Will Mankind Ever Stop Fighting?

Hope might be "the thing with feathers," according to poet Emily Dickinson, but when it comes to war, hope continues to be grounded. Consider the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928. Created in the aftermath of the worst fighting the world had ever seen -- World War I -- the international agreement was meant to be a vow by its signatories to never again wage war and only engage in battle as an act of self-defense. In fact, the document made war illegal, and, in time, almost every developed country signed it. But there was no way to enforce the agreement or truly define the limits of "self-defense," and within a short time, minor incidents around the globe made it clear that the deal had no teeth. World War II began only 11 years later, in 1939.

Warring madness:

• Motorized ambulances were introduced during World War I to help injured soldiers; one of the first drivers was Walt Disney.
• More than 70 years after the end of World War II, at least 2,000 tons of unexploded bombs are still being found in Germany every year.
• More U.S. soldiers died from the "Spanish" flu during World War I than were killed on the battlefield.