Within the context of a broader subjective
analysis, we might all agree that "war in and of itself" will
always bring "unintended consequences" and more often than not
circumstances, groups and other considerations either alter,
drive or temper at least in the United States of America,
policies and actions toward "war."
American Civil War
While the intent of this article is not to debate "war" itself,
nor the intended or unintended consequences, we only have to
look at the American Civil War for possibly fresh or not so
fresh insights, to mention but a few below. | |
Denny Lancaster |
|
-
Hiram Revels
of Mississippi became the first black man ever elected to
the U.S. Senate. He filled the seat last held by Jefferson
Davis.
-
More than
three million men fought in the war
-
At the start
of the war, the value of all manufactured goods produced in
all the Confederate states added up to less than one-fourth
of those produced in New York State alone.
-
In March
1862, European powers watched in worried fascination as the
Monitor and Merrimack battled off Hampton Roads, Va. From
then on, after these ironclads opened fire, every other navy
on earth was obsolete.
-
Oliver
Wendell Holmes, Jr., future chief Justice, was wounded three
times during the Civil War: in the chest at Ball's Bluff, in
the back at Antietam and in the heel at Chancellorsville.
- African Americans constituted less
than one percent of the northern population, yet by the
war's end made up ten percent of the Union Army. A total of
180,000 black men, more than 85% of those eligible,
enlisted,
An estimated 618,222 military deaths
occurred during the war, even more spectacular when one
considers the rate of death. Nearly one in eight white men of
military age died during the war, exceeding the rate of death in
World War II by a factor of six, and the rate of death in the
Vietnam War by a Factor of 65.
The South lost an estimated one in four white men of military
age, which is roughly three times the death rate in the North.
World View of War
War by generally accepted standards involves armed conflicts.
With the break up of the Soviet Union the world has been
experiencing armed conflicts exceeding prior millenniums in ever
increasing global succession, yet "their wars" rather than "our
wars" receive the most attention.
Despite the world for the most part being "communications
connected "global "wars" are not viewed nor digested as a whole
by a significant majority of we who regularly have access to
current news and reporting. Yes we look at "their wars" and not
"our wars"
The Mother of All Wars
"Their War" came home to roost as "our war" recently when
Alabama citizens were alarmed by events concerning the Warez
Drug Cartels executions in Birmingham, Alabama which is upstate
from my home town in Mobile, Alabama. Now the reality, if not
already fathomed, is the ever increasing violence escalating,
which according to authorities is but the tip of the ice berg
and an omen of events yet to transpire. The question is not if
but when.
Stark Trends in Drug Use, United States
For the past 30 plus years I have been very
active in the area of Drug and Alcohol Prevention as a mentor
and sponsor. Reliable and conservative statistics based upon
treatment and prevention programs involving persons in those
programs reveals the following.
You do not
have to be a math major to understand how within the next 20
years unless reversed or eliminated, drug addiction will impact
more than 50% of the United States population. In other words
half of us will be completely dependent upon drugs for life.
Now the question... Which war do we fight
until the bitter end and who will win in our life times? Because
like it or not this is the Mother of All Wars. |
