Why Do People Choose War?


Citizens living during World War I referred to it as the Great War, never dreaming there could be another. Yet World War II followed soon after causing widespread death and destruction everywhere it touched. Sometimes it seems that the history of humankind is one continual battle, interspersed with moments of fragile peace. Why is there so much war? What is it about human nature that causes unending conflict?

We, humans, fought wars from the period of hunters and gatherers. We fought for food, we fought for shelter, we fought for making love, we fought for extending our race and culture, and we fought to protect all of those. We fight against nature, we fought against wildlife, and we fight against ourselves sometimes. War is hardcoded in our D.N.A.


As the civilizations evolved, we started dividing our people into different groups with different rankings. We fight to be the top of the group or your clan because we can achieve or get anything if you are a valuable person. 


We fight for our belongings. For example, we can consider the Ayodhya conflict. People fight for what that rightfully belongs to them when they know they are being abducted or taken away forcefully.


We fight to increase the chances of life expectancy, we try to occupy other’s land or to steal or forcefully take their technology, you might say trade is an option, but there are chances when the trade is not the most viable option. 


For example, let’s consider the movie  Sisters Brothers. Commodore chooses to kill Worm and not to trade with him, because he’s more powerful than Worm, if he makes a trade, he will only get a share of what they make but not everything. No one gives a thing when they come to know commodore tortured and killed Worm to obtain his chemical formulae.


We fight for our status, vengeance, respect, etc; if someone kills the most valuable person who belongs to them, they should obviously go to war, that is obvious (when there were no rules).


Fun fact: 0.01% increase in male to female ratio increases in 3% murders in society. Remember the battle of Troy. According to Greek mythology, Greeks and the people of Troy fought for a girl. When the Trojan prince abducts Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta, Trojan refuses to return her when Menelaus demands. Then he persuades his brother Agamemnon to lead the army against Troy.


Psychological disorders; Yup! Sometimes psychological disorders can lead to war. Imagine your friend coming back from war, but now he is having PTSD. You will be even afraid to talk to him. He’ll be very angry at things, he responds with irritation for unnecessary reasons, and his emotions are transferred to his kids and other family members. He starts to preach real human nature, what he has experienced in war, he accepts no one as friends because he loses hope in humanity. These traits are transferred to his offspring.


There may be many reasons to choose war, maybe poverty, maybe political, maybe security, maybe you don’t have a job, BUT, BUT there are people who choose war because war makes them feel good. That satisfaction when they pull the trigger of your sniper that kills your enemy dead on, that moment when they blast a shotgun right through his trachea, the adrenaline rush they feel when they are tearing the gut of the person they don’t even care, the lust to watch enemy dripping blood from his neck, these emotions make them feel alive. War is easier to begin but harder to stop. For a war that is, 10 times bigger its only 2% chance of occurring. As we are evolving, we need to be more aware of the consequences and act accordingly. War is not the solution to every problem. Also, sometimes solutions are obtained only with war. 


Written By - Sravanthi Cheerladinne

Edited By - Kashish Chadha