Shakespeare commented on pointless warfare

 From Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 4:

Enter Hamlet, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and others.

HAMLET Good sir, whose powers are these?
CAPTAIN They are of Norway, sir.
HAMLET How purposed, sir, I pray you?
CAPTAIN Against some part of Poland.
HAMLET Who commands them, sir?
CAPTAIN 
The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras.
HAMLET 
Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,
Or for some frontier?
CAPTAIN 
Truly to speak, and with no addition,
We go to gain a little patch of ground
That hath in it no profit but the name.
To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;
Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole
A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.
HAMLET 
Why, then, the Polack never will defend it.
CAPTAIN 
Yes, it is already garrisoned.
HAMLET 
Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats
Will not debate the question of this straw.
This is th’ impostume of much wealth and peace,
That inward breaks and shows no cause without
Why the man dies.—I humbly thank you, sir.