For thousands of years, nations, when faced with major conflicts (frequently due to expansion ambition), would utilize their military power to try to settle the conflict, resulting in major wars between countries. There are literally hundreds of major wars throughout history, taking place in all parts of the world. Here are just samplings of such major wars [1]: Wars of the Babylonian Empire (1770 BC – 1595 BC), Persian Wars (499 BC – 448 BC), Wars of Alexander the Great (334 BC – 323 BC), Roman Invasion of Britain (56 BC – 54 BC), many wars during the Roman Empire (27 BC – 470 AD), Battle of Talas River (between Imperial Tang China and the Abbasid Arabs, 751), various Crusades (1095-1291), Hundred Years’ War (between England and France: 1337-1453), Opium Wars (1839-1842, 1856-1860), First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), Spanish-American War (1898), Philippine-American War (1899-1902), Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), WWI (1914-1918), Second Sino-Japanese War (1931-1945), WWII (1939-1945), Korean War (1950-1953), Vietnam War (1955-1975), Iraq War (2003-2011).
War has been used to resolve not only major conflicts between nations, but also for major conflicts within a nation. Examples of major civil wars include [2]: Various Roman Civil Wars (100 BC – 400 AD), French Wars of Religion (1562-1598), English Civil War (1642-1651), U.S. Civil War (1861-1865), Russian Civil War, (1917-1922), China’s Civil War (1927-1937, 1945-1949), Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).
Almost without exceptions, these wars resulted in thousands or millions of human casualties and major destruction of the parties involved, especially the losers. This article discusses whether we can continue to use war to resolve major conflicts?
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“Torn Memories of Nanking” – A Must Read
As we approach the 80th anniversary of the Rape of Nanking and the time when all the perpetrators and survivors of the Rape of Nanking have passed away, the immense value of recording the testimonies of these perpetrators and survivors cannot be overestimated. Not only that they are needed for historical accuracy, but they provide a cornerstone to build true friendship and peace between China and Japan, as well as for the rest of the world, a cornerstone for perhaps the very survival of humankind.
Faced with conflicting information about the Nanking Massacre when she was a youth and a young adult, Tamaki Matsuoka, a Japanese elementary school history teacher, spent almost 30 years of her adult life, trying to find out just exactly what happened in Nanking, China during the short period of about six weeks to two months during the end of 1937 and the beginning of 1938. Enduring a long, difficult, challenging, and dangerous journey, she exhibited courage, dedication, commitment, and sacrifice to achieve her objective. Among other accomplishments, she interviewed over 250 former Japanese soldiers who participated in the Nanking Massacre and over 300 Chinese survivors of the Nanking Massacre. Through these testimonies, she has presented an undeniable case for the existence of the Nanking Massacre as one of the most horrific atrocities in the history of humankind.
A summary of her life-long project has just been published in the English book Torn Memories of Nanking [1], which should be a must-read book for everyone.
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