Origins of War

In ancient times, hunter-gatherers commonly called themselves "the people." This suggests that they considered outsiders not quite people. They had no science to draw from in classifying who was human and who was not, or what was human. Outsiders could be evil spirits, or at least intent on doing evil. The intentions of outsiders were suspect. The outsiders might raid, taking what little food they had stored or a woman or child. The ancient world was not yet well tied together by communications. Different societies did not know one another and had not worked out agreements. And where neighbors knew neighbors, disrespect was likely. "The people" were not inclined to respect the differences of others.

Hunter-gatherers were untroubled by grandiose questions about how things could or should be. They were concerned about how things were. They had gods that performed magic, and evil spirits were about. The gods had not filled the minds of different peoples with the same rules. A society could defend itself from violence only by a counter violence. Ancient tribal societies, especially nomadic societies, which frequently came upon other societies, were warrior societies. Men wanted to be good at warfare to be respected.

Men exercised their skills as warriors by raiding. Beyond raiding, battles among tribal people were fought. People have gone to war believing that sickness of disease among them was caused by a member or members of another society having cast an evil spell on them. Or tribal people went to war merely because two societies of strangers had come upon one another. We have knowledge of a tribe coming upon another tribe in 19th century Eastern Africa, the men of each side in ranks, posturing with their weapons and making threatening gestures, the women watching from the sidelines, cheering them on.

The nature of war changed when tribes on the move saw advantage in holding ground and exploiting those they came upon - a change from raiding to conquest. With this, empire was born. A local ruler, if he survived conquest, might become a tool of the conqueror, collecting taxes and controlling the locals for the conquerors.