The Cost of War

   The cost of war is measured in more than the expense of munitions and the destruction of property. There is the loss of life and the loss potential of future contributions by the best of the young and bright.
   There is the loss of security provided by strong governments toppled in defeat, whether these governments are monarchies, dictatorships or democracies. The economic and social chaos visited on a nation after military actions stop can be enormous, whether that nation counts itself the victor or loser.

   War drains the participants of resources -- human and economic -- that would otherwise be used to build a more prosperous and healthy nation.

   Consider: Four empires were dissolved as a result of World War I -- the Russian, Austro-Hungarian, German and Ottoman -- and the seeds were sewn for the dissolution of two more monarchies, in Italy and in Spain. (The monarchy has returned in post-Franco Spain, but is now largely a figurehead and ceremonial.) The British Empire lost an entire generation of its best and brightest youth, resulting in major changes in society. On a single day in 1916, the British military suffered nearly 20,000 dead in the first Battle of the Somme.
   World War I set the stage for the Nazi takeover in Germany, partly fueled by resentment over the Allies' attempt to crush the German industrial economy so it could never again supply munitions for war. Moreover, the victors insisted on punitive reparations, which resulted in meteoric inflation as the government in Berlin printed money to pay off debt imposed by the Treaty of Versailles.
   In a larger sense, the war started a chain of events that led to the Great Depression of the 1930s, which in turn led to World War II.

   The numbers of people killed or wounded during war, whether military or civilian, are enormous, and are readily available. Gone are the days when commanders calculated the "acceptable" casualty rate when planning a military action -- if they calculated the number at all. After the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, the bodies of troops who died in the battle -- more than 7,000 of them -- were simply left, unburied, on the battleground. Soon, locals took it upon themselves to gather and bury them in what became the Gettysburg National Cemetery.
   June 6, 1944, D-Day in Normandy as Allied forces landed in France, brought some 4,414 deaths of Allied troops, plus as many as 9,000 German defenders. The exact numbers are still not known, but these are estimates compiled by the web site historystackexchange.com. Throughout the Battle of Normandy, the total number of military dead on both sides numbered more that 425,000, plus another 20,000 French civilians.

   After World War II, the public became alarmed at the casualty rate, so that the attitude of the military changed. Still, hundreds of thousands of people died.
      Today, America is considering yet more military action in the Middle East, despite the losses taken in recent years from activities in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. The British Army could not control Afghanistan in the 19th Century, and the Soviet military could not do it in the 20th Century. What leads politicians to think the American military can do it in the 21st Century?

   Who benefits from war? President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned of the "military-industrial complex" alliance of executives who profit from the sale of munitions. Earlier, author George Bernard Shaw exposed the practice in his play, "Major Barbara."

   It seems the only ones who benefit from war are those who manufacture and sell military hardware. Those who fight in war get medals. Often posthumously.