Why We Fight Wars: Causes of International War & War - Its Nature, Cause and Cure

Why We Fight Wars combines two classics about armed conflict in one volume - both written in the wake of the First World War.

In Causes of International War Dickinson argues that war stems not from human nature, but from an anarchic international system. Independent armed states act out of fear and self-interest, leading to arms races and destructive conflicts. Dickinson believes this "international anarchy" can be overcome only through collective security, diplomacy, and public oversight of foreign policy as the true path to lasting peace.

War: Its Nature, Cause and Cure is a powerful indictment of war as an instrument of policy, exposing war as irrational, morally bankrupt, and a threat to civilization itself. Warfare cannot be controlled by treaties or balances of power - it can only be abolished. The book dismantles the myths of national honour and military necessity, reveals the complicity of science and the press, and challenges the economic greed and imperial ambitions that fuel global conflict.

Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson (1862-1932) was a philosopher, historian and political scientist, who spent most of his career in Cambridge, England. He was instrumental in building an international peace organisation which would later become the League of Nations.

Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson (1862-1932) was a philosopher, historian and political scientist, who spent most of his career in Cambridge, England. He was instrumental in building an international peace organisation which would later become the League of Nations.