Road inWhatChapterPeaceto3.BrokePeacetheWorldofHumankind
3 What Broke Peace in the World of Humankind Chapter Section 1 Greed, Which Broke Peace Section 2 Love, the Beginning of Peace
Overview The causes of conflict and war differ by every era and region, but they have one thing in common: they started from human greed. Greed broke the harmony and order between nature and human society, and caused violence and war. What is needed in order to stop the endless cycle of war and create a world of peace? It is love. With love as the foundation, the values of peace such as gratitude, consideration, sacrifice, and forgiveness enable us to overcome our inner greed and become the framework for restoring peace and order within human society. The values of peace can be internalized through education. People who internalize the values of peace are peace citizens, and peace citizens are peace messengers who spread the culture of peace around them. Let’s create a sustainable world of peace through peace education that practices love, not education that encourages greed.
He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have. Socrates (Greek philosopher, 469 BC-399 BC)
1. Greed, which broke peace
SECTION Section Greed,1
# How did greed break the peace of humankind? Why do wars happen? Wars result in net losses, coerce the sacrifices of youth, and benefit only a very small amount of people. Nevertheless, wars have not ceased throughout human history and continue to take place today. Finding a rational reason for why wars happen has long been a task for humanity. Although there are as many causes as the number of wars that have taken place, the most fundamental and common cause of war is greed. Let’s examine how human greed has caused wars and consider the things we can do to end them.
1) The various causes of conflict and war Since when did conflict and war start? Various studies within anthropology and archeology have identified that conflict and war have existed since prehistoric times. The main causes of
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Which Broke Peace
After the emergence of nations, the causes of war expanded beyond those listed above to include the extension of national territory and power, interest in trade, religious conflict, and clashes in ideology. In a broader sense, the causes of war also include anarchy in the international society 1) and security dilemma, 2) as explained within the study of international relations. There are many different causes of war.
conflict and war in prehistoric times include competition for resources needed for survival and reproduction, competition for rank within a group, and taking revenge out of resentment.
2 Repeating situation where a nation builds up its military power for security, which leads competitivelysecuritynationsneighboringtofeelacrisisandbuild up their military power, which in turn threatens the security of the original country
2) Greed: the root cause of conflict and war
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1 State of prohibitingincapablebeingoflegallytheuse of armed force due to the absence of a universal government that regulates the nation
Humans are not beings that require the use of violence, and violence is not a biological need that humans need to satisfy, such as appetite or sexual desire. This can be confirmed through how there are no signs of atypical deficiencies found in people who have not used violence in decades, nor in people of regions that have no experienced war in centuries.
As nations and civilizations appeared, systematic armies were created and the scale of warfare grew to be larger than before.
What is the reason that humans chose violence, the simplest and most destructive means? “The law is far and the fist is
Humankind has chosen conflict and war as a means of resolving situations. However, violence accompanied by war is not the only solution to conflict. Besides war, there are various options for conflict resolution such as dialogue, negotiation, peaceful competition, conciliation, mediation, litigation, and trial. The Seville Statement on Violence, adopted by the UNESCO General Assembly in November 1986, states that “it is scientifically incorrect to say that war or any other violent behavior is genetically programmed into our human nature.”
Buddhism <dhammapada> There are three gates leading to this hell – lust, anger and greed. Every sane man should give these up, for they lead to the degradation of the soul.
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close.” As this saying goes, violence was the easiest and fastest way humans could use to satisfy their greed. Dialogue, negotiation, and conciliation involved more complex procedures, were time-consuming, and did not offer as many immediate rewards like victory in war did, and thus it was difficult to satisfy human greed through these avenues. Human greed lowered the proportion of choosing a peaceful solution among the various options for conflict resolution and sharply increased the proportion of choosing violence. Therefore, warnings about the attributes of greed are seen even in various religious scriptures. Many people have also made known the dangers of greed. Out of craving grief is born, out of craving fear, one fully freed of craving has no grief - how fear?
Hinduism <Bhagavad Gita> Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Christianity <The Bible>
Islam <Quran>
Confucianism <Analects of Confucius>
Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction. Erich Fromm (German-American psychologist, 1900-1980) Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed. Albert Einstein (German-American physicist, 1879-1955) Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and
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If you, sir, were not covetous, although you should reward them to do it, they would not steal.
Janwillem van de Wetering (Dutch-American author, 1931-2008)
Allah wishes to accept your repentance, but those who follow their lusts, wish that you (believers) should deviate tremendously away (from the Right Path).
Greed is a fat demon with a small mouth and whatever you feed it is never enough.
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4 The Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099–1291) was established after occupying Palestine in the First Crusade and existed as a Christian kingdom in the Levant for about 200 years. bloodshed.
1) Crusades
Jimmy Carter, former president of the United States, expressed concern that within the 242 years of American history, there had been only 16 years of peace. As such, wars have constantly taken place in human history. Let’s take a look at some representative examples of wars that were connected to human greed.
