Peace prevails in polemology
Harvinder Khetal
Bathed in war history, August 2015, has been an insight into polemology (pronounced as pol-ae-mology). Polemology (Greek polemos war + English ology study) is the study of war.
At home, stories of valour of the 1965 India-Pakistan war were retold by bravehearts to mark its golden jubilee. The military might and strategy came to fore as veterans recounted with precision the tales of attack and capture. The remnant of that war continued to play out in the form of efforts to hold NSA-level talks between the two neighbouring foes. As the dialogue ultimately collapsed on August 22, it was a peek into the political and diplomatic dimensions of conflict.
A few days earlier, on July 26, which was the 16th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Divas, the social aspect of war was revealed with the country remembering and honouring its heroes and their families. In the 1999 Kargil war, India successfully took command of the high outposts in the Kargil-Dras sector which had been lost to Pakistani intruders.
Outside, the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II showed how when Emperor Hirohito surrendered on August 15, 1945, just days after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9), Japan had plenty to be sorry about. Japan’s imperial army had committed brutal acts that led to its leaders being tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Tokyo military leaders were accused of perpetrating mass murder, rape, pillage, brigandage, torture and other barbaric cruelties upon the helpless civilian population of the over-run countries. Prime ministers over the years have voiced remorse for Japan’s wartime actions, signaling the continuance of peace since then. However, the unforgettable images of bayoneted babies and atomic bomb mayhem continue to prey on minds, portraying the psychological effect of battles.
In the Gulf region, after years of negotiations and sanctions, Iran promised to dismantle a considerable amount of its nuclear infrastructure in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. Following the peace deal, the British embassy was reopened in Tehran on August 23. While the trust deficit exists, the rapprochement proves how diplomacy can press the levers of trade and economics to rebuild relations.
A little further, in Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State cauldron kept boiling with the USA and allies engaging in strikes against the militants.
As a student of polemology, my analysis of the military, diplomatic, philosophical, social, political, psychological and economic dimensions of human conflict is that finally, it is peace that prevails, nay peace must prevail. Significant warfare issues of defence policy, strategic planning, logistics and operations are all aimed at and lead to amity. In fact, peace wins even in times of war.
My search to explain why war will never win against peace ends in two towns of Poland hit by World War II: Auschwitz (pronounced as owsh-vits) and Warsaw.
Auschwitz is the infamous concentration camp in Poland established by the German Nazis, holding sometimes more than 1,10,000 prisoners at a time. It symbolises the horrors of war. At least 11 lakh prisoners died at Auschwitz, around 90 per cent of them Jewish. Many of those not killed in the gas chambers died of starvation, forced labour, disease, execution and medical experiments.
During the same World War II period, in nearby Warsaw, there was this brave and kind lady, Irena Sendler, who signifies peace. She died in 2008, aged 98.
Irena Sendler was a Polish nurse and social worker. She was working in the Warsaw ghetto as a sewer specialist. She smuggled infants out in her tool box and the bigger children in a sack. She had a dog that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The barking also covered the infants’ noises.
She managed to save 2,500 children. After the war, she tried to locate the parents to reunite the families. But, most of them had been gassed. She helped place the children in foster family homes or get adopted.
The German occupiers eventually discovered her activities and she was arrested, tortured and sentenced to death, but she managed to evade execution. Late in life, she was awarded Poland’s highest honour for her wartime humanitarian efforts.
“Peace is the only battle worth waging,” philosophises Albert Camus rightly.
hkhetal@gmail.com
