Are Modern Wars not Holy Wars?

CSS 2017 Solved Essay | Are Modern Wars not Holy Wars?

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Outline

1-Introduction

Although a few scholars view some modern wars being holy in nature owing to the religious motives attached by warmongers, modern wars are truly unholy in nature because to the evil designs of geopolitical dominance, imperialism, economic gains, and ideological conflicts.

2-Understanding the concept of ‘Holy Wars’

3-Interpreting ‘Modern Wars’

4-Why modern wars are unholy wars?

• ✓Geopolitical Dominance
  • Case in Point: World War 1 was fought by major powers of that time to assert dominance over Europe and beyond
• ✓Regime Change Operation
  • Case in Point: The United States’ invasion of Grenada (1983) was to overthrow the Marxist government in the small Caribbean state to install a US-friendly government
• ✓Imperialist Designs
  • Case in Point: Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine is basically part of Russia’s longstanding imperialistic desire
• ✓Secessionist Movement
  • Case in Point: East Pakistan’s Liberation War (1971) against West Pakistan (now Pakistan) was fought for secessionist desires by Bengali-speaking people, resulting in the creation of Bangladesh

• ✓Economic gains
  • Case in Point: The Iraq war (2003-2011) was fought actually to acquire the oil reserves under the guise of destroying Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) and bringing democracy
• ✓Ideological conflicts
  • Case in Point: The Vietnam War (1955-1975) was driven by a fight between communism and capitalism
• ✓Security Concerns from other Nations
  • Case in Point: The Six-Day War (1967) was initiated by Israel as a pre-emptive strike against the imminent invasion threat from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria
• ✓War against Terrorism
  • Case in Point: The Global War on Terrorism (GWoT) was announced by the US and its allied countries to eliminate the terrorist elements that threaten world peace

5-On what grounds do opponents claim that some modern wars are holy wars?

• ✓Counterargument: Some scholars call a few modern wars “holy wars” because of the observed elements of religious motivations, rhetoric, or framing involved within these conflicts
  • Refutation: Though some modern wars are viewed as holy wars due to the apparent religious fervour attached to them, the true motive behind all these conflicts lies in political, economic, or territorial interests
    • Evidence: In the case of Israel’s constant occupation of Palestine’s territory, Amnesty International in 2022 noted that Israeli laws, policies, and practices are enacted with the overarching aim of maintaining a Jewish demographic majority and maximizing control of land and resources to benefit Jewish Israelis to the detriment of Palestinians
• ✓Counterargument: Some analysts view some modern wars, such as the jihad of the terrorist organisations, as holy wars because they are fuelled by extremist religious ideologies and beliefs of a small group belonging to a particular faith
  • Refutation: While terrorists wage wars, which are apparently based on extremist religious ideologies, these terrorists employ several unholy practices, such as horrendous war crimes, drug trade and human trafficking, all against their religious teachings
    • Evidence: In the report “Escape from Hell: Torture and Sexual Slavery in Islamic State Captivity in Iraq” (2014), Amnesty International describes ISIS’s practices of torture and sexual slavery as “abhorrent and un-Islamic,” highlighting the profound misuse of religious principles to justify their atrocities

6-Critical Analysis

7-Conclusion

The aspiration for a peaceful planet Earth has, for centuries, been overshadowed by the prevalence of war and violence. Throughout the history of Homo sapiens, conflicts have been a recurring phenomenon, with motivations ranging from religious to secular interests. Early human civilizations have witnessed numerous holy wars where sacred ideals were the driving force behind armed conflicts. A prominent example is the Crusades, during which the capture of Jerusalem from Muslims was justified as fulfilling the will of God. However, with the advent of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which concluded a prolonged war between Protestants and Catholics and diminished the influence of the Church in state affairs, the nature of conflicts evolved from religious to secular motivations. In contemporary times, despite advancements in industrialization and technology, some still perceive certain conflicts as having religious underpinnings. An illustration of this is the ongoing struggle between Israel and Palestinians, which some scholars interpret as a sacred endeavour waged by Israelis against Palestinians. However, a deeper analysis of modern conflicts reveals that the primary drivers are often rooted in geopolitical ambitions, imperialism, economic incentives, and ideological confrontations. Moreover, Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s frontier regions is primarily aimed at expanding the Kremlin’s territorial influence rather than fulfilling religious objectives. Hence, it becomes evident that modern conflicts are primarily motivated by secular goals rather than religious imperatives, sketching them as unholy wars.

