The literal opening words in the original Greek of Plato’s Gorgias (maybe my favorite Socratic dialogue) are “war and battle,” a typically subtle Socratic reminder to keep in mind that force and violence always potentially lurk just underneath all political life no matter how well constructed.
Here is Churchill’s version of the thought, from Marlborough:
Battles are the principal milestones in secular history. Modern opinion resents this uninspiring truth, and historians often treat the decisions of the field as incidents in the dramas of politics and diplomacy. But great battles, won or lost, change the entire course of events, create new standards of values, new moods, new atmospheres, in armies and in nations, to which all must conform.
Worth keeping in mind as we continue to watch the Ukraine War, whose effects may be far-reaching, no matter how it eventually ends.
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.