Peace Hath Her Victories No, Less Renowned Than War CSS English Essay

Peace Hath Her Victories No, Less Renowned Than War 

CSS English Essay

Outline:

• The victorious men of the world ' victory at the cost of other's catastrophe.
• Example of Napoleon
• The ravages of the war
• The end result of the victorious nations
• Peace time, a time for gaining happiness and utilizing your energy to build up. your nation
• Victories of peace greater than victories of war
• Hero of a nation. Victorious of wars or a man who worked against ignorance, poverty and disease

The word ‘victory’ calls to our mind names of men like Alexander, CaeSar, Napoleon. Chengiz Khan and Tamerlane, who fought many wars, won victories-and made themselves famous. Indeed, these are the men whom generally we adore as heroes. There is no doubt that they were men of ability and power. Some of them might be mere soldiers of fortune, ravaging countries and destroying civilizations. But many of them were builders too. Alexander left a large empire behind, and Julius Caesar laid the foundations of the grandeur that was Rome.

It is very good to read of the glories of these men when they are dead and gone, when their’ deeds can no longer touch us. But what was the effect of the work of these heroes? Wars might have brought them victories, but they often meant the ruin of the countries that were defeated and loss, of lives on both sides, the victors as well as the victims. It is often said that Napoleon was the greatest soldier of all times, that he could work miracles, but although he might have brought glories to France, his wars killed so many thousands of Frenchmen that France was faced with depopulation. One need not speak of the countries that Napoleon warred on, in which damage to property was almost as great as the loss of lives, so that those who were left alive had to struggle against famine and chaos.

Whether a country wins or loses, it has to concentrate alt its energies on the prosecution of wars. In these days we say that war effort must have."Top priority". The result is that the country cannot devote its attention to the nation-building activities, to education, sanitation, agriculture and commerce. The nation works at maximum pressure, and all its efforts are engaged in destroying what others have built. We cannot construct, it only destroys. That is why wars are very good to write poems or stories about; but they are very terrible when one comes to have actual experience of them.

It is said that wars may destroy much: but they also build empires. But that in itself is a half truth. An empire based on force can never be stable or create happiness and contentment. After Alexander's death his empire was broken into fragments that could never be united again. Napoleon brought many countries under his sway but he could not retain and overthrow him; the conqueror was conquered by his own victoms. War is a kind of lust that is not satisfied until it has destroyed itself. Once men and nations yield to this passion, they will go on from destruction to destruction until they are themselves destroyed.

This is what victory in war effects in spite of ail the glory that is associated with it. Contact this with man's achievements in time of peace, which may appear to be uneventful. It is in peace that scientists can apply themselves to the invention not of newer and swifter means of destruction but of newer methods of improving'the condition of making. It is in time of peace only that scientists, philosophers and men of letters can devote themselves undisturbed to the advancement of learning, to the acquisition of knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Quite accidentally, some beneficial scientific inventions have been made during the times of war. But generally such times are barren so far as progress in knowledge is concerned. In times of war, the energy of the atom is applied for making of atom bombs; in times of peace the same energy is utilized to add to the comfort and happiness of mankind.

. In war man fights against his fellows, against other men: in peace he fights against poverty, disease and ignorance. The inventions of war destroy men, the inventions of peace save them. It is only in times of peace that it is possible to- spend money for the advancement of education and for the fight against illiteracy. It is in times of peace that governments can improve the condition of the poor by increasing production and stimulating commerce. It is only in times of peace that determined efforts can be; made to fight against disease, not-merely to invent new medicines but also to check the spread of disease and to improve the sanitation of a country. These victories against ignorance, poverty and disease are achieved quietly; nobody advertises them and very often they are achieved so silently that we are not even aware of how much we have achieved. But are not these victories greater than victories in war? Once the people of France voted on who was the greatest Frenchman, it might naturally have- been expected that the largest number of votes would go to Napoleon who had dazzled the world by.his successes on the battlefield.' But it was not so. The people ' of France by an overwhelming majority decided that the greatest Frenchman was Louis Pasteur, the eminent scientist, who by his researches, had helped to save innumerable lives.'The victories of peace were, indeed, more renowned than war. Who is greater and more renowned; Socrates or Alexander. Shakespeare or the Duke of Marlborough?

It is not merely a question of tangible achievements, of the medicines Pasteur invented or the dramas which Shakespeare wrote; it is a question of fundamental ideas. War is based on hatred. We generally make war on other nations whom we want to subjugate, whom we hate, whom,we consider inferior to us. Even when we fight in self-defence, our sense of the rightness of our cause is mixed with a feeling of vengeance against our enemies. Peace is the product of goodwill among nations; it promotes understanding-between them stimulates international trade and leads to cultural contacts. From whatever point of view we may look at the matter, there is no doubt that the victories of peace are greater than those of war. It is only a mistaken sense of values that makes war popular, and it may be hoped that as men are drawn to one another by ties of friendship, war will be a thing of the past.