Before understanding the reasons that make modern wars as unholy wars, it is crucial to comprehend the term “holy war”. Holy wars are those wars that purely stand on religious motives. These wars often involve a strong distinction between the believers (Muslims) and the non-believers (non-Muslims). It is perceived that these wars are according to the will of God, and He actively supports it. Participants waging these wars are promised spiritual rewards in the hereafter. The purpose can be to spread and defend religion, rescue brothers of the same faith from oppression and mistreatment, purify consecrated places, and avenge blasphemous acts. However, legitimate authority can announce that it belongs to the religious institution of a country if a secular government rules a state. The Crusades and Islamic conquests are seen in history as holy wars with no worldly benefits to achieve. These wars are comparatively less destructive and deadly in nature. The civilian causalities are minimal as the rights of non-combatants on both sides are given due importance.

Understanding modern wars, they are the battles that emerged after the Industrial Revolution and the development in innovation and technology. Modern wars are characterized by employing modern weapons; deploying up-to-date road, naval, and aviation vehicles; utilizing large armies and tremendous resources; and enforcing modern warfare tactics. Although there is no single agreed starting point for modern wars, it is primarily assumed that the first truly modern war was World War 1 (WW1), which was large in scale and technology and was modern in its warfare concepts. After WW1, several wars were fought, such as World War 2, the Iran-Iraq War, and the Pakistan-India War of 1965, and some are ongoing, including the Russia-Ukraine war and Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.

Moving towards the reasons for modern wars being unholy secular wars, geopolitical dominance has proved to be an important one. States enter the war to further their power and influence in the region. Such nefarious plans are often cherished by nations having immense pride in their military might and economy; as a result, these states never miss any possible opportunity to exert their dominance in the region or beyond. Historically, World War 1 was the first modern war of the 20th century, fought by major powers of that time to assert dominance over Europe and beyond. Germany sought to assert itself as a global power as it bolstered its naval capabilities and challenged French dominance in the region. In return, the British and France, in alliance, remained steadfast in maintaining their dominance and supremacy by retaliating overwhelmingly. The deadly war of the 20th century reflects how geopolitical factors shape the atmosphere of violence and conflicts. In a word, the desire for geopolitical hegemony has always been a prominent reason for waging unholy wars and battles with neighbouring states in the region.

Similarly, nations enter war with other states for a regime change operation in the target country. Reasons for this belligerent move may be deeply entrenched in political, economic, or ideological motives, but the pretext set for launching such unjust, unethical, and immoral invasions are the alleged occurrences of massive human rights abuses or the presence of weapons of mass destruction, which are typically never found. For instance, in 1983, the US launched the war against Grenada, a Caribbean state, under the pretext of saving its endangered medical students enrolled in St. George’s Medical School on the island, and another legal exemption was an invitation for the United States to intervene and restore order from the collective security regime, Organization of Eastern Caribbean States. However, the real purpose was to overthrow a communist government inclined towards Cuba and install a pro-American interim government on the Caribbean Island. As a result, Grenada changed its rule from Marxist-Leninist to a democratic government, aligned with democratic principles and Western political ideals. Regime change operations were not limited to Grenada, as several other countries, including Iraq and Syria, shared the same tale. This implies that nations do not cherish any religious motives for waging wars; instead, the only thing that attracts their attention is their own national interests, which define the trajectory of a state, both regionally and globally.

In addition, imperialistic designs of nations emerge as another important reason behind modern wars. Modern wars, both fought and ongoing, are waged to gain access to lands having strategically essential locations and historical links or, in general, to expand territory. This motive is far more common in all major conflicts, as expanding territory directly translates to increased global dominance and control in a region. For instance, Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine is part of Russia’s longstanding imperialistic desire to expand territory and make them buffer zones against possible NATO expansion, for which Russia is threatening the peace of the entire region even with the repeated calls from different nations and international organization to end the deadly conflict and diplomatically solve the issue. Similarly, the same military adventure has already been undertaken by Russia in 2014 by annexing Crimea, part of Ukraine, to gain access to Sevastopol Naval Base, necessary to project its naval might in the Black Sea. Such invasions reflect the true motive behind many other modern battles and conflicts that the world has seen in the past, may it be World Wars or the Iraq-Kuwait War, which are shaped by territorial expansion aims. In a word, land expansion ambition has proved to be a major push behind numerous secular wars in the modern era.

