Man,
like all animals, is fundamentally a predator, with the basic instincts of
that species, namely, an urge to kill. The
seminal difference between other creatures in the animal kingdom and the supreme
animal-man-is the motive provoking the urge.
Whereas
baser predatory animal would like to only fulfill the biological requirement
of food, man will kill for all other reasons, save for food.
With
such an inherent makeup, is it surprising that the history of man is a history
of warfare, each bloodier than the last?
A
study of warfare will reveal that the root cause, if generalized, has been
economic, that is, the desire of kings, rulers and monarchs to gain wealth
for their people. There are, of course, such exceptions as the
rather lengthy war between Sparta and Troy, for the face that launched a thousand
ships.
Peace and Prosperity
Mankind
has also known peace and when peace prevailed in any particular domain, that
kingdom prospered in all aspects of human existence.
This prosperity improved the quality of life, as it allowed the arts
to flourish.
Every
kingdom which prospered through peace, however, has attained that state by
vanquishing its neighbours and thus had to constantly hold intact, by military
means, its prosperity and peace.
Inevitably,
in time, these empires succumbed to onslaughts and fell; whether it was Mauryas
and Guptas in our own Bharat, or the Romans, Greeks or Ottomans elsewhere.
With
the industrial revolution in the mid-19th century, man found the
key to the Pandora’s box and with great dexterity applied his innate predatory
instinct towards producing weapons of destruction.
Soon
he came to possess guns, ships and aircraft and the ferocity of wars increased
by several orders of magnitude. And
there occurred another development… the recognition that the sea could now
be better utilized to conduct economic and trading activities and, if need
be, to strangle the trade of an adversary.
The concept of sea power was thus born.
The
First World War, although triggered by the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand
at Sarajevo, was principally an economic war.
European, factories and industries spawned out of the industrial revolution,
required both raw materials and markets.
The
same urge to keep the industry at home producing, was to later encourage the
creation of the British Empire….an empire ironically created by what Napoleon
called, “a nation of shopkeepers”.
The
First World War saw massive destruction and the awesome power of the weapons
of mass destruction, but man could not or perhaps did not see the writing
on the wall. Inexorably, therefore, he plunged into another
war of worldwide proportions within a scant two decades. Here too, the compulsion was an economic one….that
of Germany.
Peace and Sea Power
The
close of the Second World War brought home more vividly than ever before,
that For mankind there can be only one more round.
For the last four decades and more, therefore, the world has seen peace(?) of a variety. But this is a peace against total destruction, not against total
destruction, not against war because these preceding decades have seen over
250 regional conflicts in which the toll of human lives and shattered dreams
have been in excess of both the world wars put together.
Painfully,
therefore the world has learned that peace in its true sense
is a laudable goal and must be strived for. It is an end to be achieved with all the means at out disposal.
Sea
power, an enunciated in Mahanian Theory, has six constituents, namely geographical
location [meaning a coastline giving easy access to the sea]; extent of territory,
ports and harbours; shipbuilding and industrial capability, population and
maritime tradition [character of people/government].
From these flow
the triad on which sea power would rest. These are the strength element which consists of naval forces, the
security element which is bases and shipbuilding infrastructure, and the transport
element consisting of commercial activities and merchant shipping.
Acknowledged present
day naval thinkers like Admiral Gorshkov also contributed to this philosophy.
He has in fact, suggested that oceanography and the fishing industry
could also be included in the elements of sea power.
By all accounts, therefore, sea power includes not only one warlike
element, i.e., naval forces, but also a host of other elements which signify
peace and interactive harmony between world communities i.e., commerce, fishing,
oceanography, meteorology and industrial raw material extraction.
Sea
power, in its totality, is today the linchpin of the strategic posture of
both superpowers and it has the unique distinction of being able to produce
both goodwill and deterrence.
The cost of war
today is astronomical. On a planet
where more than one half of the population groans under oppressive poverty
and want the sight of a few million dollars going up in the flash of precision-guided
munitions would be considered absurd, if it was not so current.
We,
the mankind of this plane Earth, know that it is time to cease such macho
antics and instead divert those millions towards bolstering peace and progress….but
who, as they say, will bell the cat?
The
sea, like the sun, is the source of life on Earth. It is bountiful and it is selfless. It is bountiful and it is selfless. It is there for the taking, to be used or misused, as dictated by
our conscience. And it has one incomparable
quality…that of continuity.
Medium of Trade
Get
into the seas anywhere and you could travel all over the world without treading
on any territorial toes. It has, for
years together, provided us a medium to conduct international trade.
In the modern
world, the monopolar requirement for raw materials and markets do not propel
the economies of nations. Today, the
unparalleled economic potential of land masses has been unlocked by newer
and better technologies and modes of transport.
At
sea, similarly, the wealth of the oceans and their vast potential have been
recognized. Inter-nation economic
activity is characterized by multidependent trade pacts and agreements and
an inter linking of financial structures.
Thus, we have a situation where people are prospering due to varied
economic activity, in which each aspect is inter-related to form a whole.
Therefore, the
security and transport elements of the sea power triad have gained ascendancy. These elements promote interaction among world
communities and through this, a better understanding of each other.
The third leg
of the sea power triad, i.e., the strength element consisting of Naval Forces
can also complement this, since it can as easily project goodwill.
A Paramount Need
The political
compulsions of nation states in today’s multi-polar world have erected barriers
between peoples of the world. These
barriers have resulted in either a breakdown of free communication or active
disinformation and, consequently, a lack of sufficient knowledge and trust
of each other.
In
effect, it has introduced an element of the unknown.
The elements forming the sea power triad are ideally suited to generate
intermixing and interaction among people of different countries and communities
and in doing so, removing or at least reducing that element of the unknown.
It
would be naïve for anyone to believe that a utopia where there is no war at
all will be achieved, but equally it would be reckless for anyone to believe
that short of nuclear war the world can conduct business as usual, with a
war every other month.
The lethality
of conventional munitions, the growing propensity for using chemical weapons
and the deep suspicions existing on the international stage can leave no doubt
that war must become a dying business [pun intended]. The paramount need of the hour is to use sea
power to foster peace.