Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Was Covid-19 the Real World War 3? Lessons from History and Einstein’s Warning

According to Wikipedia, war was defined as a period of military conflict between nations or groups of people, usually involving weapons and armies. Yet, when the Covid-19 pandemic struck, I could not help but think: weren’t we already in World War 3, only this time our common enemy was not another nation but a virus?

So, I dug deeper. A world war was described as a war involving many nations across the globe, usually over an ideal. The term itself first appeared in 1914, when German biologist Ernst Haeckel declared that the “European War” would become the first world war in the true sense of the word.

Traditionally, people considered the Third World War as something nuclear—a catastrophic battle following World War II. Even Albert Einstein, in 1947, famously remarked: “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” Einstein, though a lifelong pacifist, admitted that force could sometimes be justified when survival was at stake.

But here was the question that struck me: what if our enemies were not only human? Couldn’t diseases, pandemics, and plagues be seen as global wars in their own right? If so, Covid-19 might have been the fiercest one yet.

Financially, history showed the toll of wars clearly. World War I cost about $208 billion and left the world in depression. World War II cost $4.1 trillion for the United States alone. Yet, economists later estimated that Covid-19 cost the world between $8.1 and $15.8 trillion—more than both world wars combined. And unlike traditional wars, it was fought in hospitals, homes, and laboratories, not battlefields.

If the world wars created the United Nations to safeguard peace, should not Covid-19 have birthed an equally powerful system to safeguard health? Scientists warned that two new viruses on average jumped from animals to humans every year, leading to outbreaks like HIV, SARS, MERS, H1N1, and finally SARS-CoV-2. Without preparation, history was bound to repeat itself.

Some progress was made: for instance, China’s ban on the wildlife trade was a step in the right direction. Yet, many experts—including Les Kaufman of Boston University—argued that governments needed to invest far more in prevention and global cooperation.

Looking back, the pandemic was indeed a war—a war without bombs, but with trillions lost and millions of lives changed. Whether we called it World War 3 or not, its lessons remained: humanity could not afford to treat such threats lightly again.

And just as Einstein’s words outlived him, perhaps Covid-19’s shadow should live on too—not in fear, but as a reminder that global survival often depends not on weapons, but on unity, foresight, and science


Call to Action (CTA):
đź’ˇ If you enjoyed this reflection, explore more of my writings at The Skywatcher’s Journal or join me on YouTube for video storytelling. Let’s keep the conversation alive—because the next “war” may not come with guns, but it will still demand our attention.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments by other writers do not reflect john Lerrato's views. Writer only requests we add comments or discussions that try to make this world better.

If Animals Had One Wish: Cosmic Humor, AI Threats, and Divine Plans | Divine Matrix

Can you imagine a world where animals were suddenly granted one wish by some Superior Being? Yep—no strings attached, just a single wish ...