War Story: Pressfield’s Tides of War Essay

This essay is devoted to the subject of the history of wars. The essence of wars hasn’t changed despite the changes in warfare. Millions of innocent people suffer from political conflicts. Pressfield covers in his book the situation when the incident caused the Peloponnesian war and took millions of lives. All wars had irreparable consequences. The war influences the soldiers as well as the peaceful citizens. Although the degree of such influence differs, it is impossible to avoid it. John F. Kennedy says: “Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind”. Many wars are justified by historians as the motive power of changes and development. It is easy to judge when you are lucky not living in a period of war. There is no justification for those politicians who levy wars and allow millions of people to die for the sake of their own interests.

Despite the irreparable consequences of wars, the leaders of ancient worlds, as well as modern politicians, don’t think about the fate of nation justifying their actions in favor of national interests. The interests of politicians haven’t changed despite the changes in warfare. The differences between ancient and modern warfare are very significant. Nowadays it is possible to destroy many countries at short notice. World War l was the first mechanized war with millions of casualties. Unlike ancient wars, the soldiers of modern armies don’t even see the faces of the people they kill at long distances. Death is taken as a usual thing.

As for the warfare of the ancient world, the armor of the ancient soldiers is made of hides and skins with wooden shields. Further on, metal came into use. The armor was very heavy and it was necessary to be a very strong person to wear such bulky armor. 40-pound breastplates made troops sweat and many of them suffered from dehydration and poorly fitted helmets complicated vision. Modern body armor may be hard or soft. Hardbody armor consists of metal components used to stop carbine rounds and rifles while soft body armor has lightweight impact-absorbed fibers as protection against handguns (Orrill).

The first projectile bombardment weapons were catapults that were used by Greek civilization. The first catapults fired at 16 feet long and there were torsion springs to hurl heavy projectiles at long targets. Modern artillery warfare is more maneuverable and mobile. American MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) launcher crew fires 12 rockets at 60 seconds.

Chinese, Greek and Egyptian armies used chariots to unleash arrows into enemies (Orrill). By the end of World War l, tanks were used instead of horses. The development of science and technology not only facilitates human life but threatens the whole world. There are many weapons invented we don’t even know about. If World War lll is levied, a couple of seconds will be enough to destroy the whole planet.

The wars have changed not only the march of history but the whole nations and the life of every person particularly. There are a lot of literary works that depict the impact of wars on people. D.H. Lawrence points out the changes of Englishmen after World War l. They are depicted as cynical, shallow, materialistic, nihilistic, physically or mentally scarred and disinterested in human relationships. Wars change the perception of life (Gill).

Ernest Hemingway who was an ambulance driver during World War l says: “In modern warfare, you die like a dog for no good reason.” In Hemingway’s collection of short stories under the title Winner Take Nothing he points out the futility of mechanized war. Nothing is solved when men fight like machines using machines. Men don’t need to have courage, valor or strength of will when it is possible to kill millions of people by pressing only one button or squeezing off. Modern Cold Wars with nuclear missiles which kill people at long distances deprecate a human life at all. Millions of peaceful citizens are killed for the sake of somebody’s mistake. There were a lot of wars in world history which were levied by the incident and caused a lot of irreparable consequences (Gill).

Steven Pressfield’s Tides of War depicts the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War for the reign of Sparta in Athens in 430 B. C. which was caused by the incident. The story depicts the fate of Alcibiades who was the only power to conquer Syracuse which contributed to Athen’s downfall. There are a lot of causes of the Peloponnesian War but Thucydides should be the first to take into account considering that time. Being a historian of that time, Thucydides writes about the causes of the war in his book: “The real cause I consider to be the one which was formally most kept out of sight. The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Lacedaemon, made war inevitable” (“The Peloponnesian War”). Despite this cause, there are a lot of others discussed by modern historians: the jealousy and desire for more of Spartans, their unhappy life, Athenian bullying and conflict of ideologies. But there is no reason which may justify all consequences of that war.

Pressfield touches upon another significant problem in his book namely the power of tyrants whose actions shed the blood of millions of peaceful citizens. Alcibiades is depicted as a talented and brave warrior on the one hand and as a tyrant who puts his own interests above the interests of the people on the other hand. Alcibiades is depicted as “a beast needing to be fed” whose actions are driven not by a rational and enlightened body but only by envy and emotions. His impulsive actions were responsible for the decline of the first great democracy in the world (Pressfield).

Sometimes such historical figures as Alcibiades as well as Napoleons are depicted as heroes. Alcibiades thought that he knew what was better for the whole nation. He justified his actions as a necessity. In fact, to levy wars is not the necessity for the people; such leaders as Alcibiades impose their own vision as the necessity for the whole nation with predictably disastrous results. The mistakes of such great politicians sometimes are unforgivable when they cost millions of lives. Why do peaceful citizens have to answer for their ruler’s mistakes and even sacrifice their lives for the sake of their ruler’s ideas?

In fact, the rulers who levy wars don’t take part in them. Their lives are too valuable and protected by the whole army while the lives of ordinary people, women and children cost nothing compared to the life of these politicians. The whole army protects their ruler but who protects poor women who die in the last-ditch saving their children from severe soldiers.

All wars in history cost a lot to their nations. Was it possible to prevent many of them? It is a debatable question nowadays. Many historians consider some wars as the necessity of the nation; others think that wars are only politicians’ necessity. Pressfield covers the political reasons of war in his book: “Under the peace, states favored mercenaries over popularly-drafted troops. Such lives lost did not haunt the politician; their acts could be disavowed when inconvenient; if mercenaries rebelled, you held their pay; and if they were killed you didn’t pay them at all” (Ch 10). Although there are a lot of controversies concerning the reasons for war, there are no doubts about their irremediable consequences. Wars influence soldiers as well as peaceful citizens. People who have seen a lot of blood of innocent people don’t understand the necessity of wars.

Works Cited

Gill, Nash. “The Peloponnesian War – Causes of the Conflict”. About.com. 2012.

Orrill, Jim. “Differences between Modern War Technology & Ancient War Technology”. eHow. 2012.

Pressfield, Steven. Tides of War. USA: Bantam, 2001. Print.

“The Peloponnesian War”. Classics Technology Center. 2012.