Why Nations Go to War

Why Nations Go To War In John Stoessinger’s work on “Why Nations go to War” he examines ten wars that have occurred since 1914 and the one currently taking place today. These wars include World War One, World War Two, Korean War, Vietnam War, Yugoslavian War, Indo-Pakistani War, Arab-Israel War, Iran-Iraq and Iraq-Kuwait War, War on Terror, and Wars in Rwanda and Darfur. Each of these wars have many things in common, but the one thing that sticks out above many of the other statistics and reasons is that “no nation that began a major war in the twentieth century emerged a winner” (Stoessinger 387). So after reading this quote you begin to ask yourself, why then would a nation choose to start a war and face the difficulties and often tragic outcomes that coincide with war. Stoessinger thesis on why nations go to war: nations go to war out of fear and misconception that leaders have of other nations. The first war that Stoessinger discusses is World War One. When the war was just beginning people did not see the catastrophe that would unfold in the years to come “the emperors and generals who sent their men to war in August 1914thought in terms of weeks, not months, let alone years” (Stoessinger 3). This shows the erroneous belief of many leaders involved in the war. They figured their armies to be far superior and the enemy to be inferior. But that proved not the case. Instead of stepping back and assessing the situation that they were about to put themselves and their nation into, this belief that they would dominate brought “the world catastrophe that would snuff out the lives on an entire generation and consign the next to illusion and despair” (Stoessinger 3). As a leader of a nation makes decisions they should keep in mind the people that they are making these decisions for, they should make decisions that are in the best interest of their people. Wilhelm II made a mistake when he based a decision upon personal feelings,