Furthermore, modern wars are fought for secessionist and separatist movements. Many such wars have been waged in the past by regions or groups sharing a common ethnicity, religion, culture, history, or ideology against their own countries for independence and separation. These wars have resulted in massive destruction, often followed by civil wars for power gain and political dominance. One such example that aptly describes the worldly motives behind modern conflicts, not religious desires, is the war of independence between the East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and the West Pakistan (now Pakistan) in 1971, further resulted in Bangladesh’s creation. Initially, both East and West Pakistan were two wings of one Pakistan getting separated from United India on the name of religion, Islam, in 1947 after massive struggles against the Britishers and Indians. However, differences in cultural, linguistic, and ethnic issues, along with political marginalization, proved to overtake the idea of a common faith and resulted in a full-scale war. Similarly, many other famous wars, known for the havoc and large-scale destruction they brought in their aftermath, were fought for secessionist movements, like Yugoslavia wars. These wars have proved that nations enter war for their own hidden secular pursuits, and religion has nothing to do with the decision to wage a war.

Moreover, economic interests have always been a primary reason that pushed nations to enter war against another country. Nations often launch war when other countries’ strategic trade routes, minerals, or oil resources attract them. In the process of securing important assets, nations employ all military means to inflict unprecedented loss to the target state in social, political, and economic realms. For example, the United States’ invasion of Iraq was truly meant to acquire the oil reserves under the guise of destroying Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) and bringing democracy. Even members of Congress opposed the invasion at that time, arguing that its actual primary goal was to control Iraq’s oil reserves. History is witness that neither Iraq saw a dawn of democracy after this war in its true form, nor a single weapon of mass destruction ever recovered from the soil of Iraq, strengthening the view that it was a resource war on the part of the US against Iraq. The same happened earlier with Egypt in 1956 when it was attacked by the UK, France, and Israel to secure control of the Suez Canal, a 120-mile narrow water body connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. So, economic factors are also among the igniting factors for waging unholy wars against other countries.

Adding more to it, ideological differences have also led to wars in the modern era. These wars are waged to spread or defend a particular ideology, such as communism and capitalism. The Cold War era saw tense relations between the USSR and the USA and witnessed many conflicts between the US and the USSR, now Russia, solely on ideological grounds. Each wanted their ideology to flourish, with new states emerging with the golden spoon of their ideology. For instance, the Vietnam War, one such proxy war of the Cold War period, was driven by the clash between communism and capitalism. The war bifurcated the country into North Vietnam, ruled by communist ideology and supported by the USSR, and South Vietnam, ruled by capitalist ideology and backed by the US. Moreover, more than 3 million died, including 58000 Americans. Similarly, the Korean War and various insurgencies in Latin America and Asia are examples of conflicts driven by revolutionary ideologies. In short, ideological conflicts have translated into unholy modern wars of large-scale destruction many times in history, with no blame on religion for the initiation of such large-scale destructive wars.

Besides, modern wars are initiated on the grounds of a nation’s security concerns. Many modern wars in the past have been justified by giving reasons such as neutralizing an emerging national security threat and gaining a power balance in a region. These wars have led to tremendous losses of life and property, along with the perpetual instability and chaos in the aftermath of the war-torn region. As an example, in 1967, Israel launched a pre-emptive strike against a group of Arab nations, namely Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. The six days of conflict resulted in a significant alteration in the map of the Middle East as Israel successfully seized the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. The Israeli Defence Forces justified the move as a way of countering the perceived invasion threat to Israel from these three Arab states. Similarly, the US-Iraq war in 2003 or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, under the pretext of resisting NATO’s eastward expansion to Ukraine, shares a similar tale. In short, modern nations engage in wars only when they see something in danger to their national security and not for fulfilling any religious obligation.

