Mission Two: Armed Aggression

Mission Two: Armed Aggresssion

Act One: Learn

There are a myriad of motivations for waging war, be it for survival, to regain liberty, or to stake a claim for supremacy, but the effects of war are almost always the same, although, as I will be discussing later, there are various trends in war which are common  throughout time , while others, conversely,  have changed drastically over time.

It has already been mentioned in class that there exists and persists a culture of death whenever there is armed conflict. This is an obvious similarity that is shared by most wars, but even in this similarity, a huge difference can likewise be seen. The difference between the culture of death that exists between wars is that is has increased exponentially as evidenced by the last few major conflicts, such as the two world wars.

There are many differences, on the other hand, between wars of past and the most recent armed conflicts. The more recent conflicts are ended much more quickly than the conflicts before. Wars are fought with many battles until a decisive battle is won by one side or until the opposing side reels from the lack of resources to continue their war against the opposing side.

These wars may be much more destructive in terms of their scale and the amount of property damage, but these wars drag on for only a handful of years, which is definitely fewer than conflict centuries back, especially during the time of the Middle Ages.

The most common example of a war which had dragged on for many years, although there are certain periods of stalemate, would be the Hundred Years War, which was waged between the long-time rival nations of France and England. The war, despite being touted merely as a ‘hundred’ year war, lasted a total of one hundred sixteen years, although, as I have mentioned before, battles during these wars are fought intermittently.

In stark contrast to the Hundred Years War, some of the more recent conflicts lasted for only a handful of years, such as the Great War or the First World War, which lasted four years, a far cry from the hundred sixteen count of that aforementioned conflict. Some wars, like the Arab-Israeli War of 1978, last for mere days, thus proving that the more recent wars are fought much more decisively.

This is not to say that wars today are fought with much less bloodshed, because, as mentioned before, the culture of death is ever-present in wars and, with the technological advancements in weaponry serving as an accomplice, the casualties in recent wars have been much more costly.

Another difference would be that in the ancient wars, the battles are fought merely between armies who meet on a certain location and then wage war on each other. These types of battle are much more common during the Middle Ages and the centuries which followed after that, but somehow this method of waging war was lost as the newer centuries and faces of warfare were ushered. At the turn of the century, civilians became much more involved in wars, unlike before wherein wars were fought between armies.

The involvement of innocent civilians in war could not be more highlighted by the Second World War, during which citizens from occupied countries are sent into prison camps, such as the Jews, the Russians, the Poles, and other nations which were invaded by Nazi Germany. Civilian death accounted for a large percentage of the casualties of the Second World War, which would prove prophetic for the wars that are to come.

Act Two: Act

Even though I live in Manila on weekdays, I actually live in Bacoor, Cavite and though we only recently moved to Cavite, most of my relatives from the mother’s side of the family have lived there all their lives. Needless to say, while Cavite is still relatively industrialized compared to other provinces and where I have personally witnessed the province turn from a backwater place teeming with farm animals to a province which hardly does the word province any justice anymore.

But even though Cavite is the site of a modern war between modernity and tradition, of the old and the new, it still cannot be denied that Cavite is still a province, although its proximity to Metro Manila is undoubtedly much nearer relative to other provinces which could probably explain the progress to cityhood by most of its municipalities.

I mentioned that I have spent most of my childhood here in Cavite, including my elementary years. And like all provinces, Cavite is a place which also abounds with stories, and one of the stories which I recall hearing back when I was in the sixth grade was when a teacher of mine, Sir Marlon Silva (who teaches math), recalled his experiences in living in Mindanao before relocating to Cavite.

Some of the details of his story have already worn away on my mind, but most of it I still remember. While he taught us about elementary geometry and equations, he related these things to his life story and, although he has mercifully evaded the military offensive of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in his area, he mentions that he has witnessed a few of the skirmishes between the forces of the government and the insurgents such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and he mentioned hearing gunshots within a few feet of him.

I actually have forgotten about his war stories, but, thankfully, my sister, who is studying in the same school that I went in elementary (it is named Christian Values School, a school situated along Aguinaldo Highway and can be walked from the nearby SM Bacoor) and is now on her fourth year in high school reminded me about his life story.

I asked my sister to ask him permission to use his story for this class, and he readily said yes. I, however, failed to make contact with him, although my sister also refreshed my memory and mentioned Sir Silva and his relocation to Cavite. He mentions that whenever a haciendero or haciendera had a big land, they were immediately surveyed by the insurgents and if they refused to give them a portion of their earnings, they were shot or killed.  

He has personally heard of some notable people in their province who have been killed for refusing to give money to the insurgents, and, fortunately, before the scale of the war in Mindanao became even bigger, they were able to relocate in Cavite and thus be able to impart his knowledge in Mathematics to students, including me and my sister.

Act Three: Imagine

“War is young men dying and old men talking”

-Odyssesus, Troy

I remember having read a book before in which there was a passage which states that war is necessary for men, because it could be deemed that war is a necessary call to manhood, a phase which all men must undergo in order to complete his ‘being a man,’ or simply put, a rite of passage which sorts the boys from the men and serves as a fuel to the machismo image of males.

While I grew up playing violent computer games, I grew older and developed a more profound grasp of the concept of war, I gradually understood that these statements should not be believed. War is something that is only made visually-appealing in Hollywood by directors such as Stanley Kubrick, Quentin Tarantino, and also in video games, but war, in clock-ticking reality is something that is not good to have, as evidenced by the testimony of my former teacher in the Second Act of this mission.

Even the United States, who has glorified the concept of warfare with Hollywood serving as a doting accomplice, has a policy of first using diplomatic means before resorting to war. Sitting down and talking things over maybe first a good means of resolving conflicts before actually resorting to the violence and destruction of war.

Sometimes full-scale wars are the direct result of a single person or group of persons’ greed and lust for power. Adolf Hitler promising the German nation with oil for their war machine and food for their population had willingly dragged his country into the death and destruction of the Second World War.  

The names of persons who have willfully strapped their countries onto their backs and plunged them into chaos are endless, and if these persons were not allowed to take power, or at least stopped once it was visible that they were leading their nation to destruction, then the casualties of the wars which were started by these persons would at least be lessened.

Or perhaps, if wars could not be avoided, at least leave the civilians out of it, which is what was being done before. Armies would march out of their camps and then slug it out on a middle ground, leaving the civilians out of the way. During the more recent conflicts, however, wars have been synonymous to innocent nations being carpet-bombed and civilians being taken hostage and executed, which should not be the case.

Some of these methods may not necessarily stop the deaths of people, but at least it would lessen the amount of deaths. It would make sure that towns would still be left standing, that people who had not choice but to be dragged into the conflict at least had homes they could go back to, and families that they could be reunited with once, eventually, the smoke of the battles clear.

:)