing the Ukrainian alphabets. The genocide in Rwanda divided the Hutu and the Tutsi. The Hutu did not want to be oppressed, and so they wanted to erase an entire population of Tutsi to remain in control. The war on Iraq did not only affect the Iraqis, it also affected the United States. The United States is still trying to recover financially, along with all the causalities. Maybe the United States freed the Iraqis from what they call a dictator, but instead it started a civil war in Iraq. Eventually war is not only going to affect people but it will affect the environment. Even if we don’t kill each other because of war, harming the environment due to the ramifications of war will eventually kill us. War is only a temporary solution. It could solve one problem, but create many others later. Globally we need to take a stand against whether we like that solution because if we don’t question the purpose then we would be repeating the same mistakes in history.