Blog 4 History

Military historian (and author) Victor Davis Hanson spoke last Thursday at Lehigh University and according to the student newspaper his central theme was that, “wars are a product of human nature and emotional grievances rather than material conquests.”  For some time now this has been a topic debated among sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and, of course, historians.  “We’re not going to end war until human nature changes,” Hanson was reported as saying. “Every once in a while war solves problems.” War is indeed the great “arbiter.” Nature versus nurture, irrationalism, or the ever popular “civilization is responsible,” have been conjured up as arguments.  According to historians Richard A. Preston, Alex Roland, and Sydney F. Wise, in their excellent book Men in Arms: A History of Warfare and it’s Interrelationships with Western Society, “any organized armed conflict between national or ideological groups must be regarded as warfare.”