IGCSE Coursework #1 WRITING TO ARGUE

What would the world be like without war?

‘‘All war is a symptom of mans failure as a thinking animal’’- John Steinbeck

In the world today, we have to maintain countless issues and a major issue is war. The act of war has several consequences; lives are lost, families heart’s are broken and economies demolished. What happens to the ordinary citizens who don’t wish to be involved in the war? No positives can come from conflict. I want to make clear to you how unnecessary war is, and express the collateral damage in battle’s. In addition, how can conflict be evaded? Can’t you have a say and try to put an end to war once and for all?

Firstly, the most devastating thing about war is the amount of deaths that occur during combat. World War Two had an estimate of 40,000,000 to 85,000,000 deaths. These numbers are unavoidable. To think that millions of people risked their lives, for what cause? When talking of war, the ends do not justify the means. No gain could counteract all the extermination that happened during the war. Technology is advancing every day, and knowing that there was an uncountable amount of massacre seventy years ago, then I dread to think of the bloodshed that could materialise in a world wide war with the new face of warfare. We need to put an end to war immediately! All countries have weapons which can cause destruction, hence this may cause an end to the world.

Also, a substantial issue faced because of war is terrorism. One of the worst terrorist attacks was on the Twin Towers on the 11th of September 2001 which scarred America. There has been many conspiracies on who planned the attacks but many people believed it was caused by Al-Qaeda, a global militant organisation. These terrorist attacks triggered a war which lasted for thirteen years which could have been avoided. The pain and suffering of the September 11th attacks was an atrocious tragedy. However, as a result of entering a war, this only sequenced more death. If we make it evident that war is nothing other than demise and torment then it would be tragic, truly unthinkable to know that we could have prevented so much agony that happens in the world.

There are plenty of wars that have developed and are currently occurring. The civil war in Syria hasn’t only just affected the fighters but the vulnerable mothers and innocent children, they have been dragged into the chaos that is happening in their country. The war is currently in its fourth year, people’s lives have been destroyed and eradicated. The longer the war goes on, the more civilians of Syria are losing belief, they think that their problems will not be resolved. Children have been injured because of the napalm strikes and they don’t have the medical attention to help them recover. Syrian families have fled to other countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey in an attempt to escape the violence. Eye witness accounts from The Guardian shows what it is really like for the people of Syria, ‘2am shells start to crunch east of the capital, and Hassan and her four children are wide awake to the familiar sounds of bombs falling on buildings and the empty road below’. This puts into perspective what everyday life is like for adults and children living in a country during battle.

Furthermore, people have participated in conflicts because of the influence of political leaders, especially dictators. Political leaders have an enormous impact on the decisions made for their country, due to the power and control they possess through being in control of their own countries destiny. Stalin and Hitler are great examples of dictators as they wanted to exert world domination by any means necessary. The Syrian civil war was caused because of  President Bashar al-Assad’s forces responding to nationwide protests with violent crackdowns. The conflict gradually morphed from popular protests to an armed rebellion and since, the crackdowns Bashar al-Assad has shown what a brutal dictator he is, and with the stockpile of chemical weapons under al-Assad’s control. Nobody will know what will happen next in this ever-evolving situation.

To conclude, war shows that the people of society have lost civility. There is other ways to resolve problems rather than through hostility and violence. Leaders should come together and settle disputes fairly and diplomatically, not through the acts of pain and suffering on others. The peace treaty after World War One is an exceptional example of this. It put an end to the war and meant that countries could start recovering and rebuilding. War is not required, it only results in loss of life, economic depression, health problems and aggressive competition. I believe the world would be a much better place if war wasn’t around, but to answer the question what would the world be like without war? Well I hope I live to find out.