War has been good for man

That's the claim of Ian Morris, a professor at Stanford and author of War! What Is it Good For?. He bases his argument on three points:

• by fighting wars, people have created larger, more organized societies that have reduced the risk that their members will die violently.

• while war is the worst imaginable way to create larger, more peaceful societies, it is pretty much the only way humans have found. 

• as well as making people safer, the larger societies created by war have also—again, over the long run—made us richer. 

By creating larger societies, stronger governments, and greater security, war has enriched the world.

When we put these three claims together, only one conclusion is possible. War has produced bigger societies, ruled by stronger governments, which have imposed peace and created the preconditions for prosperity.