Conflicts & Wars Around the Globe - The Greatest Legacy of Man?

We must always remember that those who cause wars today never fight in them.

A continuing cycle of barbaric conflicts and wars.

This will conclude my series on Conflicts & Wars Around the Globe.

It is truly depressing, disparaging and deeply disheartening to anyone whose only desire is to live in peace and harmony on this planet.

All the sweat, blood, tears and grief that mankind has inflicted on itself, and the enduring pain to the innocents in this world, over the past thousands of years certainly justifies humanity's bleak, and black, persona of barbarism, greed, lust for power and control.

It is a true testimony to the unwillingness of only a few people whose one aspiration is to control the lives of others, and who thrive on the premise of war; and their refusal to allow peace and harmony to take hold.

There is no profit is peace

The following is only to summarize the extent of what we do to fellow human beings on a regular massive basis:

EUROPE From 1500 AD to 1900 AD:

• 1625 AD. Hugo Grotius (Dutch jurist and theologian) published "On the Law of War and Peace" setting out the fundamentals of international law.

• 1631 AD. Swedish monarch, Gustavus Adolphus uses the technique of volley firing to rout out his opponents at the Battle of Breitenfeld, during the 30 years war.
• 1683 AD. The Ottoman Turks lay siege to Vienna, but are hampered by the clumsiness of their artillery.
• 1690 AD. Match block forearms are replaced by the most efficient flintlock muskets.
• 1789 AD. The French revolution paves the way for Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign of conquest.
• 1815 AD. Napoleon's defeat ushers in almost a half century of peace.
• 1833 AD. German General Carl Von Clausewitz published "On War", establishing guidelines for future generations of military strategists.
• 1853 AD. Russian armored gun ships destroy a Turkish frigate squadron at Sinope, ending the use of fighting vessels made only of wood.
• 1853 AD - 1856 AD. The Crimean war between Russia and allied forces (France, Britain, Turkey) sees the first use of rifled artillery, torpedoes and floating mines.
• 1866 AD. Prussian troops armed with breech loading rifles defeat an Austrian army equipped with old fashioned muzzle loaders, at the battle of Sadowa.

THE MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA FROM 1500 AD TO 1900 AD:

• 1850 AD - 1900 AD. European soldiers armed with machine guns, rifles, and field artillery carve out huge empires in Africa and inner Asia.

ASIA FROM 1500 AD - 1900 AD:

• 1526 AD. At Panipat, in a battle using artillery, cavalry, musketeers, and war elephants, Babar of Afghanistan defeats the Sultan of Delhi, laying the foundation of the Mogul empire.
• 1575 AD. At the battle of Nagashino, Japan, musketeers firing in continuous volleys destroy the oncoming Samurai cavalry.
• 1592 AD. Korean admiral Yi Syn-yin uses armor plated warships to wreak havoc on the wooden hulls of an attacking Japanese Fleet.

THE AMERICAS FROM 1500 AD - 1900 AD:

• 1519 AD - 1521 AD. Equipped with horses, firearms, and cannon, a small force of Spaniards under the command of Henan Cortes conquers the Aztec empire of Mexico.
• 1775 AD - 1783 AD. American colonists using a mixture of guerrilla and conventional tactics, win their war of independence against Britain.
• 1861 AD - 1865 AD. The American Civil war is the first major conflict to be dominated by the rifle - a weapon that proves deadly against frontal attacks.
• 1917 AD. Outraged at the sinking of its ships by German submarines, the United States declares war on Germany beginning the first world war.
• 1945 AD. The dropping of atomic bombs by the United states on Hiroshima and Nagasaki forces the the surrender of Japan and marks the beginning of the nuclear age.
• 1952 AD. The United States test fires its first hydrogen bomb and builds its first nuclear-powered submarine.
• 1962 AD. The USSR pulls back from the threat of a nuclear confrontation by accepting American demands that it should close down its missile bases in Cuba.
• 1969 AD. The U.S. and Soviet Union begin strategic arms limitation talks (SALT) , the first in a series of negotiations aimed at controlling or reducing nuclear weapons.

