[...] Twain worried that combat was becoming ever more modernly deadly. He grimly observed,
“Cain did his murder with a club; the Hebrews did their murders with javelins and swords; the Greeks and Romans added protective armor and the fine arts of military organization and generalship; the Christian has added guns and gunpowder.”
Twain knew the future of war would bring new innovations, even if he could not exactly envision aerial warfare, atomic bombs, napalm, and guided missiles.
But if the “weapons of slaughter” are forever changing, Twain observed that one aspect of war remains forever unchanged: its immorality.
“Cain did his murder with a club; the Hebrews did their murders with javelins and swords; the Greeks and Romans added protective armor and the fine arts of military organization and generalship; the Christian has added guns and gunpowder.”
Twain knew the future of war would bring new innovations, even if he could not exactly envision aerial warfare, atomic bombs, napalm, and guided missiles.
But if the “weapons of slaughter” are forever changing, Twain observed that one aspect of war remains forever unchanged: its immorality.