3 A term used to describe the region on the Mediterraneaneastern coast from Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan to Iraq and Iran.
2. Greed and war
American historian William James Durant once said, “There have been only 268 of the past 3,421 years free of war.”
Charlie Chaplin (British actor, 1889-1977)
The Crusades (1095-1291) were a series of eight wars fought between forces representing two religions, Christianity and Islam, during a period of about 200 years. In November 1095 at the Council of Clermont in France, Pope Urban II (Urbanus PP. II) declared, “Deus lo vult” [meaning, “God wills it”]. Pope Urban II then proclaimed complete immunity to all who took part in the Crusades, and in response, European princes led their armies into Jerusalem.
The First Crusade was a victory for the Europeans. However, it did not end with the capture of Jerusalem. The Europeans also occupied the nearby region of the Levant3) and established the Kingdom of Jerusalem.4) In response, the Islamic army tried to reclaim the stolen territory and Jerusalem, saying, “Allāhu
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Akbar” [meaning, “God is most great”] and fought against the European Crusaders. In the Second Crusade that began in this way, the Muslim army led by Salah ad-Din succeeded in retaking Jerusalem and recovering most of the lost territory. In the Third Crusade, famous for the confrontation between Richard the Lionheart and Salah ad-Din, the Crusaders could not even advance to Jerusalem. Most of the fighting took place over a few port towns on the Mediterranean other than Jerusalem, and the Crusaders withdrew after capturing some coastal areas. In the Fourth Crusade, involving participation from the Republic of Venice, the Crusaders unexpectedly attacked the Christian-controlled Byzantine Empire, rather than Jerusalem. The Crusaders successfully attacked Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Venice obtained Crete as a reward for victory, and expanded its naval control over the Mediterranean and Black Seas. From this, it can be confirmed that the Crusades completely transformed into a war for gains during this period. The Fifth Crusade concluded with crushing defeat in a battle at the mouth of the Nile River upon arrival in Egypt, and the surviving troops withdrew to Europe. In the Sixth Crusade, Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich II reclaimed two-thirds of Jerusalem by negotiation, rather than battle. This negotiation resulted in the joint Christian and Muslim rule of Jerusalem for a period of time. Although two more Crusades followed with the Seventh and Eighth Crusades, the Kingdom of Jerusalem established by the Crusaders in the Levant was completely destroyed, and Jerusalem returned to Muslim control. Very few historians regard the Crusades purely as religious wars. Various historical sources about the Crusades indicate the wars included power struggles between popes and emperors,
The Thirty Years’ War, which became known as the religious war between Catholicism and Protestantism, took place from 1618 to 1648 across Germany. The Thirty Years’ War was a full-scale war that even involved attacks on civilians. The war, in which most countries in Europe, including the Holy Roman Empire, France, Denmark, Sweden and Spain, took part, caused about 8 million deaths and reduced about 25% of Germany’s urban population, as well as 40% of its rural population. Most of the deaths were from starvation and disease, and it was a horrific war involving mass killings of civilians, arson, rape, and even cannibalism. Since the confrontation between Catholicism and Protestantism began more than 100 years before the Thirty Years’ War, the Thirty Years’ War cannot be regarded as a simple religious war. At that time, Germany was part of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by the Habsburg monarchy. The
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European princes’ greed for territories and interests, and the adventurous spirit of some knights. The Crusades were wars of human greed with religious justification, and as a result, thousands of people were caught in the whirlpool of war for over 200 years and lost their lives. In the aftermath of the Crusades, feelings of deep animosity existed between Christianity and Islam for centuries. The conflict between the two religions continues to have a direct impact on us who live in the 21st century. In particular, feelings such as animosity and hatred are easily contagious, so we should also be cautious as we examine the Crusades. We must use the history of the Crusades as a mirror to overcome greed and hatred and create a peaceful world.
2) Thirty Years’ War
From this point on, the Thirty Years’ War completely lost its religious basis. The long-lasting war devastated economies across Europe and resulted in unprecedented losses of life.
As a result, the federation divided into the Protestant Union and Catholic League, and the Holy Roman Empire lost religious unity through this division into two factions. The Holy Roman Emperor implemented a policy to unify the empire with Catholicism for a strong centralization of power. This policy marked the beginning of the Thirty Years’ War. The policy provoked strong opposition from principalities, and eventually a military conflict broke out in 1618 in Protestant principality of Bohemia. With the involvement of the Catholic League and the Catholic country of Spain, the incident in Bohemia quickly escalated into conflict across Europe. Afterwards, Christian IV, the Protestant king of Denmark, joined the war. Although the ostensible reason was to protect Protestantism, the actual intent was to expand Denmark’s power in northern Germany. Gustav II Adolf, the Protestant king of Sweden, also participated in the war with the financial support of France, although France was actually a Catholic country at the time. The reason that France, a Catholic country, supported Sweden, a Protestant country, was for the political purpose of stopping the expansion of the Holy Roman Empire, and since Catholic countries could not officially fight each other, France secretly sponsored Sweden from the background. However, France shortly thereafter entered the war directly against the Holy Roman Empire.
