What political commentary is addressed in Gulliver's Travels through the Lilliputians' wars?

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The wars among the Lilliputians in "Gulliver's Travels" serve to illustrate the absurdity and futility of conflict over trivial matters. The Lilliputians engage in a prolonged and destructive conflict over a petty disagreement regarding the proper way to open eggs, reflecting how real-world wars can often stem from similarly insignificant issues among humans. This emphasis on the ridiculousness of their motives critiques the often arbitrary nature of geopolitical conflicts, showing that the consequences of war can lead to extreme suffering and chaos, despite the underlying trivialities of the grievances involved. Swift uses this depiction to comment on the senselessness of war and to provoke readers to think critically about the reasons behind real-world conflicts, encouraging an understanding of the irrational and disproportionate consequences that arise from them.

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