Herodotus: Is War Good Or Bad?

As I read both exports of Thucydides and Herodotus they go back and forth with the question that was given for the assignment, is war good or bad. When I first thought on the topic I was leaning more to the good side, but I re-read my notes and both exports and realized that war is actually bad. Not only for the two nations that are fighting but for all nations, and cities neighboring those two. It's bad because it makes rulers and other high ranks do things that are unpredictable. Both of these historians told us that when it came to war all the rulers wanted the biggest army and to either kill off or enslave the other nation. Some wars were fought by the king and the son who succeeded him and the son would do all possible to win for their
Pg(441) of Book Seven shows us that war was passed down from generation to generation; this can be considered bad because at some point the reason for war will leave and younger generations will grow up thinking that there at war because they are suppose to. Herodotus also tells us that The son of King Darius Astyages proves his point from Pg(441) on the very next pg(442) it shows how generations get caught up in war and want to fight on for there father. Following the same page reference Astyages wants to go forward with planning to crush not just the Athenians but also their neighbors the Peloponnese to extend the Empire of Persia, he states that doing this no city or nation in the world will be able to withstand them. Pg(507) shows that with war there is scarce for sources, this is important because some men are going with too little or nothing. With war going on and so many casualties pg(508) show that other nations get involved because the other feel too weak to fight by itself and will ask for help which that can affect more than one nations and the others join in and now everyone is fight which is the main reason war is horrible and not good. Pg(514) Herodotus tells us how the Spartans would prepare for wars or battle knowing that they wouldn’t return home. dealing with the same reference page we find out that Demartars knows that if he wins the war on Sparta he can have his way because no one else will want to go against him and his army. Pg(515) If Sparta beats Demaratus and his army that war will be the most memorable war fought in history during that time. During that time of the battle, the Persian army was not doing as expected even though they had renewed their onslaught hope they could defeat the badly hurt and dismembered Greek army. The Greeks used tactics that the Persians were not ready for by using waves of