StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

War as Accident vs War by Design - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The author of the paper "War as Accident vs War by Design" is of the view that since a war involves an engagement with the enemy, the plan made by one party may fail, since the planning is done without full information regarding the status of the enemy…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER92.7% of users find it useful
War as Accident vs War by Design
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "War as Accident vs War by Design"

Around the theme of "War as accident vs. war by design Wars normally emerge as a planned affair or jut accidentally and accelerate beyond control. In fact, even the planned wars can go overboard to the surprise of the planners, since it is not possible to visualize the course any war is going to take from the start to the end, with ultimate precision (Lovell, 112). Since a war involves an engagement with the enemy, the plan made by one party may fail, since the planning is done without full information regarding the status of the enemy. This is worsened by war propaganda and military misinformation techniques applied, which serve to represent the enemy in a way that is different from the reality (Ross, 41). Therefore, this discussion seeks to understand the origins of the wars, with a focus on whether the Opium War, World War I, and World War II were started accidentally or by design. The Opium War The opium war occurred in two phases, the first phase occurring 1839 to 1842 and the phase in the period 1856 to 1860 (Hanes and Frank, 54). The origin of this war was a commercial conflict between the Chinese and the British Empire. The Opium War occurred by design and not by accident. This is because; the first Opium War was solely started by the British Empire, which sent gun boats following a commercial disagreement between British Empire and China (Lovell, 102). The British Empire and its merchants had been importing large quantities of Opium into china, which was initially used as a medicinal substance. However, it turned out that the Chinese realized that the Opium could be mixed and smoked together with tobacco (Hanes and Frank, 72). This led to an increase in demand for Opium, which opened more trade opportunities for the British merchants. However, as time progressed, the Chinese authorities realized that Opium had addictive effects as well as other negative health impacts on the Chinese people. Therefore, the authorities sought to restrict the importation of Opium by the British merchants, by banning any import on shipments related to Opium as a product (Lovell, 117). This trade ban created a bad blood between the Chinese and the British Empire, since the British Empire was benefiting more from the trade; therefore it had not illegalized trading in Opium. While the British merchants sought for ways out, to continue importing the product, the Chinese authorities responded by confiscating tones of Opium shipments from the British merchants and destroying it, on top of taking most of the British merchants’ hostage (Hanes and Frank, 60). Since the British Empire did not respect the will of the Chinese to ban the importation of Opium, it planned an attack on China, to force it agree to the continuation of the trade in Opium, in addition to creating more favorable conditions for the trade. Therefore, the British Empire sent gunboats to attack China, which in turn gave in to the demands of the British Empire, since it did not have the capacity to fight against the modern weapons (Lovell, 120). The same case happened in the second phase of the Opium war, where the British Empire joined hands with France, Russia and the USA to coerce China into accepting their terms of trade through signing various treaties, which entailed the confiscation of some of the Chinese territories by these western powers (Hanes and Frank, 55). Therefore, the Opium war, which involved the attack on China by western powers, was by design, to allow the western powers enforce commercial agreements that favored them. The First World War This is the first war to occur on a global scale that lasted in the period 1914 to 1918. The war involved the major world powers which were organized in antagonistic packs, with the central powers, made up of Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary on one side and the allies, comprising of Britain, France and Russia on the other hand (Afflerbach and Stevenson, 20). However, the alignment kept changing with time as more countries joined the war, which brought over 70 million military soldiers in a war. The First World War was unprecedented and accidental. This because, even though many countries had aligned themselves in support of either side of the warring countries, they did not anticipate a war that could last for four years, and cause such devastating impacts (Afflerbach and Stevenson, 34). The war was not foreseen, since it arose out of a long-term tension between these world