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Question:   What is the history of war from the Mesolithic Age to the Iron
Age Empire of the Assyrians and what were the essential problems connected
with it?


Answer From:   TeacherJRF


The basic outline of military history is that early hunter/gatherer societies
generally didn't make much war. People were usually widely scattered in small
family groups and had more reasons to cooperate when they met up than they
had reasons to fight. The real development of war came with the development
of agriculture and settled societies which needed land to support themselves
and, as their populations grew, they had to acquire more land. Also, with
increasing settling of societies, you would have the beginnings of wealth and
power with the greed that they breed in people.  Finally, nomadic peoples
would, by reason of their way of life, be in direct opposition to settled
agricultural societies.  However, this reason for warfare would be more in
the nature of a facet of land acquisition.


Answer From:   JohnS426


It is clear that mankind engaged in war from the very beginning.  The records
show that in ancient Sumer just as soon as the population began to congregate
into towns there was warfare between them.  This was not only warfare between
Sumer and the other peoples who inhabited regions on all sides, but
specifically between various Sumerian towns and cities. One of the chief
causes for warfare was fighting over water rights.  Whenever anyone diverted
the water of the Tigris and Euphrates to irrigate fields they obviously were
taking water away from someone further down stream. The archaeological
remains show that this was very bloody and violent warfare.

Much the same thing occurred in the Nile valley.  Initially, around 5000 BC
the various clans and tribes began to cultivate crops along the river. There
were a string of localities like pearls on a thread from the delta into
Nubia. But in Egypt around 3000 BC a ruler (legendary Narmer) managed to
unite the whole valley at least as far south as the first cataract under his
rule. From then on (apart from periods of civil war and breakup into
localized control) the Egyptian civilization was essentially one politically
as well.  In Mesopotamia this did not happen. Warfare was continual with
first the south and then the north gaining the ascendancy and then nomads
from the east of west would flood in and take over.

The history of warfare can be divided into broad periods as with other
aspects of society. First there was stone age with weapons made from clubs
and stone implements including arrows with stone points. Then someone learned
how to smelt copper, not a very good material for weapons, but shortly after
they mixed copper with tin to produce bronze, a highly effective material for
making swords and the like. Armies were composed of various kinds of infantry
- those primarily armed with close combat weapons, spears and swords, and
those armed with missile weapons, bows and slings.

The first major revolution in warfare came with the introduction of the
chariot.  A foreign people from the Caspian Sea area moved into upper
Mesopotamia and Anatolia with a fantastic super weapon - the chariot. No mere
mob of foot soldiers could stand against a group of chariots, except in very
hilly country.  (Read about biblical battles in which the Israelites defeated
their enemies chariots.)  In any event only great monarchs could afford to
assemble such costly weapons in numbers. Small city states were overpowered
and the territories of empires expanded. Now the great powers, Egyptians,
Hittites, Assyrians, and Babylonians fought over wide areas. The supreme role
of the professional chariot warriors also altered the social structure and
led to many other developments.

Then a new weapons technology emerged - iron weapons. This is the story told
so well in Robert Drews' book. With iron weapons the "barbarian" infantrymen
from the hills and from outside the middle east were able to overthrow the
chariot armies. About this time also men learned how to ride horses and how
to breed stronger ones. This made true cavalry more practical, especially for
those peoples who lived in regions possessing sufficient grazing lands to
raise horses in great quantity.

The Assyrian army was composed then of both disciplined infantry armed with
iron weapons, swords and spears, and effective cavalry mostly using bows, but
also swords. Chariots remained in service, but lost their status as a super
weapon.

I have not mentioned the role of fortifications and development of
counter-fortifications methods, that is siege warfare.

Once again, the advent of iron-armed infantry changed the social structure
and in turn political developments.

Here are some basic references:

Durant, Will, _Our Oriental Heritage_, this is volume I of his multi-volume
history of civilization and it describes both issues in more detail that you
probably need.

Parkes, Henry Bamford, _Gods and Men: The Origins of Western Culture_, New
York. Alfred Knopf, 1959. Only the first 80 pages are relevant to your
questions, but they contain much of value.

Mumford, Lewis, _The City in History_, New York,  Harcourt Brace and World.
The first 150 pages contain much to think about.

Piggott, Stuart, _Ancient Europe from the beginnings of Agriculture to
Classical Antiquity_, Chicago, Aldine Publishing, 1963. This treats of
prehistoric Europe itself as opposite to the Near East of Mesopotamia and
Egypt.

 Saggs, H. W. F. _The Greatness that was Babylon_, New York, Hawthorn books,
1962. This gives the most detail of all on Mesopotamia from Sumer through
Assyria.

Yadin, Yigael, _The Art of War in Biblical Lands_, New York, McGraw-Hill,
1963, 2 volumes.  Not just Palestine but also the nations of the Bible
including Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria.

Stillman, Nigel and Niger Tallis, _Armies of the Ancient Near East 3,000 BC
to 539 BC., Sussex England, Wargames Research Group, 1984. A concise
discussion of the topic with many details on weapons, tactics, organizations
etc.

Ferrill, Arther, _The Origins of War: from the stone age to Alexander the
Great_, London, Thames and Hudson, 1985. This has less detail on the topic of
the above, but more generalization and broad analysis of the subject.

Hackett, General Sir John, ed. _Warfare in the Ancient World_, New York,
Facts on File, 1989. This passes on into Greek and Roman period, but has good
introduction for what you want.

Drews, Robert, _The end of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the
Castrophe Ca 1200 BC_, Princeton, Princeton Univ Press, 1993.

Roaf, Michael, _The Cultural Atlas of the World - Mesopotamia - and the
Ancient Near East_, Alexandria VA., Stonehenge Press, 1992. A must read for
both your questions, this is outstanding in its text, illustrations and maps.

Baines, John and Jaromir Malek, _The Cultural Atlas of the World - Ancient
Egypt_, Alexandria VA., Stonehenge Press, 1992. This is similar in format to
the previous volume and just as important for Egypt as the other is for
Mesopotamia.

IN addition there are five volumes in the Time Life books series called
TIMELINES that cover specific periods in your time span, starting with the
one called _The Age of the God Kings 3000 BC to 1500 BC.

Turney-High, Harry Holbert, _Primitive War,_ Columbia, Univ of South
Carolina, 1949. The author studies primitive warfare as it has been seen in
societies that remained primitive into modern times such as in New Guinea and
South America and he draws parallels and conclusions about primitive warfare
in general.