Why do countries fight?

‐ Competing
for
Territory

Control
over
certain
land
can
mean
a
lot
to
a
country
if
it
is
important
to
its
defence,
national

pride
and
sovereignty.
When
countries
extend
country
over
land,
which
are
not
theirs,
the

countries
claiming
the
land
tend
to
result
in
conflict.
An
example
is,
China
and
India.
When
India

inherited
the
frontier
drawn
by
the
British
after
independence,
China
protested
against
it

mentioning
that
it
had
not
agreed
to
it.
In
late
1950s,
China
took
control
over
some
localities

along
the
frontier
and
was
unwilling
to
negotiate,
claiming
that
the
borders
between
them
were

not
fixed.
Hence,
in
1959,
tensions
between
them
lead
to
a
fight
in
the
Northeast
frontier
agency

and
Aksai
Chin
plateau,
being
that
India
felt
China
occupation
of
more
territories
as
a
violation
of

her
territorial
rights.
War
broke
out
in
1962
but
ended
quickly.


‐ Over
Scarce
Resources

Natural
Resources
are
crucial
for
survival
and
economic
growth,
those
countries
with
less

resources
would
tend
to
use
force
to
gain
more.
An
example
is,
the
conflict
between
Iceland
and

Britain
over
fishing‐grounds.
Iceland
has
little
resources
hence,
it
depended
on
the
fishing

industry
to
survive,
but
when
Europeans
were
overfishing
near
Iceland,
she
felt
her
national

interest
was
being
threatened.
Hence,
she
extended
her
control
over
the
fishing
grounds,
which

the
Britain
refused
to
concede
thereby
causing
tensions,
which
lead
to
the
cutting
off
of

diplomatic
ties
in
1976.
Eventually,
both
signed
an
agreement,
which
ended
the
tension.


‐ Different Ideologies  
Countries
with
different
ideologies
can
lead
to
conflict,
if
they
see
their
ideological
beliefs
being

threatened.
This
is
due
to
having
requirement
to
adapt
and
accept
the
opposition’s
beliefs,
which

would
change
the
way
of
life
in
the
country.
An
example
is,
In
1945,
when
Korea
was
divided
into

the
North
and
South,
where
the
North
was
occupied
by
the
Soviet
Union
and
South
by
the
USA.

The
Soviet
Union
placed
a
communist
government
in
the
North
and
refused
to
unite
with
the

South.
In
1950,
North
Korea
invades
the
South
to
unite
the
whole
country
under
communism;

the
USA,
with
its
allies,
defended
South
Korea
and
counter‐attacked
the
North
Koreans.
In
1951,

China
fearing
its
national
interest
being
threatened
joined
in
to
aid
North
Korea
in
pushing
the

troops
back
to
the
South.
Lastly,
in
1953,
an
agreement
was
signed
to
stop
the
fighting
along
with

the
creation
of
the
demilitarised
zone.