Wars in Perspective
Friday, May 18, 2007
Throughout history man has gone to war for one reason or another. To somebody – call them the instigators – it must have seemed like a good idea in the beginning, but to most people it ultimately did not. Those people are the people most directly affected by the war and who have little vested interest in its outcome of that war. They are the people who ultimately pay the price for war. They are the regular people who die, are maimed and are dislocated by the war; not the beneficiaries of war, but the participants – and the victims. They are the ones who are told they must pay for the war through higher taxes, not the elites who instigated the war for their own purposes in the first place.
100 Years' War. Actually lasted 116 years and was a series of events involving Britain and France from 1337 to 1453 that primarily involved the claims of British kings to the French throne. There were four major phases: the Edwardian War, the Caroline War, the Lancastrian War, and the slow decline of English fortunes after the appearance of Joan of Arc. There were several periods of peace before the British were ultimately expelled from France.
Throughout history man has gone to war for one reason or another. To somebody – call them the instigators – it must have seemed like a good idea in the beginning, but to most people it ultimately did not. Those people are the people most directly affected by the war and who have little vested interest in its outcome of that war. They are the people who ultimately pay the price for war. They are the regular people who die, are maimed and are dislocated by the war; not the beneficiaries of war, but the participants – and the victims. They are the ones who are told they must pay for the war through higher taxes, not the elites who instigated the war for their own purposes in the first place.
100 Years' War. Actually lasted 116 years and was a series of events involving Britain and France from 1337 to 1453 that primarily involved the claims of British kings to the French throne. There were four major phases: the Edwardian War, the Caroline War, the Lancastrian War, and the slow decline of English fortunes after the appearance of Joan of Arc. There were several periods of peace before the British were ultimately expelled from France.
80 Years' War. This war was also called the Dutch Revolt and was the war of secession between the Netherlands and the Spanish king that lasted from 1568 to 1648. The war resulted in the Seven United Provinces being recognized as an independent state. The region now known as Belgium and Luxembourg also became established as the Southern Netherlands, part of the Seventeen Provinces that remained under royal Habsburg rule.
30 Years' War. The Thirty Years' War was fought between 1618 and 1648 principally over the territory of today's Germany. It also involved other European powers. From the outset it was primarily a religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics. The rivalry between the Habsburg dynasty and other powers was also a central motive; namely the fact that Catholic France even supported the Protestant side, extending the France-Habsburg rivalry.
5 Years' War. This war was also called the Iraq War and was fought to overthrow a dictatorship believed to have weapons of mass destruction that could be used by terrorists against the United States and its allies. Although no actual terrorist nexus was ever proven, the United States invaded anyway under the context of fighting the Global War On Terrorism. While the actual war was won in short order, the insurgency that followed then became sharply focused with the support of Iran, Syria and other terrorists with their own designs for the region and the oil in Iraq.
In each of the cases above, it was the so-called 'leadership' that instigated these wars for their own reasons. Oftentimes it was for power or resources, but it had nothing to do either the reasons provided to the public to rally them to war.
These rallying cries are always couched in the flamboyant hyperbole of emotion. In each case, the instigators couched the need for war in emotional terms such as the glory of a nation, the survivability of a nation, for god, or to stop another terrorist attack. In each case it was ordinary people that paid the price for these wars as either the foot soldiers of the elite or the populace that was affected by them. All were victims of the instigators.
In terms of current American politics, Ron Paul stands alone against the Iraq War on the Republican side while steadfastly supporting the primacy of the U.S. Constitution to limit the power and authority of government. Ron Paul stands as the only thing between us and the anarchy wrought by the elites and their representatives in government.
The U.S. Constitution should, but does not, because it is ignored by our elected representatives, except for Ron Paul. In the United States the constitution clearly states that the U.S. Congress must declare war before going to war. The last time that was done was World War II, about 60 years ago. However, there have been many "undeclared" wars since then. By definition an undeclared war is unconstitutional war yet We, the Sheeple, continue to allow the U.S. Congress to get away with this unconstitutional behavior rather than vote them out of office. Or, to vote Ron Paul into the office as president of the United States. We need to do both.
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