ABSTRACT
W ar as a solution? War is an obvious example. It has accompanied human history from as far back as we are able to know. But do wars work or have they ever worked? A better way to phrase the question is: have they ever solved long-term the problems which led to the war in the first place? The author would now - for most wars - argue in the negative: one war seems always to lay the groundwork for the next one because the problems leading to the preceding one re-emerge. Also, when one thinks about it, it is often difficult to pinpoint the real 'winners' after a war. The soldiers on either side rarely gain enough personally out of it to justify the danger, terror, uncertainty and family break-ups that they had to undergo. Non-combatant civilians - especially in the war zone itself - are usually obvious losers as well.
