Most everyone is cognizant that Europe had two devastating wars in the 20th century, known as World War I and World War II, in which, millions of civilians and soldiers died, as well as there was also a tremendous amount of infrastructure damaged and destroyed. These wars were absolutely catastrophic for Europe, but to Europe’s credit, out of the ashes of these devastating wars, Europe was able to create the European union, so that nations that had historically been at loggerheads with one another, were now on friendly terms, and collectively Europe has probably never been safer from an internal European war, then we do so see, today. That is indeed a very impressive accomplishment, for warring in Europe, is something that has been part and parcel of those that are European, for centuries upon centuries, of which, in all probability the population of Europe would be far higher as well as the wealth of Europe would be much larger, if those wars, had never been fought.
Regrettably, since so many people are so bad at history, most people would not be able to hazard a reasonable guess, as to what European war was the most devastating war in Europe, before the 20th century. That war, was simply known as the Thirty Years’ war, which took place in the 17th century, from the years 1618-1648, in which, we read at history.com, that there were more than “8 million casualties resulting from military battles as well as from the famine and disease caused by the conflict.” That is an absolutely staggering amount of people to have died during this conflict, in which, it is estimated that the entire population of Europe in 1600, was only about 78 million peoples.
The war itself began as a religious war, between the Catholic and Protestant nation-states, which essentially devolved into becoming a war as to which nation-states would effectively be the leaders of this newly reconfigured Europe, but since no single united coalition could be successfully formed, that could entirely vanquish the other, the war dragged on, for years upon years, in which communities and towns, in which the armies fought their battles, or marched and quartered themselves, meant that civilians could not effectively take care of their own affairs, but had to suffer the indignities of armies plundering their land and resources, time and time again.
As it has been said, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Indeed, it would seem that as long as mankind has existed, battles, fighting, and wars of all types have been a serious and integral problem of that experience, as well. This would presuppose that humankind must come to the full realization, that the resolving of issues and differences between one nation-state to the other, would be better to be resolved via reasonable diplomatic channels, and further to the point, we would be better served by the lucid understanding that might does not make right. The fact that so many, so-called civilized humans are so quick to reach for lethal weapons, again and again, reflects that we are not nearly as civilized as we might imagine ourselves to be, and apparently there are plenty of people as well as the nation-states which represent those people, that somehow believe that they are superior to the other, which leads to all sorts of injustices imposed upon the other, in an endless cycle of war upon war upon war, without end.