Mother Courage and Her Children

Between 700 and 900 migrants fleeing the conflict in Libya may have died at sea this week.

4.8 million Syrians are refugees from the war in their country

John F. Kennedy once said, “Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.”

Have we made any progress in this area? Are things getting worse instead of better?

Theories of the causes of war generally look at three area: biology, culture, reason. The biological theory posits that we are naturally aggressive and territorial creatures. Some cultures have been more warlike than others (e.g. ancient Rome); some have worked hard to eliminate war and even to remain neutral during times of conflict (e.g. Switzerland). Reason may tell us, on the one hand, that a particular war is necessary (e.g. to protect citizens or to prevent a dictator taking over), while on the other hand it may tell us there should be alternatives to war.

In 1939 Bertoldt Brecht, in collaboration with Margarete Steffin, wrote his play, “Mother Courage and Her Children.” The story takes place during the Thirty Years War in Europe (1614 – 1648). It’s considered a classic drama and an anti-war play. Brecht wrote it in response to Hitler’s invasion of Poland, and apparently finished writing in in just over month.

“What they could do with around here is a good war. What else can you expect with peace running wild all over the place? You know what the trouble with peace is? No organization.” – From “Mother Courage and Her Children” a sergeant.

Mother Courage, the main character of the play, a single mother, runs a canteen wagon with the Swedish Army as a way to take care of her family. Over the course of the story, she loses both her sons and her daughter in the very war where she tried to make a living.

After the Protestant Reformation in Europe in the 1500s, a cultural upheaval that splintered Catholic Europe, there were various conflicts from 1524 to 1651, in a number of countries. These ranged from The German Peasants War, and the French Wars of Religion to The Thirty Years War, and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The Peace of Augsberg in 1555 was supposed to have settled things, allowing more freedom of religion. However, religious oppression continued on both sides.

The war began in the Holy Roman Empire, and though initially about religion, it spread to other countries (over 200 states of various sizes) and became a war for territory. Over one million men fought in the war. German cities lost one third of their population, the rural population was reduced by two fifths. The population of the Holy Roman Empire was reduced from 20 million to 16 million. As well, famine, plague and other diseases such as typhoid and influenza ravaged the population of Europe. Most deaths occurred in towns and cities where refugees had fled and lived in crowded and unhealthy conditions.

(Painting By Sebastian Vrancx - Sotheby's, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15997992)

“Dangers, surprises, devastations –

            The war takes hold and will not quit.

But though it last three generations

            We shall get nothing out of it.” – Mother Courage at the end of the play.