Holy Roman Empire existed as a federation of principalities, and with the Augsburg Settlement in 1555, principalities were granted the freedom of choice between Catholicism and Protestantism.
Eventually, the Thirty Years’ War ended with the signing of the
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5 The Peace Westphalia,ofa peace treaty that emerged from the first modern diplomatic ofbasedorderestablishedconference,anewinCentralEuropeontheconceptstatesovereignty.
Peace of Westphalia in 1648.5)
Racism involves prejudice based on the superiority of one’s race and the hatred of other races. Even in modern biology, the scientific notion of race does not exist. Skin color is just one of many genetic traits, such as height, body type, and earlobe shape. Melanin, which affects skin color, is common to all human beings, not just certain races. The difference simply lies in the quantity of melanin pigment, not actual differences among people. In addition to this, the genetic diversity of mankind is the result of adaptation and evolution according to Figure 1-1 Thirty Years’ War, a corpse hanging from a tree
In the 17th century, Europe had not yet completed a stable state system. Thus, the Thirty Years’ War unfolded in a chaotic fashion. Princes of each region went to war without hesitation to expand their own territory and power. The Thirty Years’ War is another example that shows just how horrific the results can be when human greed is combined with religious justification.
3. Greed and racism
1) History of the Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade involved the transportation of about 12-15 million Africans into America as slaves over a period of 400 years, from the 16th century to the end of the 19th century. The slave trade of Africans began in the mid-15th century when Portuguese expeditions brought Mauritanians to Europe as slaves. Later, the Americas were discovered, and Europeans colonized America and established large-scale farms. Their purpose was to harvest sugarcane, tobacco, coffee, cacao, and cotton, which are difficult to cultivate in Europe but thrive in tropical climates, and sell them to Europe. The indigenous peoples of the Americas initially supplied the labor needed for farming, but the majority of them died from a plague brought from Europe, resulting in a labor shortage. So, buying and selling Africans as slaves to American planters became the
a given environment, so it cannot be said which is superior and which is inferior. In summary, it is scientifically unfounded to divide races based on biological differences and discuss superiority and inferiority.
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To understand racism more clearly, it is necessary to understand how it is different from xenophobia. Xenophobia is simply the hatred of people who are not of the same nationality, whereas racism differs with its attempt to justify hatred by claiming biological inferiority. Therefore, racism is more serious because it can target not only foreigners but also those of the same nationality, and tries to give objectivity and rationality to the hatred of others. Racism is fundamentally rooted in human greed. This can be confirmed by the fact that racism ultimately leads to inequality, domination and exploitation.
Over 50,000 slave traders crossed the Atlantic over the course of four centuries, and about 1.5-2 million Africans lost their lives on the ships. Before onboarding a ship, a slave brand was stamped on the chest or shoulders with hot iron, and both men and women had their heads shaved for hygiene
Figure 1-2 Africans on a British slave ship
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beginning of the Atlantic slave trade. Portugal, Spain, England, France and the Netherlands participated in the slave trade. The Atlantic slave trade is also referred to as triangular trade, and the general form of the triangular trade is as follows.
Stage 1 Europe-Africa: European slave traders transport European goods, such as gunpowder, rifles, and brandy, to Africa in exchange for slaves.
Stage 2 Africa-America: They sell African slaves to colonial farms across the Americas and purchase goods like sugarcane, tobacco, and coffee.
Stage 3 Americas-Europe: They sell goods like sugarcane, tobacco, and coffee in Europe and make huge profits.
2) Holocaust Above, we examined how racism leads to inequality, domination, and exploitation. However, it does not end there; racism also triggers hatred and hostility. Hatred and hostility are dangerous because they are direct causes for violence. The Holocaust is a representative example of how greed, racism, hatred, hostility, and violence led to mass genocide. From the end of the 19th century onwards, so-called scientific
In 1807, William Wilberforce, a member of the British Parliament, passed a bill prohibiting the slave trade by British ships. Since then, slave trade began to decline. Furthermore, the ban on slave trade led to the abolition of slavery. Slavery was abolished in British colonies in 1840 and in French colonies in 1848. In the United States, slavery was formally abolished in 1865 after President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, and more than 3 million slaves were restored their freedom. The Atlantic slave trade began with blind greed and obsession for profit. More than 10 million people were displaced and millions lost their lives. At the foundation of it all were greed and racism. Although the slave trade and slavery were eventually abolished, racism still continues to persist. Now, even the notion of racism must be abolished from the heart.
reasons. Men were stripped of clothes and chained on their hands and feet. For the sake of profitability, ships were filled with slaves without giving them room to move. There were horrible sanitary conditions for months, in which one could not even use the bathroom. Candy, coffee, cacao, and tobacco were exchanged for the lives and human rights of Africans.
