Edit Definition
The word 'war' comes to English by the old High German language word 'Werran’ (to confuse or to cause confusion) through the Old English 'Werre', (meaning the same) and is a state of open and usually declared armed conflict between political entities such as sovereign states or between rival political or social factions within the same state. The Prussian military analyst Carl Von Clausewitz, in his book On War, calls it, “continuation of politics carried on by other means.”
The first war in recorded history took place in Mesopotamia in 2700 BCE between Sumer and Elam. The Sumerians, under command of the King of Kish, Enembaragesi, defeated the Elamites in this war and, it is recorded, “carried away as spoils the weapons of Elam.” At approximately the same time as this campaign, King Gilgamesh of Uruk marched on his neighbors in order to procure cedar for construction of a temple (while it has been argued that Gilgamesh is a mythological character, the archaeological evidence of a historical King Enembaragesi, who is mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh, lends weight to the claim that the latter was also a real historical figure).
Warfare certainly did not begin in 2700 BCE, however. The earliest pictographs of armies at war come from the kingdom of Kish, dated to about 3500 BCE. Jericho, claimed as the world’s oldest city, has provided archaeologists with solid evidence that a fortified city stood on the site before 7000 BCE. The walls of the fortress were ten feet thick and thirteen feet high surrounded by a moat thirty feet wide and ten feet deep. The bow was in use in Mesopotamia as early as 10,000 BCE and cemeteries from northern Mesopotamia to Egypt attest to early warfare on a fairly significant scale (the best known being Jebel Sahaba, Egypt and the so-called Site 117 where fifty-nine skeletons were uncovered, all of whom show clear evidence of violent death at about the same time).
War has been an important factor in creating states and empires throughout history and, equally so, in destroying them. Major advances in science, technology, and engineering have been brought about through necessity during times of war. It is written that the army of King Croesus of Lydia was once stopped by the Halys River, which seemed impossible to cross. The philosopher Thales of Miletus, a member of Croesus’ army, had a crew of engineers dig a channel up stream, giving it a crescent shape, “so that it should flow round the back of where the army was encamped, being diverted in this way from its old course and passing the camp, should flow into its old course once more.” Once the river was made shallow in both channels it was, of course, easy to cross.
Even so, with advancements in technology, war has increasingly wreaked chaos and destruction upon the lives and cities of combatants and non-combatants and, true to the origins of the name, has sown confusion throughout time.
Definition
The word 'war' comes to English by the old High German language word 'Werran’ (to confuse or to cause confusion) through the Old English 'Werre', (meaning the same) and is a state of open and usually declared armed conflict between political entities such as sovereign states or between rival political or social factions within the same state. The Prussian military analyst Carl Von Clausewitz, in his book On War, calls it, “continuation of politics carried on by other means.”The first war in recorded history took place in Mesopotamia in 2700 BCE between Sumer and Elam. The Sumerians, under command of the King of Kish, Enembaragesi, defeated the Elamites in this war and, it is recorded, “carried away as spoils the weapons of Elam.” At approximately the same time as this campaign, King Gilgamesh of Uruk marched on his neighbors in order to procure cedar for construction of a temple (while it has been argued that Gilgamesh is a mythological character, the archaeological evidence of a historical King Enembaragesi, who is mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh, lends weight to the claim that the latter was also a real historical figure).
Warfare certainly did not begin in 2700 BCE, however. The earliest pictographs of armies at war come from the kingdom of Kish, dated to about 3500 BCE. Jericho, claimed as the world’s oldest city, has provided archaeologists with solid evidence that a fortified city stood on the site before 7000 BCE. The walls of the fortress were ten feet thick and thirteen feet high surrounded by a moat thirty feet wide and ten feet deep. The bow was in use in Mesopotamia as early as 10,000 BCE and cemeteries from northern Mesopotamia to Egypt attest to early warfare on a fairly significant scale (the best known being Jebel Sahaba, Egypt and the so-called Site 117 where fifty-nine skeletons were uncovered, all of whom show clear evidence of violent death at about the same time).
War has been an important factor in creating states and empires throughout history and, equally so, in destroying them. Major advances in science, technology, and engineering have been brought about through necessity during times of war. It is written that the army of King Croesus of Lydia was once stopped by the Halys River, which seemed impossible to cross. The philosopher Thales of Miletus, a member of Croesus’ army, had a crew of engineers dig a channel up stream, giving it a crescent shape, “so that it should flow round the back of where the army was encamped, being diverted in this way from its old course and passing the camp, should flow into its old course once more.” Once the river was made shallow in both channels it was, of course, easy to cross.
Even so, with advancements in technology, war has increasingly wreaked chaos and destruction upon the lives and cities of combatants and non-combatants and, true to the origins of the name, has sown confusion throughout time.
Bibliography
Peer Review
Are you qualified to peer review ancient history information? Apply now and help provide quality ancient history information on the web!
