Editing War (section)

==History==
{{Main|Military history}}Anthropologists disagree about whether warfare was common throughout human prehistory, or whether it was a more recent development, following the invention of agriculture or organised states.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Gat |first=Azar |author-link=Azar Gat |date=2015-05-06 |title=Proving communal warfare among hunter-gatherers: The quasi-rousseauan error |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/evan.21446 |journal=Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews |language=en |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=111–126 |doi=10.1002/evan.21446 |pmid=26081116 |issn=1060-1538}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Allen |first1=Mark W. |last2=Bettinger |first2=Robert Lawrence |last3=Codding |first3=Brian F. |last4=Jones |first4=Terry L. |last5=Schwitalla |first5=Al W. |date=2016-10-25 |title=Resource scarcity drives lethal aggression among prehistoric hunter-gatherers in central California |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=113 |issue=43 |pages=12120–12125 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1607996113 |doi-access=free |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=5087046 |pmid=27790997|bibcode=2016PNAS..11312120A }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Haas |first1=Jonathan |title=The Prehistory of Warfare: Misled by Ethnography |date=2013-04-12 |work=War, Peace, and Human Nature |pages=168–190 |editor-last=Fry |editor-first=Douglas P. |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/12748/chapter/162858373 |access-date=2024-12-22 |edition=1 |publisher=Oxford University PressNew York |language=en |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199858996.003.0010 |isbn=978-0-19-985899-6 |last2=Piscitelli |first2=Matthew}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kissel |first1=Marc |last2=Kim |first2=Nam C. |date=January 2019 |title=The emergence of human warfare: Current perspectives |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.23751 |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |language=en |volume=168 |issue=S67 |pages=141–163 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.23751 |pmid=30575025 |issn=0002-9483}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Meijer |first=Hugo |date=September 2024 |title=The Origins of War: A Global Archaeological Review |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12110-024-09477-3 |journal=Human Nature |language=en |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=225–288 |doi=10.1007/s12110-024-09477-3 |pmid=39638956 |issn=1045-6767}}</ref> It is difficult to determine whether warfare occurred during the [[Paleolithic]] due to the sparseness of known remains. Some sources claim that most Middle and Upper Paleolithic societies were possibly fundamentally [[egalitarianism|egalitarian]]<ref>{{cite book|author=McClellan |title=Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction |location=Baltimore |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8018-8360-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC |pages=6–12}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Leften Stavros |last=Stavrianos |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MKhe6qNva10C&q=paleolithic+society |title=A Global History from Prehistory to the Present |location=New Jersey |publisher=[[Prentice Hall]] |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-13-357005-2 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=MKhe6qNva10C&q=paleolithic+society 9–13]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Anthropology |last1=Miller |first1=Barbra |first2=Bernard |last2=Wood |first3=Andrew |last3=Balansky |first4=Julio |last4=Mercader |first5=Melissa |last5=Panger |year=2006 |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |location=Boston |isbn=978-0-205-32024-0 |page=768}}</ref><ref>Christopher Boehm (1999) [https://books.google.com/books?id=ljxS8gUlgqgC&dq=Paleolithic&pg=PA197 "Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior" p. 198] Harvard University Press</ref> and may have rarely or never engaged in organized violence between groups (i.e. war).<ref>{{cite book |title=Anthropology |last1=Miller |first1=Barbra |first2=Bernard |last2=Wood |first3=Andrew |last3=Balansky |first4=Julio |last4=Mercader |first5=Melissa |last5=Panger |year=2006 |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |location=Boston |isbn=978-0-205-32024-0 |page=768}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=R. Dale |last=Gutrie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3u6JNwMyMCEC&q=Paleolithic+religions&pg=PA428 |title=The Nature of Paleolithic art |location=Chicago |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-226-31126-5}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=3u6JNwMyMCEC&dq=Paleolithic+religions&pg=PA428 pp. 420-22]</ref><ref name="Barbara Ehrenreich">{{cite book |first=Barbara |last=Ehrenreich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nFuDltu509YC |title=Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War |location=London |publisher=Macmillan |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-8050-5787-4}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=nFuDltu509YC p. 123]</ref><ref name="Kelly">{{cite journal |last=Kelly |first=Raymond |title=The evolution of lethal intergroup violence |doi=10.1073/pnas.0505955102 |journal=[[PNAS]]|volume=102 |date=October 2005 |pmid=16129826 |issue=43 |pmc=1266108 |pages=15294–98 |bibcode=2005PNAS..10215294K |doi-access=free}}</ref> Evidence of violent conflict appears to increase during the [[Mesolithic]] period, from around 10,000 years ago onwards.<ref name=":3" /> 

