If we look at the Thirty Years War, we can see that “incidents” if and of themselves, dod not precipitate the general war that engulfed Europe. The revolt in Prague no more created the war than the conspiracy in Venice had done, or the war in the Adriatic, or the war over Montferrat, or the affair of Julich-Cleves, or the Palatinate. And yet later, in 1621, real war broke out, bringing devastation and revolution to Europe for the next three decades. How then, did this happen? To seek an answer to this question, it is best to turn away from facile assumption that war rises spontaneously out of “incidents” and look instead at the men who create incidents and are the real makers of history.
—The Miseries and Misfortunes of War..
Jacques Callot..
Jacques Callot created these etchings, “The Miseries and Misfortunes of War”from 1632 to 1633, looking for the first time of the experiences of the common people during war. Callot lived through the Thirty Years War, a religious war between France and Germany, and he created this series of prints to explore the new aspects of was following the French invasion of his homeland, the Duchy of Lorraine. Earlier images were made for kings and generals and celebrated victories and heroic deeds. Callot’s story begins when soldiers are recruited and engage in battle. Disciplines breaks down, however, and the soldiers begin to torture and steal from local people, and to attack churches and convents. Some soldiers are caught and punished by their superior officers, but more horrifying is the revenge the villagers take when they catch the persecutors. After the war, veterans aare shown destitutes and forced to beg for charities, from their former victims. Only a few soldiers receive accolades from the government for their service.—Read More:http://richardharrisartcollection.blogspot.ca/2012/03/morbid-curiosity-richard-harris_8332.html
The European war that broke out in 1621 was caused not by accumulated accidents but by human decisions. Those decisions were taken in Madrid. The questions we must ask are: Who were the men who made those decisions and why did they make them? The men were a party of Spanish officials who came to power in Madrid in 1621, and they made war deliberately because, unlike their predecessors, they believed that war would be more profitable to Spain than peace. ( to be continued)…
—Ernest Crofts’ A Scene from the Thirty Years’ War—Read More:http://www.principiadialectica.co.uk/blog/?p=1596
ADDENDUM:
(see link at end)…Some notes on War and Peace in the 20th Century, by Eric Hosbawm, in War and Peace in the 20th Century and Beyond, edited by Geir Lundestad and Olav Njostad. Proceedings of the Nobel Centennial Symposium/ World Scientific. New Jersey, London, Singapore, Hong Kong, 2002.
(…) “We may regard the period 1914 to 1945 as a single “Thirty Years War”, broken only by a short pause in the 1920′s”. (…) – E Hobsbawm.
It is interesting that Eric Hobsbawm came up with that idea of the Thirty Years war (1914-1945). Unfortunately there is more to that idea and story. Read More:http://www.principiadialectica.co.uk/blog/?p=1596
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