This article was originally published by Wanjiru Njoya at The Mises Institute.
Property rights, the division of labor, and voluntary exchange are the foundation of civilization. In Liberalism: The Classical Tradition, Ludwig von Mises explains why these doctrines are essential to civilization, emphasizing that peace is a prerequisite for the division of labor and human cooperation. When the threat of war constantly hangs over a society, people no longer specialize in their most productive skills and abilities. Instead, they devote all their efforts to becoming self-sufficient in everything they need to survive, as they have no expectation of being able to trade with their foes for anything they might need. Mises therefore highlights “the incompatibility between war and the division of labor.”
This does not mean that we must all be pacifists—on the contrary, Mises distinguishes wars of aggression from self-defense, arguing that a nation under attack “must offer resistance and do everything to ward off the onslaught.” He adds that, “Heroic deeds performed in such a war by those fighting for their freedom and their lives are entirely praiseworthy, and one rightly extols the manliness and courage of such fighters.” He gives the example of the Spartan king, Leonidas, who is a hero, not just because he fought valiantly, but because he fought in defense: “Even Leonidas would not be worthy of the esteem in which we hold him if he had fallen, not as the defender of his homeland, but as the leader of an invading army intent on robbing a peaceful people of its freedom and possessions.”
In that light, the important question in evaluating any war is whether it was fought in aggression or in defense. That is not always easy to ascertain in practice. The events surrounding the crisis at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in 1861 are a compelling illustration of the difficulty in assigning responsibility
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