What is it good for?- Andrew Collins

Through thousands of years of trial and error, humankind has settled on war as the most widespread way to solve its conflicts. Unfortunately, this has resulted in countless deaths throughout human history, and to this day we struggle to find alternatives.

Fortunately, however, war is rarely a first resort. Although there are many exceptions, war generally follows attempts at compromise and other peaceful methods of conflict resolutions. Excluding extremists, war is generally seen as an evil last resort. When two sides are completely unable to come to any sort of compromise, they tend to turn to violence as a final sign of disagreement.

Sometimes, war is necessary and preferable to settling for disagreement. Take the American Civil War for example. The United States had been busy tearing themselves in half over the constitutionality and morality of slavery in the decades preceding the Civil War, meanwhile thousands of slaves suffered the hardships of the lifestyle they were forced to live. While the war turned out to be one of the deadliest in the young nation's history, it ended the most blatant and violent of injustices committed against African Americans. In times of great injustices, sometimes war is necessary to bring forth justice.