The answer is quite simple, the companies supplying the weapons and the companies tasked with rebuilding
The writers of the epic poem Beowulf faced an arduous task- they had to explain the unknown to their readers. At the time, people didn’t understand why the Danes and the Franks were fighting each other. So they created a story that explained the unknown to both groups. They explained that greed, hatred and death were the results of fighting and that war is ridiculous because war causes destruction, death, and more fighting. Essentially, war is a horrible thing that has never helped anyone and causes far more harm than good.
During World War I, the Central Powers (Germany, Austria, and Bulgaria) won while the Allied Powers (Britain, France, and Russia) lost. That is the prevailing thought of many scholars. But with millions dead, are there really any winners? Germany and Austria rose against Russia just before the war started to gain territory. Germany also invaded neutral states to acquire more land. All these actions caused them to declare war on England, France and Russia simultaneously.
This was called the ‘Great War.’ As a result, over seven million soldiers died within months of each other- all because of greed, hatred, and desire for territory.
In 1961 the Soviet Union tried to invade Cuba to gain power by pointing missiles toward the United States, best known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. However, President Kennedy had plans to invade Cuba, known as ‘the Bay of Pigs.’ As a result, the Soviet Union backed down and allowed Cuba to remain under their control. The rest of the world saw that communism wasn’t as great as many people thought it was.
The resulting revolutions resulted in the Soviet Union being too weak to fight off nationalist uprisings like those in Hungary and Prague in 1989. As a result, communism fell apart- leaving power solely in the hands of nation-states again.
Another example of how not to run a country during wartime is how Saddam Hussein ran Iraq during Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL). OIL was supposed to help him become even more powerful by eliminating his enemies within his country. In reality, he just made more enemies in the long run because his adversaries joined forces with the United States Military and fought against him with even greater ferocity after he weakened himself through Operation Iraqi Liberation.
As a result, Hussein underestimated his opponents, which ultimately led to him being conquered by them while watching from his private zoo window. It’s best not to play with dangerous toys when you’re in danger of destruction!
There have been many wars throughout history, but have these wars benefited anyone? War only benefits those who can profit from its destruction and rebuilding. Most wars result from one nation wanting more territory or seeking to break off and form its own country for religious and ideological reasons; in any event, the people are the ones that are on the losing end.
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