War and Peace

War and Peace: The Final Contest Between Empire and Modern Civilization

Peter Lee

The world is once again undergoing a profound transformation — a once-in-a-century upheaval whose defining theme is the struggle between war and peace.

Those who plan wars remain trapped in the mentality of medieval empires. They seek to expand territory through conquest, hoping that blood and force will confer legitimacy. On the other side stand the defenders of peace — nations striving to create a fairer, more harmonious, and sustainable world. In truth, today’s conflict between war and peace is the final contest between imperial ambition and modern civilization.

Most developed nations now represent the forces of peace. The United States, Europe, Japan, and other advanced societies have evolved into mature welfare states guided by moral restraint and public accountability. In such societies, war is not easily waged: it must avoid civilian harm, protect non-combatants, and answer to a vigilant public. These moral constraints make conflict costly and politically perilous.

Moreover, the humanitarian crises that follow — refugees, displacement, and economic collapse — weigh heavily on any modern government. The more civilized a nation becomes, the more deeply it values peace. By contrast, some underdeveloped regimes remain mired in imperial nostalgia. Unrestrained by ethics or international opinion, they still view territorial expansion as a symbol of national revival. Such states are the principal architects of today’s wars.

Yet history has always favored progress. The forces of peace will ultimately prevail.

Modern warfare has changed in its very essence: it is no longer merely a clash of armies, but a test of systems and governance. Modern democracies possess overwhelming advantages in technology, innovation, and organization. Nearly all major scientific breakthroughs of recent decades have originated in open societies. And on the modern battlefield, technology is often decisive. Israel’s survival in the Middle East depends on its technological edge; the course of the Russia-Ukraine war is shaped by American precision weapons such as the Tomahawk missile. The technological supremacy of modern systems ensures that the cause of peace remains resilient.

Peaceful nations also share a common moral foundation — freedom, law, human dignity, and reason — which unites them into a powerful alliance. Empires, however, lack shared values; their coalitions rest on temporary interests and mutual suspicion. Once those interests diverge, their alliances collapse. The coalition of peace is held together by conviction; the coalition of war by fear and greed. One is durable, the other fragile. This, too, is why peace will prevail.

Even within authoritarian empires, ordinary citizens are emerging as voices for peace. The internet has exposed them to the realities of freedom and prosperity abroad, deepening their desire for change. Autocrats may still conscript the young and send them to the front lines, but modern warfare now punishes those who start it. Precision-guided weapons can bypass layers of defense to strike command centers directly. The architects of war are no longer safe behind walls or rhetoric — one accurate strike can end a war more swiftly than ever before. Technology has made justice faster, sharper, and more inevitable.

In the end, the struggle between war and peace is more than a geopolitical contest. It is a civilizational choice — between the decaying dreams of empire and the open vision of modernity.

And history’s verdict is already clear:

Peace will prevail. Modern civilization will endure.