ABSTRACT
Aggression appears to be a fundamental characteristic of human nature, and violence has been used to resolve disputes since prehistoric times. Warfare is no less characteristic of the world today than in the past: since the end of the Second World War, more than two hundred and fifty wars and violent internal conflicts have raged in more than eighty countries. Glasby notes that large quantities of chemical warfare agents were dumped into the Baltic Sea after the Second World War. The Vietnam War was the scene of the most extensive systematic destruction of vegetation ever undertaken in warfare. The destructive energy released by detonation of a nuclear warhead is divided into three categories: thermal, kinetic, and radioactive energies. The environment has often been a cause of political tension and military conflict. Countries have fought for control over raw materials, energy supplies, land, river basins, sea passages and other environmental resources.
