“War is atrocity; war is a method of savage violence.”

— Kirby Page

Must We Go to War? (1937)

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Kirby Page 248

American clergyman 1890–1957

Kirby Page (1890–1957) American clergyman

Must We Go to War? (1937)

“But the Second World War introduced total war, unprincipled in method, unlimited in violence, and indiscriminate in victims.”

Bernard Lown (1921–2021) American cardiologist developer of the DC defibrillator and the cardioverter, as well as a recipient of the…

A Prescription for Hope (1985)
Context: The hope of a benevolent civilization was shattered in the blood-soaked trenches of the First World War. The "war to end all wars" claimed sixteen million lives, and left embers which kindled an even more catastrophic conflagration.
Over the sorry course of 5,000 years of endless conflicts, some limits had been set on human savagery. Moral safeguards proscribed killing unarmed civilians and health workers, poisoning drinking waters, spreading infection among children and the disabled, and burning defenseless cities. But the Second World War introduced total war, unprincipled in method, unlimited in violence, and indiscriminate in victims. The ovens of Auschwitz and the atomic incineration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki inscribed a still darker chapter in the chronicle of human brutality. The prolonged agony which left 50 million dead did not provide an enduring basis for an armistice to barbarism. On the contrary, arsenals soon burgeoned with genocidal weapons equivalent to many thousands of World War II's.
The advent of the nuclear age posed an unprecedented question: not whether war would exact yet more lives but whether war would preclude human existence altogether.

“The kind of slaughter and violence that we have seen in this war, was in my experience very rare during the Russo-Japanese war. In modern war, the whole people are mobilized. Hence the majority of the troops correspond to the people as a whole. An army in which scandals and atrocities occur in great numbers, must surely reflect a decline in public morality?”

Shunroku Hata (1879–1962) Japanese general

Quoted in "Singapore, 1941-1942" - Page 269 - by Louis Allen - History - 1993

“The Essence of War is Violence. Moderation in War is Imbecility.”

John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher (1841–1920) Royal Navy admiral of the fleet

p. 75. https://archive.org/stream/cu31924027924509#page/n104/mode/1up
Records (1919) https://archive.org/stream/cu31924027924509#page/n0/mode/1up

“Even after proper discount is made for false propaganda, the evidence is indisputable that every invading army perpetrates atrocity, so much so that war may correctly be defined as atrocity. Reference to various standard dictionaries reveals the following definition of atrocity: "A deed of violence or savagery; great cruelty or reckless wickedness; extreme cruelty; enormous wickedness."”

Kirby Page (1890–1957) American clergyman

Must We Go to War? (1937)

“Hate begets hate, violence engenders violence, hypocrisy is answered by hypocrisy, war generates war, and love creates love.”

Pitirim Sorokin (1889–1968) American sociologist

Source: The Ways and Power of Love (1954), p. xi

“The war method includes falsehood as an integral part. Truth is indeed a casualty of war.”

Kirby Page (1890–1957) American clergyman

Must We Go to War? (1937)

“The humanising of war? You might as well talk about the humanizing of Hell!…… The essence of war is violence! Moderation in war is imbecility!…..”

John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher (1841–1920) Royal Navy admiral of the fleet

At the 1st Hague Peace Conference, May 1899
Quoted in Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=pEf98V-dbwoC&pg=PA431&lpg=PA431&dq=jacky+fisher+moderation+in+war+imbecility&source=bl&ots=UsLopgdefe&sig=FA9GN8mdf4T3qRbja8zCWvNWlzk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj9quGN6abTAhWCJMAKHds2C2cQ6AEISTAH#v=onepage&q&f=false(1991), Robert K. Massie, p. 431.
This originated from the notes of the journalist W.T. Stead, quoted in full in Fisher of Kilverstone (1973), Ruddock F. Mackay, Clarendon Press, p. 223.
Context: The humanising of war? You might as well talk about the humanizing of Hell!...... The essence of war is violence! Moderation in war is imbecility!..... I am not for war, I am for peace! That is why I am for a supreme Navy....... The supremacy of the British Navy is the best security for peace in the world...... If you rub it in both at home and abroad that you are ready for instant war..... and intend to be first in and hit your enemy in the belly and kick him when he is down and boil your prisoners in oil (if you take any), and torture his women and children, then people will keep clear of you.

“The greatest threat to the war on terrorism isn't the Islamic insurgency — our military can handle the savages. It's traitorous liberals trying to lose the war at home.”

Ann Coulter (1961) author, political commentator

"When Will NYT Reveal One of al Qaeda's Secret Programs?" http://humanevents.com/2006/06/28/when-will-nyt-reveal-one-of-al-qaedas-secret-programs/ (28 June 2006).
2006

“Democratic freedom is a method of nonviolence and an antidote to war.”

Rudolph Rummel (1932–2014) American academic

Source: The Blue Book of Freedom: Ending Famine, Poverty, Democide, and War (2007), p.16

“War is atrocity; war is a method of savage violence.”

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Kirby Page 248

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