Add Article
Articles
-
The Second Punic War (218-202 BCE) began when the Carthaginian general Hannibal attacked the city of Saguntum, a Roman ally, reached its height with the Carthaginian victory at Cannae (216) and ended with the Battle of Zama. At Zama, in North Africa, fifty miles south of the city of Carthage, the Roman...
-
Although Hannibal’s forces were defeated on the field at the Battle of Zama (202 BCE) the groundwork for this defeat was laid throughout the Second Punic War through the Carthaginian government’s refusal to support their general and his troops on campaign. As they had done with his father...
-
The Battle of Teutoberger Wald (9 A.D.) in which tribal Germans defeated a highly professional and disciplined Roman Army is not only one of the most decisive battles of the western world, but a historical example of successful asymmetrical warfare. At Teutoberger Wald, the technologically inferior Germans...
-
Chaeronea is the site of the famous Battle of Chaeronea (338 BCE) Phillip II of Macedon’s decisive defeat of the Greek city-states. At Chaeronea in Boeotia (north of Corinth) Phillip and his allies from Thessaly, Epirus, Aetolia, Northern Phocis and Locrian defeated the combined forces of Athens...
-
The Poem of Pentaur is the official Egyptian record (along with The Bulletin) of Rameses II The Great’s victory over the Hittite King Muwatalli II at the Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BCE (in modern-day Syria). So proud was Rameses of this `victory’ that he had the poem, which details his personal...
Add Reference
Links
- Bibliography | The Society of Ancient Military Historians
http://arkaion-bellum.com/samhw/bibliography
Recommend Book
War Books
-
Oxford University Press, USA (02 June 2005)Price: $6.96 -
W. W. Norton & Company (01 April 1999)Price: $11.18 -
(13 May 2011)Currently unavailable -
YouWriteOn (18 November 2010)Currently unavailable -
Penguin Classics (06 February 1972)Price: $11.29
Comments
|
|
Please log in or register to post comments. Sadly this is necessary due to comment spam.
Add Event
Timeline
Visual Timeline-
2400 BCFirst use of war chariots.
-
2334 BC - 2279 BC
-
c. 2330 BCSargon of Akkad sacks Ur.
-
1700 BCHorse-drawn chariots.
-
1334 BCTrojan War, according to Duris of Samos.
-
1258 BCFirst recorded peace treaty between Ramesses II of Egypt and Muwatalli II of the Hittites, after the battle of Kadesh.
-
c. 1200 BCSea Peoples invade the Levant.
-
c. 1187 BC
-
1184 BCTrojan War, according to Eratosthenes.
-
1178 BC
-
667 BC
-
525 BC
-
498 BC - 493 BCRome defeats the Latins.
-
395 BC - 387 BC
-
338 BCThe first battle of Cheronea. Philip of Macedon defeated the Greek alliance directed against him, led by Athens and Thebes.
-
5 Nov 333 BC
-
330 BCPersepolis is burned and looted by Alexander the Great.
-
300 BC
-
283 BCRome decisively defeats the Senones at Picenum.
-
216 BC
-
c. 2 Aug 216 BC
-
214 BC - 205 BC
-
204 BCScipio Africanus sails over to Africa.
-
202 BC
-
202 BCRoman conquest of Carthage, end of the Second Punic War. Peace terms: Carthage loses Iberia, gives Numidia to its King Masinissa, pays 10,000 talents in 50 years, gives all warships to Rome (except 10 triremes), is forbidden to wage war outside Africa, requires Roman approval for wars within Africa.
-
c. 200 BC
-
200 BC - 196 BC
-
193 BCThe Boii are defeated by the Romans, suffering, according to Livy, 14,000 dead.
-
190 BCBattle of Magnesia ad Sipylum, disastrous defeat for Antiochos III against Romans.
-
190 BCBattle of Magnesia on the Sippylus: the Seleucid army is defeated by the Roman army led by the brother of Scipio Africanus, Lucius Cornelius Scipio.
-
172 BC - 168 BC
-
139 BC
-
107 BC - 100 BCGaius Marius reforms the Roman army.
-
64 BCThe Roman general Pompey defeats the Seleucid Antiochus XIII and incorporates Syria as a province of the Roman empire.
-
58 BCCaesar attacks the Helvetii while on migration and defeats them.
-
57 BCA Roman army under Caesar narrowly defeats an army of Nervii, Atrebates, and Viromandui.
-
52 BCCaesar defeated at Gergovia by Vercingetorix.
-
52 BCAfter becoming trapped and besieged at Alesia Vercingetorix surrenders to Caesar.
-
48 BCBattle of Pharsalus: Julius Caesar defeats Pompey.
-
43 AD - 47 AD
-
167 AD - 180 ADMarcomannic Wars.
-
367 ADPicts, Scots, Saxons, and Franks attack the Roman Empire.
-
489 AD - 493 AD
-
534 AD
-
536 AD - 562 AD
-
554 AD
Follow us on Google Plus
Follow us on Facebook
Join our LinkedIn GroupTweet
Follow us on Twitter