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.
