ion of wealth, taxation. It is
never unrelated to the economic web in which the people live their
lives; it is seldom unaffected by the necessity of expanding and the
opposition of neighbours, the desire for bread and the longing for
luxuries. War and peace are functions of the national life, steps in
national progress or retrogression. Peace and war are two paths
leading often in the same general direction, and whether we may take
one path or must take the other is often determined for us long before
we reach this parting of the ways.

{18}

At first glance this economic or business side of war is obscured. We
find tribes and nations fighting for women and heads and scalps, to
please the gods, to destroy sorcerers, to slay heretics, to show
prowess, and for other reasons which seem equally remote from an
economic motive. A nation will go to war "to save its face," or to
annihilate the "hereditary enemy," as well as to improve its position
in the world. Yet these diverse human motives are related to, though
not fully absorbed in, the omnipresent economic motive. The
"hereditary enemy" usually is no other than the tribe or nation that
blocks our way; the "gods" enjoin war against neighbours who occupy the
lands we need or can furnish us tribute; the women, whom we capture,
are tame and pleasant beasts of burden, who help to swell our numbers.
As for pride and tribal vanity, which so often precipitate war, these
are a powerful social bond, which by holding the tribe together permits
it to conquer the things it needs. A war for prestige is often a war
for economic gain once removed. There remains a residue of martial
emotion, not so closely united with the desire for economic gain, but
all these derivative motives do not prevent the economic factor from
remaining preponderant. Remove the economic factors leading to war,
give men more than enough, and the chief incentive to war disappears.

The modern historical trend has been towards a fuller recognition of
the influence of this potent, though often disguised, motive to war.
Historians are recognising that the mainspring of social action is not
an emperor's dream or soldier's ambition, but the demand of vast
populations for food, clothing and shelter, then for better food,
clothing and shelter, and finally for the rights, privileges and
institutions which will make such economic progress assured. Ancient
war, which seemed so empty and causeless, is now {19} r