A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE CONTINUING CYCLE OF CONFLICT:

• 1945 - Indonesia: war of independence; Greece: civil war
• 1946 - China: civil war; Indochina War (Vietnimh versus France)
• 1947 - Madagascar: colonial uprising.
• 1948 - Partition violence in India and Pakistan; Arab-Israeli war; Maylayan Emergency - guerrilla campaign against British rule; Burma: ethnic insurrection.
• 1950 - Korean war (N. Korea and China versus S. Korea, the U.S., and allies); Indonesia: civil war; Chinese invasion of Tibet.
• 1952 - Kenya: Mau Mau rebellion.
• 1954 - Algeria: revolt against French rule; Cuba: revolution.
• 1955 - Cyprus: Nationalists versus Britain, and inter-communal strife between Greeks and Turks
• 1956 - Soviet invasion of Hungary; Suez crisis: Israel, British, and French forces invade Egypt.
• 1959 - Vietnam: North Vietnam and South Vietnam Communists versus Republic of South Vietnam and (from 1962) The United States.
• 1960 - Congo (Zaire): civil wars.
• 1961 - Angola: war of independence; Iraq: Kurdish insurgency; Ethiopia: Eritrean separatist revolt.
• 1962 - North Yemen: civil war: India-China border war.
• 1963 - Chad: civil wars; Sudan: civil war; Guinea-Bissau: war of independence.
• 1964 - Mozambique: war of independence.
• 1965 - India-Pakistan border war; U.S. invasion of Dominican Republic.
• 1967 - Nigeria: war of Biafran secession; Arab-Israeli Six day war; Israel: Palestinian insurgence; Spain: Basque separatist terrorist campaign; Guatemala; civil war.
• 1968 - Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia; Northern Ireland: Republican terrorist campaign against British rule.
• 1969 - Chine-USSR border war; El Salvador-Honduras Soccer war.
• 1971 - Pakistan: civil war, and war versus India; Uganda: civil wars.
• 1972 - Rhodesia (Zimbabwe): Nationalists versus Rhodesian government and Britain; Burundi: inter-tribal massacres.
• 1973 - Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War
• 1974 - Turkish invasion of Cyprus
• 1975 - Lebanon: civil wars; Angola: civil war; Cambodia (Kampuchea): genocide by Khmer Rouge; Ogaden War (Ethiopia versus Somalia)
• 1978 - Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia; Sahel War (Morocco versus Algerian backed Western Saharan separatists); Nicaragua: Sandinista revolution; Sri Lanka: Tamis insurgency.
• 1979 - Soviet invasion of Afghanistan; Chinese invasion of Vietnam; Tanzanian invasion of Uganda; El Salvador: civil war.
• 1980 - Gulf War: Iraq versus Iran.
• 1982 - Falkland Islands Argentina versus Britain; Nicaragua: Contra insurrection; Israel invasion of Lebanon.
• 1986 - South Yemen: civil war.
• 1988 - Burundi: inter-tribal massacres.
• 1990 - Liberia: civil war; Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
• 2000 and beyond - Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, etc, etc, etc...

And here we are today. Nothing has changed; and with this long history of a legacy of perpetual violence, i doubt if there will EVER be an end to it, short of total self annihilation.

I propose that we change our name from "HUMANITY' to "INSANITY", for the word humanity derives from the word "humane" which means - marked by compassion, sympathy, or consideration for humans and animals.

Mankind has none of these attributes.

Insanity is doing the same things over and over with the expectancy of a different out come each time.

Anyone who causes, or starts, a war for any reason other than in defense of our freedom and equality, should be hunted down, tried, and convicted for crimes against humanity; and executed as they would do unto those they intend to destroy in their own petty quests for their personal gains.

Another of my favorite quotes:

by Edmund Burke -

"For evil to flourish, all that is needed, is for good people to do nothing:.

And we seem to do that very well.

by d.william 08/26/2011