Donald Kagan

A conversation with author Donald Kagan about how political situations blow up into armed conflict, and how war-related decisions are made by leaders, as detailed in his book

Professor Kagan talked about his book, "On the Origins of War," published by Doubleday, which examines the common causes of war throughout history. The original idea came from a seminar course for advanced high school students in the 1960s. He discussed the causes of five conflicts: the Peloponnesian ... (more)War between Athens and Sparta, the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage, World Wars One and Two and the Cuban Missile Crisis. He also commented on his opinion that wars are fundamentally about pride, prestige and honor, not other factors such as geography or economics.