Key insights from
War: How Conflict Shaped Us
Audio available
12 minute read
Published Oct 6, 2020
What you'll learn
Canadian professor of history Margaret MacMillan is not a warmonger, but she does consider understanding war, its nature, its causes, and its effects to be a matter of great importance if we truly wish for peace.
Key insights
- • What you'll learn
- 1 Violence is a necessary, but not sufficient condition, for war.
- 2 Society and war-making capacities have grown up side by side and reinforced one another.
- 3 Primates and philosophers offer us clues about humanity’s violent streak, but nothing conclusive.
- 4 The uncomfortable truth is that war holds the power to create as well as destroy.
- 5 Civil wars are especially traumatic for those involved, and the aftershock reverberates for generations.
- 6 Wars often begin with a spark, but the tinder is usually set well before the inflammatory incident.
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