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6 Based on Charles Darwin's theory of biological evolution, the study started as an attempt to interpret the changes and appearance of society. It was used as a basis for advocating racism, fascism, and Nazism.
7 A study aimed at genetically improving mankind.
8 An economic situation in which inflation is out of control, recording an inflation rate of several hundred percent
9 A ghetto is an area within a city inhabited by racial, ethnic, or religious minorities. and objective racism began as political and biological theories were used to justify racism. Under the influences of Arthur de Gobineau’s Essai sur l'inégalité des races humaines [Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races], and Francis Galton’s coining of the social evolutionary theory6) and eugenics,7) the public came to accept racist theories as something of scientific nature. According to this theory, Aryans, which include Germans, are the most superior race in the world, and Jews are the inferior race. Adolf Hitler was one of the most enthusiastic adopters of this claim. At the time Hitler appeared, Germany was in severe social and economic crisis due to war reparations and hyperinflation8) after their defeat in World War I (1914-1918). As news of the success of the Russian Revolution of 1917 spread to Germany, fears spread among the German people that a communist regime could be established in Germany as well. Under these circumstances, many Germans were ready to follow as soon as a powerful leader appeared, which served as an opportunity for Hitler. Hitler’s Nazi Party took advantage of the racism and hatred that prevailed in the unstable social atmosphere at the time to ascribe all responsibility for social unrest upon the Jews, making them a scapegoat. The Nazis spread false information that the defeat of Germany in World War I and the success of the Russian Communist Revolution were all because of the Jews. In Germany, anger against the Jews grew day by day. The oppression of Jews began with a boycott of Jewish businesses, restrictions on German citizenship for Jews, and a ban on marriage to Jews. Later, all identification cards belonging to Jews were stamped with the letter “J” for Jude to reveal their Jewish identity, and Jews were forced to live collectively in ghettos,9) isolated from society.
10 The word holocaust is derived from a Greek word, meaning “sacrifice to the gods,” and shoah means catastrophe or annihilation in Hebrew.
3) Martin Luther King’s movement against racism: I have a dream “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Slavery was officially abolished
In 1942, at the height of World War II, the Final Solution of the Jewish Question was implemented. After building concentration camps in 35 countries occupied by Nazi Germany at the time, Jewish assets were confiscated and about 3 million Jews were loaded onto 700 trains to be moved to concentration camps. Concentration camps built at Auschwitz, Belzec and Chelmno had gas chambers for systemic mass killing. The gas chambers were designed to hide the massacre from the international community. In this genocide known as the Holocaust or the Shoah,10) about 6 million Jews were killed, and the total number of victims, including Slavs, Roma (Gypsies), homosexuals, disabled people, and political prisoners, was about 11 million. The Holocaust is the largest genocide in human history, and as terrifying and irrational as it was to be the work of any human, it is regarded as an event that is difficult to explain. It is important to point out that the Holocaust started in the mind of man. The racism that began in the heart eventually resulted in mass slaughter. The racism and hatred in the minds of the perpetrators even transferred into the minds of the victims. In the 21st century, the victim becomes the perpetrator and is embroiled in more violence and conflict. The enemy of peace is in the heart of man. Therefore, the role of peace education that conveys the values of peace is very important.
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Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in 1929 in the southeastern part of the United States in Atlanta, Georgia, where he spent his childhood within this discrimination. After entering college, he was greatly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent resistance and led a non-violent movement against racism. In 1955, Rosa Parks, a black woman, was arrested by police for refusing to leave a seat reserved for whites on a bus. This incident marked the start of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The purpose of the boycott was to have passengers seated on a firstcome, first-served basis, regardless of skin color. Led by King, the boycott raised awareness about racism across America. As a result, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in November 1956 that the segregation policy was unconstitutional. King received death threats several times and had bombs thrown at his house. Some said that violence should be countered with violence, but King insisted on non-violence until the end, saying that violence breeds more hatred. Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 14 October 1964 for his leadership in the elimination of racism, protection of black rights, and the anti-war movement. On 4 April 1968, he was shot and passed away in a hotel room. He was 39 years old at the time. More than 250,000 citizens attended his funeral to mourn his death. Martin Luther King’s core achievement is that he brought about public sympathy
under the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution. However, racism did not completely disappear in reality. Even after 1865, a new kind of racist policy of “separate but equal” was implemented in the southern states of the United States, where most of the emancipated slaves lived. Whites and blacks went to different schools, ate separately in cafeterias, and rode separate train cars.
