Peter van Uhm makes the case for the military, in terms of our need for societal stability as a ground base for any kind of human progress. We're also familiar with the resounding sentence in the declaration of Arbroath: "It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself". And then there's Kipling's fiercely rhetorical poem "The Islanders",warning what will follow should we in our sloth neglect military preparedness. 

 

But there is another point of view. Philosopher Bertrand Russell was jailed in WW1 for campaigning against the war. Listen to these two very short video clips (you may need to run them a couple of times to pick out the words), and check the essay setting out his analysis at greater length:

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Bertrand Russell on War: "Here then is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: shall we put an end to the human race, or shall mankind renounce war?" (1min45s)

 

Bertrand Russell The Day the Great War Began: (2min12s)

 

Bertrand Russell Essay: The Ethics of War (1915)

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