Most tribal societies live in a constant fear of raids, homicide, and massacres.
~Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
The biggest battle site in North America, before the Civil War, was in Montana where two Indian tribes tried to exterminate each other.
“His 100 years of experience agreed that men are routinely selfish, combative, and violent.”
Sharp as a tack at 100 years old but I bet he learned that lesson early in life.
“He states that ...until the late 19th century, civilized soldiers were at a slight disadvantage in fire weaponry when facing primitive bowmen.I disagree.”
He’s wrong. Civilized soldiers were at a huge disadvantage when facing plains and southwestern Indians. It was not until the advent of the lever-action rifle that the tables turned.
They do?
Pay attention to the Bible. Genesis covers this point very well. We learn in the Bible that man is sinful by nature. They aren't breading new ground here.
“Tribal Wars of the Southern Plains” by Stan Hoig is another book that quite eloquently describes this.
I am reminded of a cartoon I saw about forty years ago, that shows a team of archeologists looking in a pit they had dug. In the pit are several skeletons, with arrows and spears sticking out of the bones. One archaeologist says, “3.75 million years old ... And they were definitely humn.”
Related subject: (Russeau mentioned) The Dark Side of the Enlightenment The source article is, unfortunately, behind a paywall. It’s a gem.
Witness Chicago.
This reviewer takes issue with the author’s philosophy - namely the author seems to advocate for a ‘one world system’ as a workable solution for future peace:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303263602_Book_Review_of_WAR_BEFORE_CIVILIZATION
Does anyone who has read the book care to weigh in on this?
” He states that “...until the late 19th century, civilized soldiers were at a slight disadvantage in fire weaponry when facing primitive bowmen.””
He is pretty close. Until repeating arms were common, bows were pretty much superior. Comanches with bows pretty much rolled back the Texas frontier about 150 miles and held it until revolvers came out.
I’ve used a basic osage plains bow with metal tipped dogwood arrows and it was shocking how fast and accurately it will snap out an arrow. A guy with a muzzle loader would be doomed and usually was.
As far as superiority of a muzzleloader over a bow in the rain...a flintlock was even worse.
And very few indian attacks were done in the rain or in winter for common sense reasons alone. That “sense to get out of the rain” thing.
bump
Maybe a misunderstanding about what is primitive. Nonwestern empires acquired muskets early on. Tribes usually waited for rifles to appear.