States of hostility

by Ben Soton

The Shortest History of War by Gwyne Dyer. Old Street Publishing: London. Hardback: 2022; 240pp; RRP £12.99; Softback: 2nd Edition, 2022; 256pp; RRP £8.99.

Gwyne Dyer’s, by its very nature short, book covers conflict from pre-history to the present day. The author’s first fault is in his understanding of the definition of war itself by defining any form of conflict as war. According to Dyer, war originated in rivalry between rival bands our pre-historic or even pre-human ancestors. These conflicts, which often amounted to simple ambushes, were not strictly wars.
    War originated with the emergence of Bronze Age class society in the city states of Mesopotamia around the fourth millennium BC. These states had their own territories that their rulers wished to expand; whilst the specialisation that came with the development of agriculture gave birth to one of the world’s oldest professions (along with the prostitute) – the soldier. The first recorded battle between states was probably the Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BC, between the Hittite and Egyptian kingdoms.
    Dwyer points out that human society is by nature egalitarian and uses anthropological evidence to back this up. This broadly conforms with Marxist theory, namely that for most of our history we lived under a system of primitive communism. Although the author falls short of using Marxist terminology, he makes several references to humanity returning to its egalitarian roots without mentioning any change in property relations. This conforms to the highly flawed ‘Whig view’ that presents history as a seemingly endlessly upwards journey from an oppressive and benighted past to a ‘"glorious present’. In fact, we now live in a less equal society than we did 50 years ago.
    The book covers changes in warfare from the first conflicts to the present day; in what could be described as ‘stones to drones’. Dwyer makes the interesting point that the story of the {Trojan Horse} is probably an analogy with some kind of early siege engine. He explains how technological developments have influenced warfare whilst pointing out that warfare remained unchanged for long periods of time.
    For instance, a Roman centurion would not have felt out of place at the Battle of Hastings and a soldier from the Thirty Years War (1618–49) would not have been out of place in the in the Napoleonic Wars, almost 300 years later.
    Dwyer must, however, be corrected for comparing what he describes as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 to the 2003 invasion of Iraq by Tony Blair and George W Bush. In 1979 Afghanistan had a people’s government that came under attack from Islamic terrorists backed by the USA. The Afghan government asked the Soviet Union for military assistance under the provisions of a treaty dating back to 1919, whilst the invasion of Iraq was an illegal act perpetrated by war criminals.
    The Shortest History of War is part of a series of books published by Penguin that give pencil sketch histories covering areas such as Democracy, The Soviet Union, China, England and Greece. Whilst the book has obvious flaws, it contains useful information and can provide the reader with added insight into the subject.