There are far worse things than war I'd question that, when you add in all the things that goes along with war, and allthe things that come out of war. For example, when copuntig the cost of the First World War, as well as the slaughtere in the trenches, you really need to add in the rise of Nazism and Fascism, with all that that brought in its wake.

At most it could be argued that in particular circunstances it can appear that the alternative to a particular war might be even worse. And looking back, there are precious few wars where even that can really be claimed.