Motivations for Warfare in Bronze

¶ … Motivations for

Warfare In Bronze Age Europe

Historically, the Bronze Age in Europe began sometime in the latter years of the third millennium B.C.E. And continued onwards through the whole of the second millennium B.C.E. And into circa 600 B.C.E. As a.W. Johnson and T. Earle point out, it was during the European Bronze Age that human societies began to evolve from foraging groups (hunters and gatherers) to a complex agrarian system based on agriculture or the planting and harvesting of crops for foodstuffs and for local trade (2000, p. 145). Of course, this transition also created towns and communities with large populations, made up of merchants, farmers, artisans and traders, a situation which soon required a new set of rules and regulations in the form of laws and codes of conduct. Basically speaking, within this crowded landscape, new cultures arose and trading quickly became a necessity for survival, both economically and politically. In addition, there came about the "constant potential for aggressive competition over the most desired resources," a sort of economic war with individuals competing against each other for a share of the meager resources and materials needed for daily existence (Johnson, a.W., Earle, T., 2000, p. 10).

The Bronze Age was fully underway in ancient Greece and other parts of the southern European continent by the third millennium B.C.E. when advanced metallurgy in bronze, lead, silver and gold developed on the island of Crete and in the Cyclades Islands of the Aegean Sea. These advances in metalworking apparently took place independently of similar developments in the Balkans and the Near East (Kohl, P.L., 2003, p. 29), an assumption which raises the possibility that the Greeks may have been the first Bronze Age culture to take full advantage of the potential held by metallurgy and its related skills. By devising new ways to alloy metals at high temperatures, Aegean smiths created a whole range of non-essential items and more highly-designed tools for farming, the construction of dwellings, and for warfare in the shape of metal weapons far more lethal and enduring than their Neolithic counterparts which were made exclusively of stone. Thus, when metallurgical techniques evolved in sophistication and agricultural techniques began to produce valuable new products like olive oil and wine, along with specialization in the production of food and goods, the chances of warfare between societies and cultures also increased, due mostly to competition for the basic necessities of life during the Bronze Age.

One very important aspect of the transition from foraging groups, such as those found in the Neolithic Period, to a complex agrarian society has much to do with the rise of manufacturing in the form of pre-industrialization in Bronze Age Europe. As a. Harding describes it, manufacturing and production was at first "carried out in the domestic sphere" and on a relatively small scale, but when metallurgical techniques became more advanced, especially related to copper, "the items being produced (turned) from craft items into commodities" (2002, p. 297) or those items which possessed more meaning and value, such as cooking utensils, jewelry, farming implements and weapons.

According to a. Sherratt, the most important item related to farming was the development of the plough, "the first application of animal power to the mechanisation of agriculture" (2004, p. 159). This is where the conception of economics entered the Bronze Age

picture via the movement and exchange of goods and commodities through a vast trading system which extended into almost every part of Europe during the second millennium B.C.E.

As to the encouragement of warfare, when Bronze Age societies became increasingly interdependent, both economically and socially, the concept of reciprocity, a type of bartering system, became commonplace among the population of self-sufficient farmers, commodity producers, and artisans. Basically speaking, this type of system had little to do with financial gain and was more inclined toward creating a sense of social value in order to strengthen social bonds. However, in many parts of Europe, the levels of economic interdependence quickly went far beyond reciprocity, evolving into very complicated systems of trade and exchange, thus creating circumstances in which warfare between rival groups and societies was bound to occur.

In addition, conditions for warfare often arose when problems occurred between outsiders and members of a community related to exploiting limited resources, such as food, water and outcroppings of metals like copper, tin and gold. These problems also came about between pastoralists who wished to exploit a common pasture for their animals, such as when a herder "conscientiously (sought) to keep the pasture viable by restricting his herd's grazing time" and keeping it out of bounds for outsiders (Johnson, a.W., Earle, T., 2000, p. 10). Oftentimes, the outsider would overgraze the pasture "to his monetary advantage," thus creating conflict and disagreement.