[[Raymond Case Kelly]], a cultural anthropologist and ethnologist from the US, claimed that before 400,000 years ago, groups of people clashed like groups of chimpanzees, however, later they preferred "positive and peaceful social relations between neighboring groups, such as joint hunting, trading, and courtship."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zagorski |first1=Nick |title=Profile of Raymond C. Kelly |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=2005 |volume=102 |issue=51 |pages=18249–18251 |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |doi=10.1073/pnas.0506968102 |doi-access=free |pmid=16352723 |pmc=1317930 }}</ref> In his book "Warless Societies and the Origin of War" he explores the origins of modern wars and states that high surplus product encourages conflict, so "raiding often begins in the richest environments".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=V Flannery |first1=Kent |last2=Marcus |first2=Joyce |title=The origin of war: New 14C dates from ancient Mexico |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |date=2003 |volume=100 |issue=20 |pages=11801–11805 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1934526100 |doi-access=free |pmid=14500785 |pmc=208841 }}</ref>  
 
In ''[[War Before Civilization]]'', [[Lawrence H. Keeley]], a professor at the [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign|University of Illinois]], says approximately 90–95% of known societies throughout history engaged in at least occasional warfare,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://brneurosci.org/reviews/war.html |title=Review: War Before Civilization |publisher=Brneurosci.org |date=4 September 2006 |access-date=2011-01-24 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121021158/http://brneurosci.org/reviews/war.html |archive-date=21 November 2010}}</ref> and many fought constantly.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/HG04Aa02.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060706042537/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/HG04Aa02.html|url-status=unfit|archive-date=6 July 2006|title=The fraud of primitive authenticity|last=Spengler|date=4 July 2006|work=Asia Times Online|access-date=2009-06-08}}</ref> Keeley describes several styles of primitive combat such as small [[Raid (military)|raid]]s, large raids, and [[massacre]]s. All of these forms of warfare were used by primitive societies, a finding supported by other researchers.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Martin |editor-first1=Debra L. |editor-first2=Ryan P. |editor-last2=Harrod |editor-first3=Ventura R. |editor-last3=Pérez |date=2012 |title=The Bioarchaeology of Violence |location=Gainesville |publisher=University Press of Florida |url=http://www.upf.com/book.asp?id=MARTI002 |access-date=10 January 2013 |archive-date=4 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104230028/http://upf.com/book.asp?id=MARTI002 |url-status=live }}</ref> Keeley explains that early war raids were not well organized, as the participants did not have any formal training. Scarcity of resources meant [[defensive works]] were not a cost-effective way to protect the society against enemy raids.<ref name="Keeley page 55">Keeley, Lawrence H: ''War Before Civilization: The Myth of the Peaceful Savage''. p. 55.</ref> [[William Rubinstein]] wrote "Pre-literate societies, even those organized in a relatively advanced way, were renowned for their studied cruelty.'"<ref>{{cite book|author=W. D. Rubinstein|title=Genocide: A History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMMAk4VwLLwC&pg=PA22|access-date=31 May 2012|year=2004|publisher=Pearson Longman|isbn=978-0-582-50601-5|pages=22|archive-date=8 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130808075142/http://books.google.com/books?id=nMMAk4VwLLwC&pg=PA22|url-status=live}}</ref> 

Since the rise of the state some 5,000 years ago,<ref>Diamond, Jared, ''Guns, Germs and Steel''</ref> military activity has continued over much of the globe. In Europe the oldest known battlefield is thought to date to 1250 BC.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Strickland |first1=Ashley |title=Thousands of bones and hundreds of weapons reveal grisly insights into a 3,250-year-old battle |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/23/science/tollense-valley-bronze-age-battlefield-arrowheads/index.html |access-date=6 February 2025 |agency=CNN |date=24 September 2024}}</ref> The [[Bronze Age]] has been described as a key period in the intensification of warfare, with the emergence of dedicated warriors and the development of metal weapons like swords.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Horn |first1=Christian |title=Introducing Bronze Age Warfare |date=2018-04-26 |work=Warfare in Bronze Age Society |pages=1–15 |editor-last=Horn |editor-first=Christian |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9781316884522%23CN-bp-1/type/book_part |access-date=2024-12-22 |edition=1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/9781316884522.002 |isbn=978-1-316-88452-2 |last2=Kristiansen |first2=Kristian |editor2-last=Kristiansen |editor2-first=Kristian}}</ref> Two other commonly named periods of increase are the [[Axial Age]] and Modern Times.<ref>{{interlanguage link|Jack Levy|lt=Levy, Jack|de|Jack Levy}} & {{interlanguage link|William R. Thompson (political scientist)|lt=Thompson, William R.|de|William R. Thompson}} (2011). ''The Arc of War: Origins, Escalation, and Transformation'', (University of Chicago Press).</ref> The invention of [[gunpowder]], and its eventual use in warfare, together with the acceleration of technological advances have fomented major changes to war itself.