powers over European and colonial issues which they had tried to solve through diplomacy but always failed to yield any success (Afflerbach and Stevenson, 18). The tension had increasingly been accelerated by the change in the balance of power in Europe, in the periods following colonization, where some countries felt aggrieved over the unfair share of the colonies in Africa and elsewhere in the world. However, the conflict was made rife by the struggles over territories in the Balkans, where Austria-Hungary and Russia were the major rivals seeking the control of these territories (Afflerbach and Stevenson, 35). This tension soared high, attracting other powers which then started signing pacts and treaties with their favored sides. The Germans had committed to support Austria on the event that Russia reconstructed its army to attack it. On the other hand, British warned that it could join forces with France and Russia, on the event that Germany did not stop its plan to back Austria in a war (Afflerbach and Stevenson, 46). These threats eventually turned into a full brown war, when the Serbians assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on June 28, 1941, forcing Austria to issue very tough terms that Serbia was unable to meet, due to the short time zone allowed of only 40 hours (Afflerbach and Stevenson, 27). This led to world powers declaring war against each other and the war sparked off. Therefore, World War I just occurred as a spontaneous reaction of the attack and assignation of the Archduke of Austria by Serbians, which in itself was not a war. Therefore, it was unprecedented and accidental, other than planned. World War II This is the next major war after World War I, which occurred as a result of the heightened tensions between the world powers, arising from the World War I. As opposed to World War I, which was accidental, World War II was planned and occurred by design. There were many unresolved issues that arose from the First World War, which kept the enmity between the major powers at the time breeding (Ross, 40). This resulted to the growth of nationalism. This caused the countries to keep looking out for any country that would threaten their sovereignty and powers, so they could attack back. Additionally, the fact that there was no ultimate winner in the First World War kept the countries’ desire for supremacy higher (Craven and James, 73). Therefore, following the invasion of China by Japan in 1937 and the subsequent invasion of Poland by Germany and USSR in 1939, another world war was inevitable (Ross, 33). Notable of the unresolved issues included the Treaty of Versailles, which put the blame for the start of the First World War squarely on Germany and Austria-Hungary. Consequently, they were punished by being required to adopt certain internal reorganization measures as well as paying war reparations (Craven and James, 78). While Germany felt discontented by the treaty, it planned to refuse to adhere to the strict terms, which caused other powers to prepare for another major battle. Therefore, the Second World War was planned mostly by Germany due to the bitterness of having got the blunt edge of the First World War, it planned to attack USSR and overcome it, so it could bring Britain to renegotiate the terms of the Treaty of Versailles (Ross, 44). However, this attack inevitably saw the world powers align in support of either side of Germany or the USSR, leading to a full blown war. Works Cited Afflerbach, Holger, and D Stevenson. An Improbable War?: The Outbreak of World War I and European Political Culture Before 1914. New York: Berghahn Books, 2012. Print. Craven, Wesley F, and James L. Cate. The Army Air Forces in World War II. Washington, D.C: Office of Air Force History, 1984. Print. Hanes, William T, and Frank Sanello. The Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another. Naperville, Ill: Sourcebooks, 2007. Print. Lovell, Julia. The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China. London: Picador, 2011. Print. Ross, Stewart. Causes and Consequences of the Second World War. London: Evans, 2003. Print. Wallbank, Taylor. "A Short History of the Opium Wars." Civilizations Past and Present, 2.7 (1992): 25-33. Print. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Around the theme of War as accident vs. war by design, consider the Essay”, n.d.)
Around the theme of War as accident vs. war by design, consider the Essay. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/history/1462139-around-the-theme-of-war-as-accident-vs-war-by
(Around the Theme of War As Accident Vs. War by Design, Consider the Essay)
Around the Theme of War As Accident Vs. War by Design, Consider the Essay. https://studentshare.org/history/1462139-around-the-theme-of-war-as-accident-vs-war-by.
“Around the Theme of War As Accident Vs. War by Design, Consider the Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/history/1462139-around-the-theme-of-war-as-accident-vs-war-by.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF War as Accident vs War by Design

