The Reasons For War Today - 1435 Words

When we think about the primary reasons for war today, the most common reasons are for war are defending against attack, political control or wealth, recapturing lost items or people, or punishing those who have done wrong. We tend to assume religion is not the main cause of war - according to the Encyclopedia of Wars (Phillips and Axelrod), of the 1,763 major conflicts in recorded history, only 123 of them can be classified as having been fought over religious differences. That’s less than 7 percent. From the year 1500 c.e. -1700 c.e., Europe was at war 90% of the time. In the 1600s there were only about 4 years of peace overall. The general idea is that these wars were typically about control and wealth as city-states vied for power,†¦show more content†¦It was common for a prince and his whole province to turn Protestant, raid all of the catholic church s land, and take that wealth and land for his own kingdom. Later, even kings and whole countries embraced the Protestant faith. Prior to the Reformation the Church governed politics; controlled emperors and kings and governed the law of lands. Afterwards, the spread of Protestantism placed more of that power in the hands of the ruler of that realm. So while many had a deep religious reasons to convert, some political reasons also played a part in its spread. The 30 Year War started as a religiously-driven dynastic dispute in Bohemia (part of the Holy Roman Empire) in 1618. Protestants get their stuff packed in pretty tight in the beginning, but by 1630 both France and Sweden have entered the war on the Protestant side to oppose further expansion of Habsburg power, after which it goes from a religious war to a political one. By 1648, most of central Europe lies in ruins. The population has been devastated (~1/3 of the total population dies; over 50% in some areas) by years of warfare and famine, cities have been destroyed, and everyone has been -- for lack of a better word --