[[File:War deaths caused by warfare.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.4|The percentages of men killed in war in eight tribal societies, and Europe and the U.S. in the 20th century. (Lawrence H. Keeley, archeologist)]]

In ''[[Coercion, Capital, and European States, AD 990–1992]]'', [[Charles Tilly]], professor of history, sociology, and social science at the University of Michigan and the Columbia University, described as "the founding father of 21st-century sociology"<ref>{{cite news|last=Martin|first=Douglas|date=May 2, 2008|title=Charles Tilly, 78, Writer and a Social Scientist, Is Dead|work=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/02/nyregion/02tilly.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries&oref=slogin|access-date=March 3, 2013}}</ref> argued that ‘War made the state, and the state made war,’ saying that wars have led to creation of states which in their turn perpetuate war.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Young |first1=Laura D. |title=Testing Tilly: Does War Really Make States? |journal=Social Evolution & History |date=March 2022 |volume=21 |doi=10.30884/seh/2022.01.07 |url=https://www.sociostudies.org/journal/articles/3275058/ |access-date=4 February 2025|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=War Did Make States: Testing Tilly's Thesis |url=https://istp.ethz.ch/events/colloquia/reports/2020/war-did-make-states-testing-tillys-thesis.html |website=Institute of Science, Technology and Policy |publisher=Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich |access-date=4 February 2025}}</ref> Tilly's theory of state formation is considered dominant in the state formation literature.<ref name=":7">{{Citation |last1=Gorski |first1=Philip |title=Beyond the Tilly Thesis: "Family Values" and State Formation in Latin Christendom |date=2017 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/does-war-make-states/beyond-the-tilly-thesis/4D74B3D06884F763CA76307BABFF798B |work=Does War Make States?: Investigations of Charles Tilly's Historical Sociology |pages=98–124 |editor-last=Strandsbjerg |editor-first=Jeppe |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-14150-6 |last2=Sharma |first2=Vivek Swaroop |editor2-last=Kaspersen |editor2-first=Lars Bo}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Ertman|first=Thomas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dQ53vjKiwR0C|title=Birth of the Leviathan: Building States and Regimes in Medieval and Early Modern Europe|date=1997|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-48427-5|pages=4|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Bagge|first=Sverre|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NFJNAgAAQBAJ|title=Cross and Scepter: The Rise of the Scandinavian Kingdoms from the Vikings to the Reformation|date=2014|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-5010-5|pages=4|language=en}}</ref> 

[[File:Abrams in formation.jpg|thumb|American tanks moving in formation during the [[Gulf War]]]]

Since 1945, great power wars, interstate wars,<ref>Human Security Research Group (2013). "Human Security Report 2013: The decline in global violence," (Simon Fraser University), p 3.</ref> [[Conquest|territorial conquests]] and [[Declaration of war|war declarations]] have [[Long Peace|declined in frequency]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Fazal |first=Tanisha M. |date=2025 |title=Is War in Decline? |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-polisci-041923-115351 |journal=Annual Review of Political Science |language=en |doi=10.1146/annurev-polisci-041923-115351}}</ref> Wars have been increasingly regulated by [[international humanitarian law]].<ref name=":4" /> Battle deaths and casualties have declined, in part due to advances in military medicine<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fazal |first=Tanisha M. |date=2014 |title=Dead Wrong? Battle Deaths, Military Medicine, and Exaggerated Reports of War's Demise |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24480546 |journal=International Security |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=95–125 |doi=10.1162/ISEC_a_00166 |jstor=24480546 |issn=0162-2889}}</ref> and despite advances in weapons. In Western Europe, since the late 18th century, more than 150 conflicts and about 600 battles have taken place, but no battle has taken place since 1945.<ref name="War">{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20180227114356/http://www.ralphmag.org/CG/world-war-one2.html World War One – A New Kind of War {{!}} Part II]}}, From ''14–18 Understanding the Great War'', by Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau, Annette Becker</ref>

However, war in some aspects has not necessarily declined.<ref name=":4" /> [[Civil war|Civil wars]] have increased in absolute terms since 1945.<ref name=":4" /> A distinctive feature of war since 1945 is that combat has largely been a matter of civil wars and insurgencies.<ref>Robert J. Bunker and Pamela Ligouri Bunker, "The modern state in epochal transition: The significance of irregular warfare, state deconstruction, and the rise of new warfighting entities beyond neo-medievalism." ''Small Wars & Insurgencies'' 27.2 (2016): 325–344.</ref> The number of civil wars declined since 1991.<ref>Human Security Research Group (2013). "Human Security Report 2013: The decline in global violence," (Simon Fraser University), p 3-4.</ref>