STEPS WALKED: 
The reason for the wars….
11 August, 2020
Total: 2020.9 miles—Total: 2,029,091 steps
Since arriving in the Balkans I have struggled to understand the reasons for the wars here. I have just completed my third book on the subject, I have walked through the war zones, visited the museums and spoken to countless people with first-hand experience of the war and whilst I am clearer about what happened, I am left to wonder why?
This is my attempt to answer that crucial question:
Men wanted to fight because they believed they could find a meaning, significance and a glory in war, which had eluded them in peace.
Politicians gave them the excuse they were looking for, because war is like political Viagra, it makes inadequate leaders look artificially big and hard in the eyes of an impressionable electorate.
Religious leaders wanted to be relevant, so offered up prayers of protection for ‘their’ fighters, assured them that God was on their side as they sent them off to kill, and then conducted their funerals with pride and dignity to packed congregations when they returned.
Military leaders got power, resources and the chance to test their latest weapons technology and battlefield tactics; soldiers to put their training into practice win medals, promotions and most crucially, respect.
Businesses made money from supplying the weapons that destroyed and from winning the contracts to rebuild.
The media got lots of ‘great’ pictures and stories that made reputations, that won awards, that kept the viewers watching, that kept the advertisers advertising and that poured fuel on the fire of prejudice and hatred and so ensured that the fighters kept fighting.
For some reason women, despite being greatest victims of the conflicts, despite being over half the population, despite having immense influence as mothers, wives, daughters and de facto community leaders, at the crucial moment decided to withdraw their instinctive voice of compassion, reason and peace.
So why did the wars happen? Because a minority strongly wanted them to, and the majority did not want them not to strongly enough.
And so 300,000 plus people died, thousands more were injured, tens of thousands were executed and their bodies dumped in mass graves, women were raped, cities and historic buildings were ravaged and millions were forced to flee from their homes and begin lives again as refugees.
The international community and specifically the International Criminal Court in The Hague, has spent over twelve long years focussing on what happened and who was responsible, but unless we devote greater resources to understanding the why, then we will see this happen again and for that we will all be responsible.
