The United States, in both World War I and World War II. Those two wars made our empire.
And how has that whole "empire" thing worked out for us. You may be right here, but I think people greatly underestimate the costs that even the losers have to pay. How many lives did we lose in WW2 exactly? How much did the Manhattan Project cost us, not just in monetary cost but in the opportunity cost of all those brilliant scientists who could have been working on something more productive to mankind? How do you measure the loss in "quality of life" as the entire nation spent four years in rationing because we needed everything "for the war"?
Moreover, a war only takes one side to start, unlike a contract, which requires two! You do not need two parties to think war is the best resolution to their problems, only one!
I disagree. One side can always surrender. Microsoft may desire to go to war with Apple over a patent infringement. Apple can always say, "You know what, it would cost us a LOT more to fight Microsoft than it would to just go ahead and stop using their stupid little patent" and give in to their demands. That's why when people are mugged, they typically just hand over their wallets. The cost of attempting to resist the mugger is deemed to be higher than the cost of giving in to his demands.
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SmartMuffin - Because anything less would be uncivilized - http://img.imgcake.com/smartmuffin/barkleyjpgde.jpg
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