Hobbes held that if we knew in advance the worst that war could do to us, that knowledge would be an effective preventative measure. He was writing specifically about civil war, as opposed to international war, because he felt that closeness gives a greater potential to wound. Consider the constructive relations the United States developed with Germany and Japan, beginning immediately after the terrible events of World War II. Then compare that with the overheated emotional reaction you are still bound to get by bringing up the Civil War just about anywhere in the American South. The War between the States is still being fought at home on many levels, almost a century and a half later, while our foreign enemies of fifty years ago are now our friends. Similarly family feuds are more bitter and lasting than neighborly disputes.