What was Voltaire's view of WAR in his work, Dictionary of Philosophy?

[AsANDJs]

and why do you say so? I need proofs because I'll be reporting this tomorrow.. hehehhe

[redunicorn]

I found these quotes for you. The sources are listed for you.

Voltaire treated war as the most depraved of human acts, and in this he was vastly different from the church.

In one of his most bitterly sarcastic passages, Voltaire "praises" war as a divine gift which unites all the worst evils, causing those who create it to be adored as gods on earth. The whole article drips with irony. When he comments on p. 232 that people today do not fight wars for such stupid causes as the ancient Romans, he is being ironic. What does he say on p. 232 is a common cause for princes going to war (hint: see Shakespeare's Henry V)? What does he say should happen before a king should be allowed to become the ruler over a people? What relationship does he say the Church has to war (p. 233)? What distinction does he make between natural and artificial religion? When he contrasts "love" with war, he of course means sex. Does he believe war can be abolished?

[vitraux]

I don't recall war being in the 1764 version...as it may, Francois-Marie Arouet's ideas point more to enlightenment, education and equality. "Enlightened Despotisim" was his idea of the key to progress and change, not war.