as early as 8000 BCE, which surrounded a late phase (Pre-Pottery) Neolithic settlement. Structural remnants suggest a monumental fortification, said to be built with a wall “3.0 m (10ft) thick” and “4.0 m (13ft) high”, with a surrounding moat “9.1 m (30ft) wide” and “3.0 m (10ft) deep,” within which was a “9.1 m (30 ft) high” tower. This impressive fortress-like structure strongly implies that it served to protect the inhabitants from invaders; others, however, claim it served as defense against floodwaters [67]. No one knows if battles actually took place or not.
A convincing finding that prehistoric warfare had definitely taken place was documented around 3500 BCE. The Syrian-American Archaeological Expedition discovered and studied the vestiges of a huge battle that destroyed Hamoukar, a remote site in northeastern Syria. In 2005, a press release from the University of Chicago proudly noted that this “discovery provides the earliest evidence of large scale organized warfare” [68]. And large scale it was. The victims, sheltered in buildings behind mud-brick walls, were besieged by assailants who bombarded the inhabitants using slings that launched inch-wide bullets; over 1,000 of which were found in the excavation, plus 120 larger clay projectiles. After destroying the old city, the attackers built a new one over the ruins.
Fast-forward another millennium to 2500 BCE to view the spectacular Stele of the Vultures [69], the few remaining fragments of limestone bas-relief now in the Louvre Museum, one of which is illustrated in Figure 4. Observe the beautifully ordered professional army, fully equipped with helmets and shields, and armed with spears. Over time, and slowly at first but then with increasing rapidity, weapons became progressively deadly. For hundreds of thousands of years, hunter-gatherers survived using a succession of flint-tipped spears and harpoons, clubs, and primitive bows and arrows in their struggle to find food. But after most of the world had settled down and begun farming, owing in large part to the impetus of warfare, new weapons were created and rapidly upgraded: metal swords, spears and axes, chariots, crossbows, catapults, battering rams, then gunpowder, guns, and bombs. In the history of the development of warfare technology, the race to annihilation has played out about as far as it can go.
Tollense War
In 1996, an amateur archeologist chanced upon a remarkable find. Protruding from the bank of the Tollense River in northern Germany was an upper arm bone with a flint arrow sticking straight out of it. Subsequently, a test excavation revealed several other bones plus a club that may have been used to pulverize the skull that was found nearby. Radiocarbon-dating indicated 1250 BCM, the year a previously unknown gigantic battle took place that may have involved up to 4,000 warriors, apparently recruited from hundreds of kilometers distance; including as far north as Scandinavia and Poland and south to Germany and Holland. Because of the results of excavations from 2009 to 2015, according to the summary by Curry [70], out goes the belief of a “peaceful” Bronze Age throughout northern Europe. Though much remains to be learned, the fierce Tollense battle “fits into a period when we have increased warfare everywhere.”
Trojan War
The ancient Greeks blamed their Gods for the Trojan War and for centuries, modern historians were not sure there had actually been one. The time and location of the Trojan War remained a puzzle until 1868, when the German archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann, became convinced that Troy existed [71]. Subsequent excavations unearthed an ancient city at Hissarlik, Turkey, which most current authorities accept as Troy. The various dates “establishing” wartime Troy have coalesced to around 1184 BCE, a Bronze Age city. Much of what we believe about the Trojan War comes from Homer’s epic poems, with their own mythology and uncertain dates of origin, which reach as far back as 1200–750 BCE [72]: first the Iliad, which focuses on the last year of the 9-year conflict, and its sequel the Odyssey, which describes Odysseus’ troubled return to Ithaca. Additional information comes from the Cyclic Epics, written between the 7th and 6th centuries BCE [73]. In addition, numerous other ancient and modern literary sources, some more accurate than others, round out the legends. Moreover, inspiration from the Trojan War enriched the majestic Athenian tragedies of Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles, written during the 6th and 5th centuries BCE.
The Trojan War was one of the first wars to feature women. Helen, who was blamed for causing the war in the first place, was the daughter of Leda, Queen of Sparta, and consort of Zeus; Helen was celebrated as the most beautiful woman in the world. The goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all played consequential roles. And from that time onward until the widespread development of professional armies, legions of single women and wives followed soldiers and/or hung around encampments to provide goods, services, sexual favors, and to ensure their companions got fed and had wounds attended [74].
Hundred Years’ War
The Hundred Years’ War actually lasted 116 years during the late Middle Ages. Traditionally, the war has been differentiated into 3 phases separated by 2 truces: first, the Edwardian Era War (1337–1360); second, the Caroline War (1369–1389); and lastly the 2-part Lancastrian War (1415–1453). Five generations of Kings, both of England and France, fought over the succession of rulers and control of large landholdings within the territory of France [75]. The events during one of the longest wars in military history led to considerable social, political, and economic turmoil. At the beginning of the war, for example, there was a switch from a major fighting role of armies of knights and nobles to the use of professional soldiers; and toward the end (1445), the first standing army since the conclusion of the Roman Empire was established in France to combat marauding militias. Weapons and strategy changed dramatically from the early utility of cavalry, to the efficacy of the longbow (English), and then artillery (French). Both countries suffered substantial population losses from intermittent warfare plus deaths from the bubonic plague [76]. Dysentery played a major role in the 1415 Battle of Agincourt. Fifty percent of the French population died during the One Hundred Years’ War, including 3-quarters of the population of Normandy and two-thirds of that in Paris. England was less affected than France, because all the battles and movements of armies occurred on the continent. After the loss of its continental holdings, except for the Pale of Calais, England was reduced to an island nation, but not long afterward took advantage of its maritime proficiency to begin exploring and gaining mastery of much of the world.
Thirty Years’ War
The Thirty Years’ War encompassed a series of immensely destructive conflicts in Central Europe, chiefly Germany, from 1618 to 1648. Before the war, certain agreements attempted to create toleration of religious activities of both Catholics and Protestants, but in 1618, Heir-Apparent Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor of Bohemia (crowned the following year), restricted religious practices among Protestants. Other Protestant states, England, the Dutch Republic, Denmark came to their brethren’s support, but Ferdinand’s allies, German Catholics, Spain, and the papacy were victorious, overrunning much of Protestant Germany and Denmark, with considerable help from mercenary armies [77].
In 1630, the Swedish army led by King Gustavus Adolphus and his Protestant soldiers conquered most of the German lands and kingdoms. Four years later, Spain gained ascendancy and defeated Swedish forces, but then France began to take over, reigniting the Habsburg-French rivalry. From 1636, Swedish, French,