Lastly, modern wars are also fought to root out terrorism and extremism from a country or a region. The new evil of terrorism caught the world’s attention at the end of the 20th century when multiple terrorist attacks started taking place all over the world. It culminated with the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on September 9, 2001, which made the world realize the severity of the issue and pushed it to devise comprehensive plans of action to curb the menace of terrorism. The Global War on Terrorism (GWoT) was announced by the US and its allied countries to eliminate the terrorist elements that threatened world peace. Operation Enduring Freedom, the first operation under GWOT, was fought in Afghanistan to root out this evil. Subsequently, many other military invasions, like Operation Inherent Resolve in the Middle Eastern region and Operation Barkhane in the African region, were successfully launched to combat terrorism. In short, these military campaigns did not fulfil a religious obligation; instead, they were for self-security and self-defence.

Contrarily, some scholars label some modern wars “sacred wars” due to the observed elements of religious motivation, rhetoric, or framing involved within these conflicts, giving an impression of a holy, divine-supported war. For instance, Israel’s military campaigns against Palestine are given a religious colour by far-right political parties, such as the Likud political party of Israel. However, modern wars, such as Israel’s wars against Palestine, all have political, economic, or territorial interests behind mass military mobilizations while using religion as a veil to cover the atrocities and massive destructions in war-torn areas. This religious outlook can be to mobilize popular support for wars or to legitimize wars, at least in the eyes of a state’s own public. For example, in the case of Israel’s constant illegal occupation of Palestine’s territory, Amnesty International in 2022 observed that Israeli laws, policies, and practices are all enacted with the overarching aim of maintaining a Jewish demographic majority and maximizing control of land and providing resources to benefit Jewish Israelis to the detriment of Palestinians. This report rules out any possibility of involvement of religious motivation in the tremendous loss inflicted by the Israelis on the Palestinians. In short, modern nations always enter war if they see some achievable national agendas.

Moreover, a few analysts view some modern wars as holy wars as they are fuelled by extremist religious ideologies and beliefs of a small faction belonging to a particular faith. For example, the wars waged by terrorist organizations, namely ISIS, al-Qaeda, and Daesh, are ostensibly to protect their religion or to expand their religion. However, these terrorist outfits claiming to be the custodians of Islam employ several unholy practices such as horrendous war crimes, drug trade and human trafficking, all against the Quran laws. For instance, in the report “Escape from Hell: Torture and Sexual Slavery in Islamic State Captivity in Iraq” (2014), Amnesty International describes ISIS’s practices of torture and sexual slavery as “abhorrent and unIslamic,” highlighting the profound misuse of religious principles to justify their atrocities. This report captures the fact that those who claim to wage holy wars are themselves engaged in unholy activities, making the concept of holy wars in such contexts totally vague and absurd. Thus, states enter war just to achieve secular agendas, not to wage it for religious motives.

In a critical overview, wars that have remained intertwined with human civilization for centuries have observed a paradigm shift in the motives behind waging them from sacred to secular during history. Unlike ancient and medieval wars, modern wars are fought to further states’ national interests, such as political, economic, or territorial expansion aims. This is evident from the number of modern wars fought, such as the two World Wars and the US-Iraq war. All these wars provide substantial evidence that modern nations are not seized by religious frenzy to mobilize their mass troops and resources; instead, the only force to compel them is their own national interests.

In conclusion, modern wars starkly contrast with early holy wars driven by religious fervour, primarily motivated by geopolitical dominance, regime changes, imperialistic ambitions, secessionist movements, economic gains, ideological clashes, security concerns, and counter-terrorism efforts. From World War I to ongoing conflicts like those in Ukraine and Gaza, the underlying objectives revolve around asserting national interests and power dynamics rather than fulfilling divine mandates. Claims of some conflicts being labelled as “holy wars” due to religious rhetoric are often superficial when examined against the realities of political manoeuvres and humanitarian crises. Instances such as Israel’s policies in Palestine or extremist groups like ISIS using religious justifications for atrocities underscore the secular nature of these conflicts. Amnesty International’s reports and historical analyses further highlight how religious narratives are manipulated to justify actions aimed at purely secular goals, cementing modern wars as unholy pursuits of strategic advantage rather than sacred endeavours. Understanding this distinction is crucial for shaping international policies towards fostering global peace and justice.

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