Essay on Peace Hath Her Victories No Less Renowned Than War

Essay on Peace Hath Her Victories No Less Renowned Than War

Introduction:

The word victory is usually associated with war but even the most glorious victories result in death and destruction. It is the victories of Peace won over forces of nature, disease, pain and poverty that have brought lasting happiness to man.

Development of Thought:

Victory is always associated wars and great warriors like Caesar and Napolean are looked upon as he but wars can only lead to death and destruction. Empires built on the gains war have always crumbled. On the other hand man has achieved much during times of peace.

He has achieved victories against evils such as poverty ignorance, disease and destitution. Reformers and philanthropists have renowned victories over great social evils. Victories of peace are far m worth winning than the most famous military triumphs.

Conclusion:

It is only a mistaken sense of values that makes popular. There is no doubt that the victories of peace are greater than those of We generally, associate the word “victory” with war and battle. We think Trafalgar and Waterloo, and many a “famous victory”: but even the most glorious victory in a righteous cause must mean death and destruction, and misery countless thousands.

But the victories of peace, “no less renowned”, have brought men comfort and happiness, health and wealth, knowledge and wisdom, freedom and justice. For the victories of peace have been won over the forces of nature disease and pain, and ignorance, and great social wrongs.

The word ‘victory’ calls to our mind names of men like Alexander, Caesar Napoleon, Chengiz Khan and Tamerlane who fought many wars, won victories and made themselves famous. Indeed, these are the men whom generally we adore as heroes.

There is no doubt those they were men of ability and power some of them might be mere soldiers of fortune, ravaging countries and destroying civilizations. But many of them were builders, too. Alexander left a large empire behind, and Julius Caesar laid the foundation of the grandeur that was Rome.

It is very good to read of the glories of these men when they are dead and gone, when their deeds can no longer touch us. But what was the effect of the work of the heroes? Wars might have brought them victories, but they often meant the ruin of the countries that were defeated and loss of lives on both sides, the victors as well as the victims.

It is often said that Napoleon was the greatest soldier of all times, that he could work miracles, but although he might have brought glories to France, his wars killed so many thousands of Frenchmen that France was faced with depopulation.

One needs to speak of the countries that Napoleon warred on, in which damage to property was almost as great as the loss of lives, so that those who were left alive had to struggle against famine and chaos.

Whether a country wins or loses, it has to concentrate all its energies on the prosecution of wars. In these days we say that war effort must have “top priority”. The result is that the country cannot devote its attention to nation building activities, to education and sanitation, to agriculture and commerce.

The nation works at maximum pressure, and all its efforts are engaged in destroying what others have built. War cannot construct, it only destroys. That is why wars are very good to write poems or stories about; but they are very terrible when one comes to have actual experience of them.

It is said that wars may destroy much; but they also build empires. But that in itself is a half truth. An empire based on force can never be stable or create happiness and contentment. After Alexander’s death his empire was broken into fragments that could never be united again.

Napoleon brought many countries under his sway but he could not retain his power, and it is these conquered countries that combined to overthrow him the conqueror was conquered by his own victims.

War is a kind of lust that is not satisfied until it has destroyed itself. Once men and nations yield to this passion, they will go on from destruction to destruction until they are themselves destroyed.

This is what victory in war effects in spite of all the glory that is associated with it. Contrast this with man’s achievements in times of peace, which may appear to be uneventful. It is in peace that scientists can apply themselves to the invention not of newer and swifter means of destruction but of newer methods of improving the condition of mankind.

It is in times of peace only that scientists, philosophers and men of letters can devote themselves undisturbed to the advancement of learning, to the acquisition of knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Quite accidentally, some beneficial scientific inventions have been made during the times of war.

But generally such times are barren so far as progress in knowledge is concerned. In times of war, the energy of the atom is applied to the making of atom bombs; in times of peace the same energy is utilized to add to the comfort and happiness of mankind.

In war man fights against his fellows, against other men; in peace he fights against poverty, disease and ignorance.

Mankind has waged an unceasing war with the forces of nature fire and water, heat and cold, ocean and desert, drought and flood. And what victories they have won? They have mastered the sea, tamed the lightning, conquered the air, drained the floods, and made the desert bloom with roses.

The inventions of war destroy men, the inventions of peace save them. It is only in times of peace that it is possible to spend money for the advancement of education and for the fight against illiteracy. It is in times of peace that governments can improve the condition of the poor by increasing production and stimulating commerce.

It is only in times of peace that determined efforts can be made to fight disease, not merely to invent new medicines but also to check the spread of disease and to improve the situation of a country.

These victories against ignorance, poverty and disease are achieved quietly; nobody advertises them and very often they are achieved so silently that we are not even aware of how much we have achieved. But are not these victories greater than victories in war? Once the people of France voted on who was the greatest Frenchman.

It might naturally have been expected that the largest number of votes would go to Napoleon who had dazzled the world by his successes on the battlefield. But it was not so.

The people of France by an overwhelming majority decided that the greatest Frenchman was Louis Pasteur, the eminent scientist, who, by his researches, had helped to save innumerable lives.

The victories of peace were, indeed, more renowned than war. Who is greater and more renowned: Socrates or Alexander, Shakespeare or the Duke of Marlborough?

What renowned victories, too, have philanthropists and reformers won over great social evils! Raja Ram Mohan Roy championed the cause of widow remarriage and abolition of slavery. Mahatma Gandhi and Ambedkar won victories in the abolition of the abhorrent practice of untouchability.

Such are a few of the victories of peace-victories far more worth winning than the most famous military triumphs.

It is not merely a question of tangible achievements, of the medicines Pasteur invented or the dramas Shakespeare wrote; it is a question of fundamental ideas. War is based on hatred. We generally make war on other nations whom we want to subjugate, whom we hate, whom we consider inferior to us.

Even when we fight in self-defense, our sense of the Tightness of our cause is mixed with a feeling of vengeance against our enemies. Peace is the product of goodwill among nations; it promotes understanding between them, stimulates international trade and leads to cultural contacts.

From whatever point of view we may look at the matter, there is no doubt that the victories of peace are greater than those of war. It is only a mistaken sense of values that makes war popular, and it may be hoped that as men are drawn to one another by ties of friendship, war will be a thing of the past.