THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 26, 1995 TAG: 9502220391
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book Review
SOURCE: BY FREDERICK HERMAN
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
ON THE ORIGINS OF WAR
DONALD KAGAN
Doubleday. 606 pp. $30.
DONALD KAGAN, a professor of history and Western civilization at Yale, has written a book that is fascinating and distressing - fascinating in that it lucidly and comprehensively lays out the causes leading to a number of wars during the past 2,500 years and depressing in that it leads to the inevitable conclusion that there will always be war. The best we can hope for is a reduction in its frequency.
More than 2,000 years ago, Thucydides determined that nations go to war out of ``honor, fear and interest.'' Kagan believes that this is still valid if honor is extended to cover such things as ``deference, esteem, just due, regard, respect or prestige.'' On this basis he analyzes the forces that led to two wars in the ancient world, the Peloponnesian War and the Second Punic War; two wars in the 20th century, World Wars I and II; and the Cuban missile crisis, which almost led to war.
Kagan sees the Peloponnesian War and World War I as arising out of the fears that resulted from a shifting balance of power. The Second Punic War and World War II are shown as resulting from faulty peace settlements and an unwillingness to enforce the terms of a peace settlement. The Cuban missile crisis came about because of a misreading by all parties of the others' will and intentions. Kagan suggests that both the Peloponnesian War and World War I could have been avoided; and his view is borne out by the resolution of the Cuban missile crisis.
The author argues persuasively that when reason and careful judgment become overwhelmed by emotion and fears, national leaders lose control of the march of events that they in part launched. The tide of war then can sweep all. Neither appeasement nor subjugation of one side by the other will stem that tide, but rather the judicious exercise of power and the clear annunciation of policies that make the maintenance of peace more advantageous than the waging of war.
On the Origins of War is a lesson well worth studying. MEMO: Frederick Herman is a Norfolk educator, historian and architect. by CNB