The bombings, the fear, the devastation, the lost lives of innocent people; it’s been a hundred years. World War One, the war that was supposed to end all wars but which was followed by World War Two, by other endless wars and revolutions and killings and massacres we still witness today.
Have you ever questioned whether the World has changed since World War One? That might seem like a stupid question; of course it’s changed. The world has developed in ways we never thought possible. It has made huge steps in many areas of life. Technology has changed our perspective on everything. Yet it seems to me that the World has not changed as much as we think.
If we come to think about it the instinct to fight, to make war, to attack has always remained there. It has never actually been a “make love not war” world and it will probably never be. In the 100 years since World War One came to an end, governments have invested in military technology to the extent that it sometimes backfired on their countries, leaving them bankrupt. The Americans and the Soviets have challenged each other on who could have the biggest military inventory until the Soviets actually collapsed, having no more resources to invest in weapons. Greece spends most of its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) on the military.
Technology has been used to develop new deadly weapons. Technology has brought about atomic bombs which have the power to destroy anything, leaving only ashes where once there was life. Technology has introduced means to spy on other countries, keeping an eye on them to see what they are up to. Technology has been used to threaten and instigate fear.
The world has developed in overwhelming ways but the masses of people who inhabit it have not. Take it to any news website you like and you will get the drift immediately. Wars are constant and so are revolutions. People die every day because they try to fight against political and religious persecution. Children are pictured carrying firearms instead of toys.
There is lack of communication between governments, and between the government of a country and its people. Of course this does not happen in each and every situation. Peaceful debates do happen, but where peaceful debates seem to be too complicated there is a tendency to restore to violence, to kill whatever comes in the way — it’s either you win or you die trying to. World War One did not end all wars, it’s been a hundred years and since then millions of lives have been lost.
From culture clashes, trade disputes and governance disagreements, to the drive for waging war between ourselves and among other human beings in everyday life and on a more personal level. Not only is war a global and historical phenomenon that has dominated the world from its very humble beginnings, but it also an adaptation of the more philosophical and psychological nature of humanity and their need to constantly battle things out.
As humans, we build walls to protect ourselves from the outside world and at any cost, strive to defend the image others have of us. It is, indeed, in this strive for defense against the exteriors of the outside world, that the presence of war wages within ourselves. Take for example, fights among siblings, what is it siblings do when one sibling simply pisses off the other? What are the first thoughts that come to mind? Do they defend, engage, and attack? Honestly, I think the three will suffice as a good answer to all three questions. There are plenty of other examples of this war-like attitude we adapt in certain uncomfortable situations, some of which we are likely to have practiced, and some of which we still do.
Psychologically, human beings are prone to war. It’s in our nature, all the way from evolution — one look at our counterparts in the animal world and we can see that animals fight for dominance, for mates, for territory. As humans, we battle it out over nothing. One the social, individual level, we have a competitive nature over even the most insignificant of things — the person we like, grades at school, the rival sixth form. The funny part is that this competitiveness, this constant drive to be the best at everything, is encouraged in us. Schools organize sports days, give awards to the students doing the best academically. Parents are told that it’s good to instill a sense of competition in their children by putting them into sports. While it’s healthy to want to do well at things, it’s not when we’re taught that the only way to succeed in things is to be competitive and pushy.
It’s no wonder, really, that our countries, made up of people who were brought up in this mentality, are constantly setting up wars with each other.
And let’s not forget that, mentally, we’re never at rest. I don’t believe somebody who says that they have no problems with themselves. We will always find a flaw whether it’s in our body image, our academic records, our lives in general. We are, in a way, in constant competition with ourselves, to become better people. How can we dispel this need to fight it out with others, if we’re constantly fighting with our own heads? Our own mental struggles reflect in the life around us, and we will let them out in our environment — whether it be throwing a punch at our older brother, or pressing the button that declares nuclear war.
Though we may have progressed as a species, instinct remains. We can never rid ourselves of the constant need — the want, even — to compete and fight, and that could very well lead to our demise. A hundred years down the line from one of the most tragic events in history, and we still haven’t learnt. And we never will, if we keep up the pace.
