War, what it is a Good For, Absolutely Nothing.

Nicholas Meyer
Mrs. Thomas
UWRT 1103
14 March, 2016
While writing this I found myself to be swept up in the information. I had to take
a step back about halfway through and spend less time explaining the details of my
subject but more of how I was going to write it. I have never had to write a proposal
before so this was very new. I thought it was weird having to take a step out of my
writing and focus more on the Who/what/when/why/how of my paper. When I go to do
my second draft I feel I will take out a few of the facts and history and put more of why I
want to put them in the paper to begin with.
I was not able to go to the small group meetings and have my peers look at my
paper. I noticed how important this process is and I was kind of stumped when it came
to revising my paper. I had no leads on what to fix because I had no one to check over
my paper. The only person that I could get to read it was my roommate who was helpful
but not as serious as someone from the class. I definitely see the benefits that come
from doing peer review and how they can help turn your rough draft into a not so rough
draft.
Since the start of civilization there has been war. The reasons we fight have
changed, the way we fight have changed, but war itself never changes. My question is
why do we go to war? I chose this question because I find the concepts behind war to

be very interesting and I wanted to learn more about what really inspires men to go up
in arms with other men. I want to learn more about the three main reasons we have war:
gold, glory, and god. While these topics may be very broad, I plan on delving into each
one and giving many examples of how they can be used to justify or carry out the act of
war.
One of the main reasons we fight is for profit. Sailors would travel halfway around
the world for the idea of riches. Men would give up everything and fight for money. What
makes the idea of money so powerful, is it greed or something more. One example is
the American War of independence. With the idea of being overly taxed by a king an
ocean away, some Americans were willing to fight for independence. I feel this will be a
good topic to start with as many of my peers are familiar with this war and it will help
grab their attention.
Even when wars were not directly fought for money, money always seems to be
an underlying factor. In both World Wars, America is known to have sold arms and
resources to both sides of the fight making a huge profit and plummeting most of
Europe into intense debt. The idea of greed is that no matter how rich you may be, you
always crave more. The popular children's tale of King Midas is a good example. I want
to use this example since talking about war can get boring and I dont want to lose the
interest of my reader, plus who doesnt love a fairy tale.
King Midas was a very rich king yet he always wanted more, so he got a wizard
to cast a spell that made everything he touch turn into solid gold. This was great at first
and he thought he must be the richest man in the world until his daughter ran up to hug

him and she also was turned to gold. This helped open Midass eyes to how greedy he
was and he aptly learned his lesson.
God, the most powerful tool ever to exist. Since the start of man they have
always dreamed of the gods. The first notable being the Greek and roman gods. Each
having their own purpose and worthiness. The gods of war, Ares and Mars, had to
purpose to give great warriors strength and to help them cast down their enemies. In
ancient Greece, Sparta was the capitol of war. Every citizen was raised as a soldier and
lived a brutal hard life. But why? Why would they live such hard lives? The answer
seems to be for the gods.
I thought this would be a good topic relatable to my peers as Christianity is a very
common religion in our lives. I personally grew up Catholic and find some the lesser
known things they did to be very interesting. While doing research on Christianity I
noticed a lot of interesting events that I was not too aware of and I assume most of my
Classmates wouldnt be either. One example is The Holy Crusades, which lasted
hundreds of years, was a war between Christianity and the Muslims. Started by Pope
Urban II plea for Europe to take up arms against the Muslim forces that had overtaken
the holy land. The purpose of taking back Jerusalem, many peasants and lower level
knights picked up arms and marched to the holy land in the name of their god.
While this was a very straightforward war fought between two sides of religion I
realized not every war is like that, like The Spanish Inquisition. This topic I feel will strike
a chord with many of my audience as it shows a lesser known atrocity down to the
common people. Around the time that the holy crusades were ending the Catholic
Church established the Spanish Inquisition. While this may not be a war between

counties it does show the power and loyalty people will provide to a church that they
believe is the true church. The Spanish Inquisition was led by Spain in the 15th century
with the purpose to of detecting heretics. The methods used by them was mostly torture
and execution. With very anti-Semitic ideals the Spanish Inquisition would help save the
Jews souls by allowing them the honor of dying by a Christian's hands, thus allowing
them to be spared from hell and to be accepted into heaven. So ministers of the church
would torture somewhat innocent people for hours and days until they eventually broke
down and confessed to whatever crimes they were charged with, thus allowing the
Inquisition to save their soul by sending them to god.
The last topic is Glory. I find this one to be the most interesting. While you can
hold money and read/practice religion. Glory is not a tangible object that one can obtain.
It is an idea that many use as a way to leave a legacy and to prove their own worth.
Each person wants their own definition of glory. Some men want to take over the world
like Alexander the Great or Napoleon Bonaparte. While others just want to leave their
families with a good image of them and with the tools to live life comfortably.
Time also influences the quest for glory. You used to have to sail all over the
world in search of glory, like Ferdinand Magellan. Or explore the unknown western
world with the hopes of finding the ocean like Lewis and Clark. I think this topic will also
intrigue my peer as we are at a prime age where we are still trying to figure out what
legacy we want to leave and how we want to spend our lives.
My overall goal of this paper was to introduce the topics I want to delve more into
without overloading the audience with details. One problem I feel I might run into
moving forward is being too boring. I personally get bored to tears reading about old

history facts. So I want to make my papers as fun and interesting as possible while also
displaying facts about the past and how it connects to the now. I am excited to continue
these papers as I have chosen a topic that interests me and I hope that I can transfer
that interest to my audience as well.