Why do wars sometimes end with the winning side “settling” for a peace treaty or money instead of simply capturing the opposing country?
An example of this could be the The Treaty of Versailles
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Often wars do end with the winning country taking territory. The whole purpose behind WW II for Germany was “Lebensraum” or “living space”, they were taking more territory for their citizens.
This issue with taking territory is the people living there. Either they are killed, expelled or become citizens. The first two options aren’t really acceptable in todays world. The people aren’t generally welcomed as new citizens, and don’t want to be citizens of the new country either, so you get continued fighting.
In the past the new territory could be taken as a colony, and then the winning country would get the economic benefits but not have to take on new citizens. This is also no longer seen as ‘ok’.
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