By Ige Asemudara
Writing On War, Prussian military theorist and General, Carl Von Clausewitz posited that war is a continuation of politics by other means. Events of history have since proven that assertion to be valid and true especially when the historical outcomes of wars have dictated political and economic influence and statuses of nations and leaders. Drawing practical lessons from great generals like Fredrick the Great of Prussia and Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France and King of Italy, Clausewitz bequeathed one of the finest seminar treatises on war to the world. In it, he predicted the 20th Century “total war” which manifested as World War I and II in manners almost as described by him.
Since the curtains were drawn on World War I and II, the specters of war, violent social struggle, political and economic contentions as well as revolutions have hunted mankind. Recently, the Russia-Ukraine war, the Israeli-Hamas/Palestinian war as well as the trade war between the U.S., Canada, China and the EU have all conspired to threaten global peace and order.
With a new dimension of crisis breaking out between the U.S., Iran and Israel, many now reasonably fear that a third world war may be in the offing or perhaps, its first shot might have been fired. It is against this backdrop that this article intends to make a brief review of these wars, their implications for global political economy in general and Nigeria in particular.
World War I and II did not only validate the global-scale possibility of wars but also dictated subsequent global political and economic orders in no small measure. For instance, the objective conditions for the success of the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 in Russia were provided by World War I.
As economic crises broke out in Russia especially with the shortage of grains and general food supply, Russian soldiers also got demoralised due to huge casualties suffered, thus paving way for the birth of a Socialist republic as Marx and Engels had predicted.
The world became a bi-polar economic stage. Just as the British industrial revolution was spurred by war and wetted by its gun industry, the United States took an unprecedented benefit of World War I as its raw materials and finished goods were exported to the allied powers. Metal, machines and automobile exportation tripled and food exports rose by 250 per cent for the U.S.
In a similar pattern, the United States became a superpower on the heels of the 2nd World War. For example, her gross national product (GNP) as measured in constant dollars, grew from $88.6 billion in 1939 when the war began (U.S. was in depression at the time) to $135 billion in 1944, a year before the war ended.
War related production soared from a paltry 2 per cent of GNP to 40 per cent in 1943. By the close of World War II, the United States had repositioned and become very dominant as to account for roughly 50 percent of global hard currency reserves. The U.S. experienced an unprecedented industrial boom. It seems the world is traveling that road again!
Apart from the Cuba missile Crisis of 1962, there seems to be no other period that the threat of World War III is more imminent than now. The Russia-Ukraine war which began with Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the U.S.-Iran war which resurfaced in February, 2026 with the U.S. launching coordinated strikes tagged Operation Epic Fury, against Iran, are unprecedented in their effects and implications since World War II.
In a somewhat retaliatory move, Iran awkwardly attacked many other countries in the Middle East especially the GCC states like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and others.
It targeted economic activities in the UAE; the DXB airport and Amazon Web Services data centre in Dubai. It also targeted energy facilities; LNG plant in Qatar, Sitra refinery in Bahrain and oil refineries in Saudi Arabia.
It also struck oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. These have altered economic situations of nations. With contemporaneous crises like the geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China, Sudanese war, Ethiopian conflict, the insurgency and banditry in Nigeria and the trade war between the U.S., Canada, China and the EU, the world is no longer at ease.
To be continued tomorrow.
Asemudara, a lawyer, is the founder of Mission Against Injustice in Nigeria (MAIN).
In this article