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and response to the injustice of racism through nonviolence, and even led to changes in social institutions through peaceful means. His speech on 28 August 1963 in Washington, D.C. is considered one of the most important speeches in American history. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. (1963 D.C. public speech) Martin Luther King, Jr. (American pastor and human rights activist, 1929-1968)
4) Apartheid Apartheid is an Afrikaans 11) word meaning separation or apartness and refers to the institutionalized racial segregation policy in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. South Africa was originally inhabited by the Bantu people, and European immigrants began to live in South Africa around the 16th century. Later, it became a colony of the Netherlands and England, and racial discrimination against the indigenous people continued to occur. After World War II, the National Party made apartheid its official policy in the 1948 elections. Apartheid was delineated into two parts: grand apartheid, which aimed to completely separate South Africa into a white and black country, and petty apartheid, which aimed to segregate within daily life. A summary of apartheid legislation by year is as follows.
1949: Interracial marriage ban 11 Afrikaans is
centuries.fromDutchbyofchangesafterwasTheandinlanguagepredominantthespokenSouthAfricaNamibia.languageestablishedaseriesoftoaformDutchspokendescendantsofimmigrantsthe16thto17th
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1953: Ban on sharing public amenities (restaurants, restrooms, etc.) with different races and implementation of segregated education (education provided to blacks was of poor quality)
1958: Removal of blacks to collective settlements called homelands or bantustans, formalized as separate states from South Africa.
1970: Blacks living in homelands are deprived of all rights as South African citizens and are considered foreigners.
Apartheid provoked great resistance because it aimed to segregate the country and deprive the rights of indigenous South Africans. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, leader of the African National Congress (ANC) who led the resistance movement, was arrested in 1962 and sentenced to life in prison. However, apartheid was met with strong opposition from the United Nations and the international community, and Nelson Mandela was released in 1990 after 27 years in prison.
1950: Punishment for whites having sex with people of color and indication of all citizens as white, black, colored, or indigenous on their identification cards
Figure 1-3 Apartheid sign showing exclusive use by whites
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After Nelson Mandela was elected president of South Africa in 1994, apartheid was completely abolished. Apartheid started from the greed and racism by certain groups. Keeping in mind that a second and third recurrence of apartheid can happen again anytime and anywhere, efforts must be made to create a peaceful society free from racism.
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4. World Wars I and II and the Cold War 1) World War I After colonizing the Americas, Western European countries such as England, Spain, Portugal, and France competed to colonize Africa, Asia, and the Pacific Islands. By the end of the 19th century, all of Africa had been overtaken by European powers. British politician Cecil Rhodes, who promoted the colonial policy in Africa, once said, “I contend that we are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race.” Similar refrains of racial supremacy prevailed among the colonial powers. The last country to join the ranks of colonial powers was Germany, which was unified in 1871. At that time, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck stabilized the external situation by forming alliances with neighboring countries and achieved rapid economic growth internally. Germany’s military power also grew at an alarming rate along with economic growth. After Bismarck’s resignation, German Emperor Wilhelm II pushed for the creation of a powerful, full-fledged combat squadron for colonization. Wilhelm stated, “It is the soldier and the army, not parliamentary majorities and decisions, that have welded the German Empire together. I put my trust in the
World War I was the first modern war in which machine guns, tanks, fighters, submarines, and poison gas were used. The use of new weapons resulted in a different level of human casualty than before. About 10 million people died in just four years from 1914 to 1918, of which about 5 million were civilians. Those wounded numbered close to 30 million. World War I, which resulted in devastating casualties, ended when Germany and Austria admitted defeat and signed an armistice
army.” Wilhelm II’s words show how obsessed Germany was with building up military power. As a result, Britain, which boasted the strongest naval power in the world at the time, felt that its position was being challenged, and concentrated on strengthening its military power. The rivalry between the two countries resulted in an arms race that involved other neighboring countries around Germany and Britain as well. Even before the outbreak of World War I, Europe was like a powder keg that could explode at any time even with a small spark due to the competition for colonization and the arms race.An incident took place that ignited this powder keg. On June 28, 1914, the Crown Prince of Austria was assassinated in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia in the Balkans. This event sparked war between the two parties, Austria-Hungary and Serbia. When the war began, Germany entered the war as an ally of Austria-Hungary, and Russia entered the war as an ally of Serbia. Germany’s alliance policy since the time of Prime Minister Bismarck had a domino effect. As France and Britain entered the war in succession against Germany, it gradually expanded into a global war. Afterwards, Italy and the Ottoman Empire participated in the war, and even the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917.
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The causes of World War I were very diverse. A mixture of various causes, including the unstable political situation in the Balkans, the race for colonies, the arms race, militant national leaders, and the system of alliances, contributed to the war on a large scale. However, the root cause is very simple. The disaster started from a greed that should not be possessed, that is, the foolish greed of the imperialist powers to invade and dominate other countries and become a world power. This greed has been taken for granted by people for a long time. Now, we must admit that this greed is something one should not have. The reason is because it was confirmed through the war that the end of that greed was the annihilation of humankind. 2) World War II
The major events that took place in the 20 years from 1918, when World War I ended, to 1939, when World War II began, are as follows. First, in many countries, such as Germany and Austria-Hungary, the monarchy was abolished and parliamentary democracy was established. Second, the Ottoman Empire completely collapsed and Turkiye emerged as an independent state, while the rest of the Middle East territories were managed by Britain and France. Third, the
on 11 November 1918. The content of the Treaty of Versailles, drafted and concluded unilaterally by the victorious countries, was that Germany and its allies were responsible for the war, and that all losses caused by the war were to be compensated.
