How Do You Learn About War?

 

War is a challenging topic, meaning it can be difficult to know where to start when creating your submissions.

To break it down, two of the ways that we can begin to think about war are:

  • Historically - When thinking about war historically, we can look at wars that have actually happened, identifying the causes, consequences and relationships central to the conflicts. We can then form our own opinions about individual conflict, for example: you could comment on who you think the real winners and losers of specific wars are, the hidden long-term effects, or your own personal experiences with issues related to the wars you’ve studied.


  • Philosophically - When thinking philosophically, we can learn about war in a broader way, identifying the themes and feelings surrounding the concept. This offers a more general way of thinking about conflict, meaning our analysis can apply to multiple wars in the past, present, or future. Two examples of the kind of theoretical questions you might ask yourself are: is war ever justified or are wars ever simply fought between good and evil?

 

visual created using responses to our question of the month: ‘How should people be remembered?’

 

The Historical Approach

 

1988 – First Nagorno-Karabakh War (An ethnic and territorial conflict that took place between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan.)

1990 – Gulf War (Armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, spearheaded by the United States.)

1991 – Somali Civil War (An ongoing Civil War in Somalia. It grew out of resistance to the military junta which was led by Siad Barre during the 1980s. From 1988 to 1990, the Somali Armed Forces, began engaging in combat against various armed rebel groups.)

1992 – Bosnian War (The war was part of the break up of Yugoslavia, forces of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and those of Herzeg-Bosnia and Republica Srpska, proto-states led and supplied by Croatia and Serbia.)

1998 – Second Congo War (AKA The Great War of Africa, fought between the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Uganda. The war led to 5.4 million deaths, making the Second Congo War the deadliest conflict worldwide since World War II.)

2001 – War on Terror (An ongoing international counter-terrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11th attacks. The alleged targets of the campaign are Islamic terrorist groups, with prominent targets including al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).)

2001 – War in Afghanistan (Began when an international military coalition, led by the United States, invaded Afghanistan to topple the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate. The nearly 20-year-long conflict ended with the 2021 Taliban Offensive, which overthrew the Islamic Republic, and re-established the Islamic Emirate.)

2003 – Iraq War (Part of the War on Terror, began with a United States-led coalition that overthrew the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. The United States withdrew from the war in 2011.)

2011 – First Libyan Civil War (Fought between forces which were loyal to Colonel Gaddafi and rebel groups that were seeking to oust his government.)

2011 – Syrian Civil War (An ongoing multi-sided civil war in Syria fought between the Syrian Arab Republic led by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad (supported by domestic and foreign allies) and various domestic and foreign forces that oppose both the Syrian government and each other.)

2012 – Mali War (An ongoing armed conflict that started in January 2012 between the northern and southern parts of Mali in Africa, over Northern Mali’s desire for independence.)

2014 – Iraqi Civil War (An armed conflict between Iraq and its allies and the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) which began in 2013 and ended in December 2017

2014 – Russo-Ukrainian War (Fought between Russia and Ukraine, beginning with tension over occupation of Crimea, the 8 year conflict escalated with Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.)

2020 – Second Nagorno-Karabakh War (Major escalation of an unresolved conflict over the region, involving Azerbaijan, Armenia and the self-declared Armenian breakaway state of Artsakh. The war lasted for more than a month and resulted in Azerbaijani victory.)

2020 – Tigray War (The war was primarily fought in the Tigray region of Ethiopia between the Ethiopian federal government and Eritrea on one side, and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) on the other.)

2022 – Russian invasion of Ukraine (On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The invasion has likely resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides and caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. The invasion has also caused global food shortages.)

1914 – World I (Fought between the Allied Powers and the Central Powers, over 30 nations declared war between 1914 and 1918)

1917 – Russian Civil War (Conflict resulted from opposition to the Bolsheviks, groups included monarchists, militarists, and, for a short time, foreign nations.)

1919 – Turkish War of Independence (The Turkish National Movement fought Greece in the west, Armenia in the east, France in the south, loyalists and separatists in various cities, and British and Ottoman troops around Istanbul.)

1932 – Colombia–Peru War (A short-lived armed conflict between Colombia and Peru over territory in the Amazon rainforest.)

1936 – Spanish Civil War (Fought between Spanish Nationalists and Republicans.)

1937 – Second Sino-Japanese War (A military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan.)

1939 – World War II (Involved the majority of the world’s countries - including all of the great powers - forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers.)

1946 – First Indochina War (Fought between French forces and their Viet Minh opponents.)

1950 – Korean War (Fought between North Korea and South Korea after clashes along the border.)

1955 – Vietnam War (Officially fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies; South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist allies.)

1967 – Six-Day War (Between Israel and a coalition of Arab states primarily comprising Jordan, Syria and Egypt (known then as the United Arab Republic.)

1971 – Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 (Military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation war in East Pakistan.)

1973 – Yom Kippur War (Armed Conflict between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria)

1975 – Angolan Civil War (Power struggle between two former anti-colonial guerrilla movements, the communist People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola and the turned anti-communist National Union for the Total Independence of Angola.)

1977 – Ogaden War (A military conflict fought between Somalia and Ethiopia over the Ethiopian region of Ogaden)

1979 – Sino-Vietnamese War (A border war fought between China and Vietnam after China launched an offensive in response to Vietnam's actions against the Khmer Rouge.)

1979 – Soviet–Afghan War (A nine-year guerrilla war fought by insurgent groups known collectively as the Mujahideen, as well as smaller Maoist groups, against the military occupation of Afghanistan by the Soviet union and their satellite state, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.)

1980 – Iran–Iraq War ( An armed conflict between Iran and Iraq. Iraq's main reason for the attack against Iran was the need to prevent Ruhollah Khomeini from exporting the new Iranian ideology to Iraq.)

1982 – Falklands War (A ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial dependency, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.)

1983 – Sri Lankan Civil War (Ethnic conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, lasting for three decades.)

Some questions you could ask yourself looking at these examples (remember, there’s no wrong answers!):

  • When does war become history?

  • What are some of the consistent causes of war across different examples?

  • Why do some wars end more quickly than others?

The Philosophical Approach

Two activities you can try to start thinking philosophically about war:

  1. Answer philosophical questions asked in the mind map above

  2. Create your very own mind map, and ask your family and friends the questions you come up with. You could even send yours in to us here at NSI (we’d love to see it!)