General Car Safety and Different Age Groups

When you talk about car safety, what immediately comes to your mind is not what you can do to protect yourself, but what the car can do to protect you.... Nowadays, there are many features (like airbags and special brakes) provided in standard family saloon cars that provide protection from major accidents, but to a limit....
23 Pages (5750 words) Essay

Cars Safety: Major Factors in Accidents

Regardless of your initial research, there will always be confusion and ignorance about certain rights, hence it is very important to follow the guidelines set by insurance firms (such as reporting to them about the accident in a given set of time) and do some estimation of the loss incurred by you.... id you know that many car accidents are caused due to drivers playing with the radio while driving The next time you try doing multi-tasking while driving, keep the facts and statistics on car accident in mind: Every 12 minutes, one person dies because of a car accident....
14 Pages (3500 words) Assignment

Report (an incident report covering a vehicle accident)

This is an incident report covering a vehicle accident which occurred on [THE DAY YOU WANT TO USE] at [THE LOCATION YOU WANT TO USE].... According to witnesses and a report on the accident, both drivers were wearing their seatbelts.... Causes of Incident The actual accident was caused by several different factors, with other roadway issues contributing to the severity of the injuries sustained by the driver of Vehicle 1.... The most likely direct cause of the accident was that both drivers were operating at speeds too high for the road conditions at that time....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents

Another illustration of major accidents which can be contributed to by human factors is the case of Three Mile Island when serious damage occurred to the core of a nuclear reactor due to operator failure to diagnose a stuck open valve due to poor design of control panel, distraction of 100 alarms activating and inadequate operator training (Health and Safety Executive, HSG48 Reducing accidents and influencing Behaviour, 2000).... Using Reason's accident causation model may be assessed as factors composing safety systems....
11 Pages (2750 words) Case Study

Aviation Safety Questions

This paper "Aviation Safety Questions" discusses productive life limitations of a damage-tolerant-designed airplane and factors involved in the structural safety process, the purpose of CVR and FDR, as well as FAA responsibilities during an aircraft accident investigation.... The FAA principal investigator at an accident is called the investigator in charge.... The individual directs and controls all FAA participation in the accident until the investigation is complete....
9 Pages (2250 words) Case Study

Airplane Accident: Who Is Responsible

This is because most of the airplane accidents are due to engine mechanical failures, which come as a result of poor engine design and manufacturing.... This illustrates that due to the poor design of airplane engines, which cannot function normally throughout the journey is one of the causes of airplane accidents.... James the chief engineer of Boeing asserted that the problem that resulted into the Southwest Airlines Flight 812 accident was due to the poor manufacturing of the airplane and not a broader design (54)....
5 Pages (1250 words) Assignment

Government and Ethics: Prevention of Suicide and Unintentional Deaths

Additionally, any faults in engineering designs as well as the underpinned judgment, to support the design, are imperative considerations.... In order to establish whether there is anything the engineers could do to alleviate suicide cases and unintentional deaths, the nature of the suicide and accident incidences are the focal considerations; that is; in terms of what the causes of the suicides and accidents are as well as, what the facilitative scenes to the cases are....
6 Pages (1500 words) Assignment

Accident And Catastrophes

This coursework "accident And Catastrophes" describes the nature of accidents and catastrophes.... This paper outlines numerouѕ vаriаbleѕ interаct to produce diѕаѕterѕ аnd cаtаѕtropheѕ, key aspects of defining accident and catastrophe.... ... ... ... In the more thаn twenty yeаrѕ ѕince the initiаl publicаtion of Chаrleѕ Perrow'ѕ Normаl Аccidentѕ (Perrowֽ 5-9)ֽ prаctitionerѕ аnd аcаdemicѕ hаve contemplаted how plаne crаѕheѕֽ eаrthen-dаm collаpѕeѕֽ ѕhip colliѕionѕֽ nucleаr diѕаѕterѕֽ аnd chemicаl-plаnt exploѕionѕ cаn be preventedֽ mitigаtedֽ or аvoided....
10 Pages (2500 words) Coursework
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us