The content of this treaty was harsh for a defeated country to endure, and was remembered by the Germans as a disgrace in Versailles. As a result, it can be said that the embers of World War II were already contained in the Treaty of Versailles.
Europe-centered world order declined, and the United States emerged as a new superpower on the world stage. Fourth, with the appearance of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, Russia and its neighboring countries were united into the communist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) . Fifth, Hitler’s Nazi Party emerged and took power in Germany. Hitler called for anti-Semitism, anti-communism, and a Germanled reorganization of the world order. These claims won the support of German citizens, who were engulfed in severe economic depression and psychological anxiety after losing World War I. After Hitler seized power through the backing of his supporters, he disbanded all other political parties and legally prohibited the establishment of political parties, establishing an undemocratic one-party dictatorship. Although Hitler began preparing for war internally by increasing military power, he gave speeches in defense of peace externally, and even built a peace-friendly image through the 1936 Berlin Olympics. No one could stop Hitler, and on 1 September 1939, World War II began.
Figure 1-4 Mussolini (left) and Hitler (right) Figure 1-5 The Normandy landings on 6 June 1944
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First, the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 ignited the fuse of World War II, and when Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland in September 1939, World War II formally began. Then, Germany invaded France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Italy also invaded France, then invaded Algeria, Malta, and Egypt. After invading China, Japan invaded Southeast Asia. In this way, the battlefield gradually expanded from the Atlantic Ocean to the Balkans, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. In June 1941, Germany broke the non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union and invaded the Soviet mainland. In December of that year, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. As a result of this incident, the United States came to enter World War II formally, and the battlefield expanded to Australia and the Pacific. A world war truly broke out. The war was organized into a confrontation between the Axis powers, led by Germany, Italy, and Japan, and the Allies, led by the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, and China. From 1942 to 1945, the Holocaust devastatingly took place. However, the tide turned toward the Allies as Germany failed to occupy the Soviet Union, and Germany declared unconditional surrender when Hitler committed suicide on 30 April 1945. Then, as atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, Japan also signed surrender documents on 2 September, which ended World War II.
The estimated casualties alone amounted to a total of 73 million, of which 24 million were military deaths and 49 million were civilian deaths. Adding in the more than 100 million people injured, property losses, and psychological damages inflicted, the amount of damage was unimaginably enormous. World War II was the most horrific and devastating
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war in human history. World War II uncovered just how far humans could go to commit atrocities. Nothing – whether that be culture and art, the philosophies of the Enlightenment, the Industrial revolution, science and technology, democracy and communism, political ideas and systems, or even religions – could prevent World War II. Europe, which once flaunted itself as the most civilized, became the center of one of the most horrific tragedies in history. Why couldn't the war be stopped? The reason is because the things listed above could not solve the seed of war, which was human greed. With greed unable to be resolved, the endless cycle of war could not be broken simply by punishing war criminals. For the cessation of war, education that can resolve the greed, racism, hatred, and anger within the human heart and order that can suppress war and maintain peace are needed. The words of the German printmaker Käthe Schmidt Kollwitz, who lost her son in World War I, give us hope for the realization of peace. “One day, a new ideal will arise, and there will be an end to all wars. I die convinced of this. It will need much hard work, but it will be achieved.” Although the process of achieving peace is arduous, peace is not impossible, just like Kollwitz was convinced.
3) Cold War and nuclear weapons
The Cold War refers to the military tension and competition between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies from the post-World War II period to 1991. The reason why it is called the Cold War is because even though there was no substantial large-scale fighting like in World Wars I and II, there was an arms race, espionage, and the risk of using nuclear weapons between the two sides. This
13 Although Israel and North Korea have never officially announced their possession of nuclear weapons, the nuclearcountriesrecognizescommunityinternationalthatbothpossessweapons.
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is not to say that there were no wars during the Cold War.
During the period of the Cold War, there were more than 100 wars and civil conflicts among large and small countries. More than 3 million people were killed in the Korean War (1950-1953) and more than 5 million people were killed in the Vietnam War12) (1954-1975). There were also many other wars, including the Palestinian War (1947-1949), the Algerian War (1954-1962), and the Gulf War (1990-1991). Although the Cold War era came to an end with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, conflicts and wars have continued to take place in the global village. Nuclear weapons were first made by the United States during World War II, and hydrogen bombs, which are tens to hundreds of times more destructive than atomic bombs, were also developed during the Cold War as a result of the full-fledged competition for nuclear weapons development. Currently, there are a total of nine nuclear weapons states:13) Russia, the United States, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea. The total number of nuclear weapons in existence
1-6
12 The death toll is estimated to be 1.15 to 3.2 million for civilians alone, and the number of casualties is estimated to be at least 5 million, if also including the number of those wounded
Figure A refugee girl in front of a M-26 tank during the Korean War
As John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, had stated, efforts to inform the public about the dangers of nuclear weapons have continued. In 1955, 11 scientists led by Bertrand Russell and Einstein published the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the peaceful use of science and technology. The 11 signatories of the manifesto prominent scientists, ten of whom were Nobel Prize winners. In 1969, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) , which focused on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons and the peaceful use of nuclear power, was adopted by the UN General Assembly.
