A Species at War

Is it men who that bring out the worst in war, or war that brings out the worst in men? War is a common occurrence throughout today’s society, but what is war? Carl von Clausewitz, a Prussian soldier and German military theorist, who stressed many of   the moral and political aspects of war, defined war as organized conflict between two groups, one or both groups hoping to dominate the other. “War is not merely a political act,” he said “but also a political instrument, a continuation of political relations, a carrying out of the same by other means,".
Scientists were quite confident that humans were the only species to fight wars, until the 1970’s.   Researchers from the Jane Goodall Center in Tanzania saw a group of male chimpanzees ambush and kill several chimps from another group. These two groups had once been one large group, and divided to fight a ongoing “war”. Richard Wrangham, an anthropologist, suggests that these violent chimpanzees have the same motives that many modern soldiers do. He writes: "Stripped to its ape essence, patriotism is male defense of the community. Among the chimpanzees, violence doesn’t just break out between males from rival troops. Each troop is dominated by an alpha male, who maintains control by beating the others. Though, one must look at how precise humans plan and are able to create tools for war, being capable of killing hundreds of thousands at once with the drop of a single atomic bomb.
Is war a more recent phenomenon? Research suggests that ancient hunter gather societies would partake in warfare. In fact, the first recorded war dates back 2700 B.C. It was fought between Sumer and Elam. War between humans dates back even before this, first accounts could only be made when writing was invented. Lawrence Keeley estimates 95% of primitive societies fought wars.
Behavioral genetics, attempts to explain what we do and who we are in genetic terms. It began with the English polymath Francis Galton, who in 1883 coined the term...