War has Escaped the Battlefield and Now Can, with Modern Guidance Systems on Missiles GMAT Reading Comprehension

Reading Passage Question

War has escaped the battlefield and now can, with modern guidance systems on missiles, touch virtually every square yard of the earth’s surface. It no longer involves only the military profession, but engulfs also entire civilian populations. Nuclear weapons have made major war unthinkable. We are forced, however, to think about the unthinkable because a thermonuclear war could come by accident or miscalculation. We must accept the paradox of maintaining a capacity to fight such a war so that we will never have to do so.

War has also lost most of its utility in achieving the traditional goals of conflict. Control of territory carries with it the obligation to provide subject peoples certain administrative, health, education, and other social services; such obligations far outweigh the benefits of control. If the ruled population is ethnically or racially different from the rulers, tensions and chronic unrest often exist which further reduce the benefits and increase the costs of domination. Large populations no longer necessarily enhance state power and, in the absence of high levels of economic development, can impose severe burdens on food supply, jobs, and the broad range of services expected of modern governments. The noneconomic security reasons for the control of territory have been progressively undermined by the advances of modern technology. The benefits of forcing another nation to surrender its wealth are vastly outweighed by the benefits of persuading that nation to produce and exchange goods and services. In brief, imperialism no longer pays.

Making war has been one of the most persistent of human activities in the 80 centuries since men and women settled in cities and became thereby “civilized,” but the modernization of the past 80 years has fundamentally changed the role and function of war. In pre-modernized societies, successful warfare brought significant material rewards, the most obvious of which were the stored wealth of the defeated. Equally important was human labor—control over people as slaves or levies for the victor’s army—and the productive capacity of agricultural lands and mines. Successful warfare also produced psychic benefits. The removal or destruction of a threat brought a sense of security, and power gained over others created pride and national self-esteem. Warfare was also the most complex, broad-scale and demanding activity of pre-modernized people. The challenges of leading men into battle, organizing, moving and supporting armies, attracted the talents of the most vigorous, enterprising, intelligent and imaginative men in the society. “Warrior” and “statesman” were usually synonymous, and the military was one of the few professions in which an able, ambitious boy of humble origin could rise to the top. In the broader cultural context, war was accepted in the premodernized society as a part of the human condition, a mechanism of change, and an unavoidable, even noble, aspect of life. The excitement and drama of war made it a vital part of literature and legends.

‘War has escaped the battlefield and now can, with modern guidance systems on missiles’ is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.

This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 7 comprehension questions. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for the purpose of testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Questions and Solutions

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) theorize about the role of the warrior-statesman in pre-modernized society
(B) explain the effects of war on both modernized and pre-modernized societies
(C) contrast the value of war in a modernized society with its value in pre-modernized society
(D) discuss the political and economic circumstances which lead to war in pre-modernized societies
(E) examine the influence of the development of nuclear weapons on the possibility of war

2. According to the passage, leaders of pre-modernized society considered war to be

(A) a valid tool of national policy
(B) an immoral act of aggression
(C) economically wasteful and socially unfeasible
(D) restricted in scope to military participants
(E) necessary to spur development of unoccupied lands

3. The author most likely places the word “civilized” in quotation marks (Highlighted) in order to

(A) show dissatisfaction at not having found a better word
(B) acknowledge that the word was borrowed from another source
(C) express irony that war should be a part of civilization
(D) impress upon the reader the tragedy of war
(E) raise a question about the value of war in modernized society

4. The author mentions all of the following as possible reasons for going to war in a pre-modernized society EXCEPT

(A) possibility of material gain
(B) promoting deserving young men to higher positions
(C) potential for increasing the security of the nation
(D) desire to capture productive farming lands
(E) need for workers to fill certain jobs

5. The author is primarily concerned with discussing how

(A) political decisions are reached
(B) economic and social conditions have changed
(C) technology for making war has improved
(D) armed conflict has changed
(E) war lost its value as a policy tool

6. Which of the following best describes the tone of the passage?

(A) Outraged and indignant
(B) Scientific and detached
(C) Humorous and wry
(D) Fearful and alarmed
(E) Concerned and optimistic

7. With which of the following statements about a successfully completed program of nuclear disarmament would the author most likely agree?

(A) Without nuclear weapons, war in modernized society would have the same value it had in pre-modernized society.
(B) In the absence of the danger of nuclear war, national leaders could use powerful conventional weapons to make great gains from war.
(C) Eliminating nuclear weapons is likely to increase the danger of an all-out, worldwide military engagement.
(D) Even without the danger of a nuclear disaster, the costs of winning a war have made armed conflict on a large scale virtually obsolete.
(E) War is caused by aggressive instincts, so if nuclear weapons were no longer available, national leaders would use conventional weapons to reach the same end.

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