On 7 July 2017, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was adopted by the UN General Assembly. This treaty is the result of cooperation with countries around the world led by a private NGO called ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), and ICAN was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in December 2017 in recognition of this achievement.Ontheother hand, nuclear weapons are evaluated to be a strong deterrent against war, just by their existence. In the event of a nuclear war, it would be easy for all countries to annihilate one another, so no country can easily initiate an all-out war. In fact, no large-scale wars such as World Wars I or II have been waged since 1945. However, wars between nuclear and non-nuclear states, wars between non-nuclear states, civil wars, and terrorism continue to occur, regardless
1. Greed, Which Broke Peace 29
14 No country discloses their exact number of nuclear weapons. The average value of various data is about 15,000, and the minimum is about 10,000.
on Earth is estimated to be over 10,000. 14) Considering the formidable power that can destroy a city with a single nuclear weapon, the nuclear weapons currently in existence in the world alone are enough to put an end to the earth and mankind.
“We must abolish nuclear weapons, or they will abolish us.”
Even if all weapons, including nuclear weapons, were to be used for good purposes such as defense or security, weapons are fundamentally made for the purpose of killing or injuring people. There is a contradiction in the saying that peace is achieved by force. Just as a situation where an ordinary citizen not daring to move in front of a knife-wielding person would not be one of peace, true peace cannot be achieved by force. What we need is not a nuclear weapon that kills people, but one that saves people. The nuclear arm that saves people is love, peace, and oneself, who is a messenger of peace.
Road to Peace 30
of nuclear weapons. This shows that the war deterrence of nuclear weapons applies only between nuclear weapons states, and there is no guarantee that nuclear war will not occur even between nuclear weapons states.
Road to Peace memo
Maria Montessori (Italian educator, 1870-1952)
Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war.
SECTION 02
If the seed of conflict and war is greed, what is the seed of peace? The starting point of peace, which can be described as the seed of peace, is love. If greed separates human relationships, love is the glue that connects people. Let’s learn about the specific concept of love and how to practice it in order to achieve sustainable peace.
1) Love, the seed of peace
2. Love, the Beginning of Peace 33
1. Love, the fundamental mindset of peace
the Beginning of Peace # Peace begins with the seed of peace
In history, the term ‘peace’ is frequently used with the meaning of ‘the absence of war.’ However, just as a person with cancer cannot say, “The cancer was cured because I did not get sick with painkillers,” it is not correct to say that there is peace because there is no war at the moment. Greed, the seed of conflict and war, is like cancer in the human heart. In Section
Love,2
Love to fulfill peace does not simply refer to the affectionate feelings between a man and a woman. Love is community awareness of caring for others as if they were oneself on the basis of respect for life and is love for humanity. Love can be expressed in the form of gratitude, consideration, sacrifice, understanding, and forgiveness to others. Gratitude, consideration, sacrifice, understanding, and forgiveness can be identified as peace values based on love. By internalizing the values of peace and practicing them in daily life, you can control greed and enjoy a special inner joy and happiness. If you think back on the joy and happiness you felt while helping friends and neighbors in need, you can recognize that there is a different kind of satisfaction than from satisfying greed.
Road to Peace 34
order to achieve sustainable peace, it is necessary to distinguish between peace that means the absence of conflict and peace that actively overcomes conflict. The former is possible without love, but it can be broken at any time. The latter is possible only with love and is not easily broken. Sustainable peace begins only when the greed that exists within humans is controlled. The cure for greed is love. Therefore, love is the foundation and starting point for sustainable peace.
