“War. War never changes. The Romans waged
war to gather slaves and wealth. Spain built an empire from its lust for gold
and territory. Hitler shaped a battered Germany into an economic superpower.
But war never changes.”
Thus begin the iconic video game Fallout,
set in the post-nuclear wasteland in the aftermath of World War III. And with
the events unfolding in Paris and Syria, the world seems poised on the brink of
another war that can only bring death and devastation to million across the
globe. Because war never changes…
Since the dawn of human history, blood has
been spilled, some in the name of a god, some for justice, and at other times
simple psychotic rage. The earliest evidence of conflict comes from Cemetery
117, dated about 14 000 years ago, where 45% of the skeletons showed signs
of dying a violent death. With the rise of governments about 5 000 years ago,
military conflict has become a way of life. Current estimates indicate that
there have been 14 500 wars fought between 3 500 BC and today,
claiming 3.5 billion lives, with only 300 years of peace.
The earliest and deadliest war fought was
the Three Kingdoms War, from 184 CE to 280 CE, in China. The three emperors of
Wei, Shu and Wu all claimed legitimate succession from the Han dynasty. Shu was
conquered by Wei during 263 CE, where after Wei was overthrown by the Jin
dynasty in 265 CE, and Jin finally conquered Wu during 280 CE. A census during
the Han era reported 56 million individuals, while a census taken under the Jin
reunification reported a population of 16 million individuals. With a death
toll of 40 million, this counts as the second deadliest period of warfare
before modern times.
Of course, no history of war would be
complete without Genghis Khan. The Mongol invasions and conquests from 1206 CE
to 1337 CE counts as the deadliest conflict before the 20th century.
This was death and destruction on a scale never seen before. The arrival of
Mongol hordes spread terror and panic that was fully justified. In North China,
only about 10% of the population survived. In Persia, only about 20%, measured
via the drop in tax revenues. The Mongols reached the borders of Europe before
their empire collapsed following the death of Kublai Khan. At the time, it
covered 33 million square kilometres. It is estimated that approximately 50
million people died during these conquests.
It is only in modern times that we’ve once
again begun to reach the excesses of the Mongols. A modern history of war, of
course, starts with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in
the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. Dying with his wife in his
arms, his last words were "Sophie, Sophie! Don't die! Live for our
children!" From there, the war engulfed Europe. On the one side, the
Triple Entente of the United Kingdom, France and the Russian Empire. On the
other, the Central Powers of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and
the Ottoman Empire. It was in this war that the colony of German South-West
Africa became a protectorate of the British Empire, under control of the Union
of South Africa.
By 11 November 1918, 20 million people had
died in the war. On 11am that day, an armistice was reached in what was called
the Great War. Around the world every year, poppies are still worn on 11
November to commemorate those who died, due to the field of poppies that grew
on the battlefields in the western front.
By the end of the war there were no more empires. But the Treaty of
Versailles that ended the war would not hold…
On 1 September 1939, Germany under Adolf
Hitler invaded Poland, and started the war that would claim the greatest number
of human lives in history. Hitler’s genocide of the Jews, driven partly by
eugenics, partly by a fundamentalist Christian revenge for the crucifixion of
Jesus, remains a black mark on human history that can never be erased. And
while the Holocaust resulted in the death of 6 million Jews, the total death
toll during the war amounted to 60 million people, about 3% or the world population.
Of that 60 million, 26.6 million were Russians, or about 14% of the Russian
population.
It is no surprise that the first law in any
society around the world is the prohibition on killing someone. We have long
since recognized that for human society to prosper, the needless deaths of its
members is the most critical element of a civilization.
Every religion condemns it, from the famous
line of the Torah, in Exodus 20:13 – “Thou
shalt not kill,” to the words of Jesus, in Matthew 5:21-22 – “You have heard that it was
said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable
to judgment.’ But I say to you that
everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever
insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You
fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire,” and the Qur'an
5:32 – “If anyone slays a person,
it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it
would be as if he saved the life of the whole people.”
The only way anyone can live in peace, is
if they’re prepared to forgive. Here in Namibia, we have the most powerful
example of forgiveness in action all around us. When this country became
independent, an unconditional amnesty was given to fighters on both sides of
the war for independence. Today these former enemies sit at the same table,
working together for a better future. The world today desperately needs more
peace. Just 300 years in 5 000 is not enough.
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