The Concept of War

The Concept of War

How many people know someone who is in the military or has been in the military? Almost everyone does. People may not be affected by the immediate ramifications of war but almost every one is affected by the war in some way. Every one holds their own opinions of war and how wars should be handled. In today’s world war has become very much a part of every day life. We see war on television, in the newspaper, on the radio, and we hear about it in our every day conversations. There are many different types of warfare, but the two that are mainly seen today are conventional warfare and asymmetrical warfare.

According to Wikipedia, “War is a state of widespread conflict between states, organizations, or relatively large groups of people, which is characterized y the use of lethal violence between combatants or upon civilians.” War is an irresolvable conflict between two groups that begins a physical fight to find a natural winner and loser. War has always been and will continue to be a very influential part of human society. War can be tracked back as far as human society can be tracked.

War is as old as human civilization and is prominent in the histories of many cultures as far back as record was kept. The earliest civilizations in Mesopotamia were some of the first to employ standing armies. The addition of organization and structure over the years has been the leading aspect in the betterment of warfare. Technology has also been a key element in the development of warfare. The use of modern technology has exponentially increased the potential cost and destruction of war.

Conventional warfare is described as a war between two separate nations or states or a war where biological and nuclear weapons are not used. Conventional warfare begins with a conflict between two separate groups of people. This conflict is irresolvable with just the use of words and conference. Each country then gathers together a standing army and begins to put together a plan of attack for the best way to win. These armies are then used to fight each other. They use different tactics of warfare to battle each other. The only resolution to this problem at this point is for one of the countries to either lose or forfeit from the battle itself.

Throughout history Americans have one their freedom through this particular kind of warfare. This began with the American Revolution in which the Americans fought the British to win their freedom from England. This fight was meant to declare America’s independence from the rule of the church at the time in Britain. Today we still fight for our freedom on a daily bases. We live our lives with the ability to be free and that ability comes as the gain of warfare. Even today when people try to jeopardize our freedom as a country, we go to war with them so that they know that that was not a smart move on their part.

Asymmetrical warfare is a conflict between two populations of very different levels of military ability. This kind of war is probably the least fair variety of war because the fight is lop sided. As with all wars, this variety of warfare begins with and conflict that is chosen to be solved with actions and not words. The war progresses quickly because of the great difference in the ability of the two groups at war. One group of military normally has access to a much more extensive variety of weapons than the group whom is striving just not to die during each battle. The fighting between the two groups is normally not very fair because one military often has better technology and more advanced tactics and weaponry.

Though it is unfair, asymmetrical warfare is the type of warfare that we hear about every day on the news television shows or in the newspaper. The war in Iraq is a war that fits this model to the tea. Though an Iraqi militant group attacked the pride of our nation, the country is poor and our country has basically unlimited resources. As our military battles with their military they use mostly guerilla warfare because they do not have the same technology