Why do we have wars?

I honestly think if it was up to women, we wouldn’t have wars.

Calendargirl sadly I do not think that gender has much to do with it,. See some of the posts on threads here, and women even suggestion that some people should be murdered.

Wonder how many females take profits from shares in arms companies

Because we are human beings, all with an unborn desire for territorial autonomy and greater wealth and power, although the majority of us are not in a position to obtain it.

Calendargirl

I honestly think if it was up to women, we wouldn’t have wars.

Thatcher.

I think the need to fight is inborn and testosterone mediated. In the UK it's down to fights over football teams or gang rivalries - it's tribal really.
My Dad always said that there should be a big field somewhere where lads could join the red or the blue side and have a war. Once they'd had enough of fighting then they could come home having got it out of their system.
I remember Sandi Toksvig saying that Grans could sort it all out between them! I agree.

Thatcher came to mind immediately.

It seems to be in the nature of humanity to want to fight each other. Way back in history the various tribes, factions, clans etc. fought for territory and power and so it continues. The great majority of us don't want war at all these days because the weapons are so fearsome now. But a few megalomaniacs let power go to their head and cause problems like we have at the moment.

What’s the driving force, though? Money, power, greed, the need to bolster one’s self esteem, pride, patriotism, fear, anger…..

It is hard-wired as part of the natural order of things .... watch any wildlife programme and it is mostly about killing.

On the whole we have been heading towards more civilised behaviour, but every nutter who gains power takes us backwards again.

Lesson to be learned: don't vote for the nutters.

Far too complicated (OP). We have wars because we are hard wired to defend ourselves from anything we see as a threat to us and our families.

It an illusion that if women ruled the world everything would be peaceful.

Who are the women who have got into power? Mrs Banderenaike (Ceylon), Mrs Meir (Israel), Mrs Thatcher (UK) all have in some way been strong military supporters and led countries at war.

In the current Ukraine conflict, the female prime ministers of all the Nordic nations have not had a qualm about supporting Ukraine in every way possible and as a result Sweden and Finland are now seeking NATO membership and a long way away.

In New Zealnd, Jacinda Ardern in her draconian and firmly imposed action to protect New Zealand from COVID shows another female leader who if in the position of the other female leaders I have mentioned would also, in extremis take her country into war and have the same qualities of all militar leaders.

Lesson to be learned: don't vote for the nutters.

It doesn't always work like that though

www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/03/russia-opposition-leader-aleksei-navalny-sentenced-to-9-years-in-prison-in-cynical-deprivation-of-his-human-rights/

We have wars because we are hard wired to defend ourselves from anything we see as a threat to us and our families

It an illusion that if women ruled the world everything would be peaceful

We've all seen film of lionesses, elephants and other wild animals protecting their young from predators.
Male lions will kill cubs which aren't theirs, females will fight to protect their own cubs.

Males fight for power, females would fight to defend.

Most of them although, sadly, we have seen too many instances recently where human females have killed for pleasure.

Mrs.Meir was originally Ukranian, maybe an example of the countries peoples tenacity to defend their country what ever it maybe.
Strong women have always led Boudicca ,Isabella of Castile her daughter Kathrine of Aragon,the list goes on.
We have wars because it is in both sexes DNA to be territorial in a lot more situations than war.
Few women would not defend their home and family if they had to just like men.

I didn't know that about Golda Meir Yammy

These women that are cited are just figureheads for large cabinets mostly consisting of men. A great deal if pressure is brought to bear on them - by men.

Come on now Aveline. Do you think Meir or Thatcher or any of the rest of them gave into having wars because they were pressured to do so by men? Surely not?

Callistemon21

^Lesson to be learned: don't vote for the nutters^.

It doesn't always work like that though

www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/03/russia-opposition-leader-aleksei-navalny-sentenced-to-9-years-in-prison-in-cynical-deprivation-of-his-human-rights/

Indeed - voting in a dictatorship is a joke.

However we and the US have the chance to vote and what do we get?

I stand by my advice not to vote for the nutters.

I could wax lyrical about our undemocratic voting system .......

volver no I don't but cabinets are usually collaborative. It would never be just one person's idea, at least not in democracies. Not sure where that puts Putin?

I think there would be far fewer wars if the people that caused them had to personally fight on the front lines.

True!

Because of egos

Top answer Grannyactivist.
They hide away like cowards and appear hands waving in the air if the war is won by them.

Megalomania

I tend to agree with you, Aveline.
When I was a child during WW2 I was so angry with the male gender for starting wars and taking my dear Dad away from us I organised a mass fight between girls and boys and the girls won! But that contradicts my support of Aveline.
Does anyone remember the Ancient Greek (or Roman?) story about women becoming so sick of their husbands going off to war that they got together and decided to refuse men their marital "rights."