War has been more of a positive factor for Human development than a negative

Now moving onto the counterargument. "The atomic bomb was invented in World War II, but in peacetime, atomic bombs are not necessary. " The Atomic bomb may have been an instrument of death but it paved the way to better understandings in nuclear physics for more civilized technologies such as nuclear energy. This is true that a large number of inventions have been for use in War. But a large amount have been gateways to more peaceful inventions. Take the Enigma code breaking machine for an example, this was an invention that can be deemed to be the foundation to computers. Without it, we probably would never have computers or the at least kind we see today. "The living standards might have been improved for the citizens, of that country, but not for the majority of the people being affected" In this case, I was not focusing on the quality of life for the occupied citizens but for those of the Empires homeland and the point was it might not have overall improved lifestyles for the majority, but it raised the bar on what was the best for public quality of living in the homeland. A great example of the positive effects of Empire would be looking at the Roman Empire, the Romans frequently progressed in technological understanding through wars. The injured allowed surgeries that progressed anatomical knowledge at the time, the Roman form of governing helped develop some tribes into more technologically-advanced peoples as they were integrated into the Empire. Should the Roman Empire not have entered any wars with any nation, they would not have spread their technologies through most of Europe and North Africa and the develop of the continent would probably have been a lot slower. As for Scientific Spending, a good example would be World War Two, the Nazi's were keen to develop new technologies including rocket technology (See the V1 and V2 rockets). These may have been for war, yes, but the concept of rockets would go on to be used in other ways like the Apollo Moon Landings. World War Two also saw the ability to mass produce penicillin, without the war, Florey and Chain would not have been funded to develop Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin and this crucial medicine might not have ever been developed into a medicine for the masses. Pressurized Air Cabins in planes, the gyro-powered torch, the Jerrycan, Radar, Synthetic Rubber and Oil, Jet Engines and the Worlds first computers were all products of the Second World War. None of which seem like discoveries that are purely for use in war. It's not just World War Two, the First World War introduced X-Rays into mainstream use, Wrist-watches, artificial meats, zips and pilot communications were all either discovered in WW1 or brought into mass-use. And neither are inventions exclusive to the Great Wars. .. . .. Hospital Conditions were improved during the Crimean War, the Franco-Prussian War caused a rivalry between Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch which caused a surge in knowledge on germs and germ theory, Wars during the 1500's allowed Ambroise Pare to reintroduce ligatures and Wars allowed the Roman Empire to spread Bath houses, Aqueducts and Sewers throughout Europe. These are all examples of innovations that have been created due to or have been put into knowledge of the majority thanks to war. Sources: . http://www.expertreviews.co.uk... . http://www.bbc.co.uk... . http://www.angelfire.com... . http://www.history.com... . https://en.wikipedia.org...