Peace built on the values of love and peace is not easily destroyed. This is because there is resistance to the greed that breaks peace. Just as we learned in Lessons 1 and 2, the Earth is a planet of sustainable life, and humankind can achieve sustainable peace based on love. 2) Patriotism and ethnocentrism According to the target and scope, love can be divided into love for self, love for family, love for neighbor and society, love for the country, and love for the global village and
humanity. If love is practiced towards all these subjects, a world of peace can be achieved. However, the act of loving selectively can run the risk of harming peace, by being connected with greed. For example, it is difficult to achieve peace if you only love yourself and not your neighbors, or if you only care about your family and not your neighbors. This contradiction in perception can be readily recognized and warrant caution in everyday life, but surprisingly, what people cannot easily distinguish is patriotism and ethnocentrism. The definition of patriotism is the love of the country. Ethnocentrism is an attitude that views and evaluates other cultures based on one’s own culture. The two words are clearly distinct when looking at their definitions. However, there are shortcomings in everyday life as the two words are used interchangeably. Madeleine Korbel Albright, the first female Secretary of State in the United States, argued in February 1998: “If we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation.” This statement blurs the distinction between patriotism and ethnocentrism. The United States is the country most involved in the wars of the 20th and 21st centuries, and criticism that excessive patriotism is driving its youth to the battlefield is constantly being raised, even within the United States. The great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy also wrote in his essay titled War, Patriotism, Peace: “But that which produces war is the desire for an exclusive good for one’s own nation, and is called patriotism.” Thus, patriotism and ethnocentrism have been used interchangeably to rationalize war. In order to achieve peace, it is necessary to distinguish and use the two words separately. Ethnocentrism leads to national supremacy, exclusivity, and hatred. However, patriotism is
2. Love, the Beginning of Peace 35
Let’s imagine that there is a war going on in the area where I live. A rich and happy life will be destroyed in an instant. Prosperity and development without peace are meaningless. Therefore, peace education is an important education that should be implemented before all other education. Peace must be built in people’s hearts first before being built in the outside world. For this, peace education is necessary. From when and what should be taught? Peace education should start from an early age when the self-identity is formed. The values of peace based on love such as gratitude, consideration, sacrifice, understanding, and forgiveness should be taught. Just as a seed is planted and grows into a tree that bears fruit, the value of peace planted in a person’s heart allows that person to grow into peace citizens. Peace citizens play two major roles
Education changes a person’s perception, and a change in perception leads to a change in behavior and affects the outside world. There is a saying in East Asia that education is a plan for preparing for a hundred years. In this way, much value is placed on education and people are not frugal about investing in education. The role of teachers is also very important. The role of a teacher cannot be overemphasized because a person’s mentality is formed by what they see and learn, and they remember what they learned as a child and act in accordance to that, even when they become an adult.
not an attitude that excludes and hates other countries. True patriotism is an attitude of respecting other nations like loving one’s own country. 2. Peace education to sow the seeds of peace
Road to Peace 36
for peace. The first is to call for an end to the current wars and conflicts. The second is to spread a culture of peace in their respective communities for the establishment of sustainable peace. Through these two roles, peace citizens can create an order of peace and fulfill sustainable peace within their communities. Peace is what every human being is craving for, and it can be brought about by humanity through the child.
2.
The ultimate goal of peace education based on love is to restore order within humankind. There are two kinds of order to be restored: internal and external. First, through peace
Education is, quite simply, peace-building by another name. It is the most effective form of defense spending there is. Kofi Annan (Ghanaian diplomat and former UN Secretary-General, 1938-2018)
Love, the Beginning of Peace 37
Maria Montessori (Italian educator, 1870-1952) Unless we teach our children peace, someone else teach them violence.
3. Peace education for the restoration of humankind’s order
Coleman McCarthy (American journalist and peace educator, 1938-present)
education, the internal order within humans can be restored. If you internalize and practice the values of peace, you become a citizen of peace. Next, order in the external world can be restored through peaceful citizens. The two aforementioned roles of peaceful citizens are also to restore order within state and society as well. Eventually, the ultimate goal of sustainable peace will be achieved through restoring order in humankind.
Road to Peace 38
Road to Peace memo
Conclusion
In order to resolve conflicts and wars thoroughly, it is important to know their origins and causes. However, it is difficult to arrive at a solution to the problem by identifying only the superficial and individual causes. Just as it is impossible to treat a patient with pulmonary tuberculosis who vomits blood by examining only their mouth and nose, conflict and war can only be resolved by approaching the root cause. The primary cause of conflict and war is greed. Cautioned against across various religious scriptures, greed was the direct cause of violence, extortion, rape, exploitation, murder, and racism. And the secondary feelings such as anger, hatred, resentment, and revenge created through these problems proliferated into conflict and war. Over many years, this process was repeated hundreds and thousands of times, eventually reaching a situation where it seemed humankind’s war was unsolvable.
How can we solve the greed that is invisible and intangible? The solution is love. Peace values based on love such as gratitude, consideration, sacrifice, and forgiveness are the driving forces to overcome greed. Love motivates and inspires us to control our greed. The value of love, or peace, can be internalized through education. Peace citizens who possess the
Conclusion values of peace play a role in spreading a culture of peace and protecting order in the world. Until now, humans have acted as if they were immune to feeling the danger of war, unless they experienced it. I thought that I had nothing to do with war, and found peace only after going through the war. Now that there are enough nuclear weapons on Earth to destroy the world many times, should we repeat that mistake again now? Let’s throw away the old custom of blindly pursuing greed and usher in a new era of sustainable peace in which we practice love.
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