Lesson 12 — Activity 1: Wars Are Fought for Survival

Warm Up

War and fighting have occurred between groups of people since ancient times, but the reasons for wars have changed.

In this activity, you will learn that the earliest wars were fought when people's physical survival was threatened.

At first, weapons generally were used for hunting animals rather than for war. The earliest civilizations lived in tribal groups and seldom came into contact with other groups. The world's population was very small at that time, and there was little need for conflict because the resources were sufficient to meet everyone's basic needs.

cave art weapons

Geography restricted each group to a very small area, often defined by mountains, rivers, or some other natural separation. When groups did come into contact with each other, inevitably conflicts occurred. Perhaps some climatic event resulted in one group losing its food source. Some natural occurrence such as a volcanic eruption or a forest fire might have destroyed a group's area. These first battles did not occur from the desire of one group simply to expand its territory.

These first battles were usually very short. The group that won assimilated the defeated group and used the resources in the larger area of land. This assimilation was quite smooth because, in the earliest times, the focus of all groups was to find enough food and water to survive.