Do wars contribute to progress?
Nowadays political,economical and social conflicts have pushed humanity to the brynk of the abysis,in such circumstances a global armed conflicts seems to be inevatable.This contributes every person to look in the past,specifically previous wars impact humanity that in result makes every person think what wars create "progress" or regress"
To start with,I belive that wars create a cerin progress.First of all,wars stimulate a country's economy.As an example, we can treat Golden Age of the U.S.A . Second World War is considered as succesor that bring out America from the Great of Depression. The United States was the only major country in the world,which during Second World War intensified its economic and poltical potential.Over the proceding history of the U.S.A,it has never reached such power.America received 200$ billion in the wars bonds and it's share in the world capitalist production in 1948 amounted to 54.6%.
Seondly,many historical wars contributed to the exhange of information and surge of scientific-technological discovories. As evidence,Second World War outcome contributed to Informational Revolution that was characterized by advances in electronic technology and Space Age.Another intersting example,we can treat from the war between Arabs and Chinese.In addition, Arabs have learned the secret of making paper in 751.
To sum up,many wars during the history of humsnity brought positive outcomes.
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Sometimes. Depends on how desperate a side is to gain the upper hand. Countless things were invented during and for WWII. But I don't see to many ingenious developments being made to gain the upper hand in Afghanistan. There may be, but I don't see them. Also the scale of the war. If it's a nuke battle, and it blows up half the planet, it's definitely not going to help progress. If it's something like WWII, then it probably would. Not saying wars are good, mid you. EDIT: I think I may have misunderstood progress as technological progress. Apologies. 3
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Hello,CakeMask.As you did not understand one of my argument,I will clarify what exactly I meant.What we understand by "wars contribute to progress" not only nowadays possible wars that I agree dangerous to the world by means of nuclear power,but this issue actually requires the large scale wars impact from the past to 20th century. The exchange with information and surge of scientific-technological discoveries are one of the most significant evidences of progress.Battle of Talas between Chinese and Arabs demonstrates the change of the course of history to positive consequences for humanity:paper technology penetrated to the West by Chinese prisoners of war.The development of Industrial technology was contributed WWI: mass production of arms,ammunition and equipment.Fast enough aviation managed to surprise with new types of bombs: explosive,weaponry,incendiary. At the beginning of WWII,there were about 150-200 fleets each of the warring countries.Initially,they were used as scouts,but later began to perform combat missions.For example,they started dropping bombs on enemies.Maritime aviavtion also began to develop.At the end of war armies had a very large number of aircrafts.As people wanted more,they mastered the night flights,and even bombers began to conduct mass night raids.German bomber(485 aircrafts),for instance,tried to attack Paris at night.This demonstrates how people through the lens of scarcity had started to solve the problems. To sum up,wars pushed humanity to fear in face of danger that is an exceptional incentive to technological progeess.It is no coincidence,and many new items appear for military use,and only then are used in civilian life! Wars do not contribute to progress and I am going to prove it. At first, wars destroy buildings, statues and libraries. For example, the great Gothic cathedrals and buildings were destroyed in the 2nd World War. (1) The government buildings in York (now Toronto), the then capital of Upper Canada were also burned down by the Americans in April, 1813. The Burning of Washington in 1814 was an incident during the War of 1812. During World War II, Japanese military forces destroyed or partly destroyed numerous Chinese libraries, including libraries at the National University of Tsing Hua, Peking (lost 200,000 of 350,000 books), the University Nan-k'ai, T'ien-chin (totally destroyed, 224,000 books lost), Institute of Technology of He-pei, T'ien-chin (completely destroyed), Medical College of He-pei, Pao-ting (completely destroyed), Agricultural College of He-pei, Pao-ting (completely destroyed), University Ta Hsia, Shanghai (completely destroyed), University Kuang Hua, Shanghai (completely destroyed), National University of Hunan (completely destroyed)(2). All these arguments shows that a lot of buildings, statues and libraries were destroyed because of wars. As a result, books were burned, cultures were damaged. So, how wars can contribute progress, if all achievements and knowledge, that were reached during many years, are destroyed in one day. Secondly, wars do not contribute progress, because it carry death of thousand people. Statistics (3) shows that, during the World War II, over 60 million people were killed, which was over 2.5% of the world population. Many people died because of diseases, poverty and starvation. That means there could not be any progress in such situations. Wars carry only destroying and death. 2
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The damage to infrastructure could contribute to it development though.As you know,the architecture of war involved countries still develops and goes on.Cities that were destroyed became even better.For instance,Moscow is one of most trendy and historical cities in the world,but have a look in the past.On September 14, 1812 three-quarters of Moscow was burned on the day when Russian troops and most residents abandoned the city and Napoleon's vanguard troops entered the city following the Battle of Borodino.Fire contributed to the expansion of streets, including the laying of the Garden Ring. In rebuilding the city participated architects Osip Bove, Domenico Gilardi, Athanasius Grigoriev, etc.In addition,Moscow's architecture is world-renowned. I agree that death of million of people seems as the one of main negative consequences.However,you can not deny that wars return to human society biological selection,when offspring leave the fittest to survive.At the time of wars all restrictions removed that are usually imposed in society.As a result,the war can be seen as a way and method of removal psychological stress in the whole society.The fear of the imposition of another's will,fear in the face of danger is an exceptional incentive to progress when people see the world through the lens of scarcity. 1
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