What have I learned from writing my first novel

In writing my novel, The Mountains We Carry, I came to realize the magnitude of pain, sorrow, deprivation, and loss war can have on people. In my extensive research about the Anfal genocides and numerous interviews with victims and their families, as well as studying the lives of perpetrators of crimes of genocides, I came to the conclusion that in wars, no one wins. Everyone loses something during war. The victims may lose lives, homes, land, belongings, and happiness. On the other hand, the oppressors' loss could even be of a bigger magnitude. A lot of the loss of war can't be felt until years later.