Hi everyone!
This week, instead of blogging on the Impact of War on the Environment, I will be sharing a couple exciting afterthoughts on how I realised I could apply Dr Coleman’s second lecture (How We Took Over the World Pt 2) to better understand Ancient War.
In my previous post, I characterised Ancient War by highlighting two main tactics: Agricultural Warfare and the Employment of Animals. After publishing, I started to wonder: Out of so many other possible tactics, why were those two in particular such a common denominator in Ancient War? And why were they so effective?
And then it struck me. Agriculture and Animals….sounds familiar? If you thought of the Neolithic Revolution, that is exactly the direction I am heading! Emphasised as one of the learning outcomes, Dr Coleman shared that the two key elements of the Neolithic Revolution were the Domestication of Plants and Domestication of Animals. What a striking parallel!
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Open in new tab However, I do not think that this was a mere coincidence. Rather, I believe that since the Neolithic Age preceded the Ancient Era, the developments brought by the Neolithic Revolution set precedence for the kinds of warfare techniques employed in Ancient War. Let me explain:
Let’s talk about how the Neolithic Revolution set the stage for the prevalence of Agricultural Warfare first. Before I start, here is a quick recap!
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Partially adapted from Dr Coleman’s slides
Therefore, I can conclude that one of the key foundations ancient civilisation was built upon was Agriculture, right? The very dependence on agriculture for survival, which arose due to the domestication of plants and animals, and was inculcated in civilisations during the Neolithic Revolution, was the exact reason why agricultural warfare was so deadly and popular. Since ancient civilisations have evolved to be grounded in agriculture as its main means of obtaining sustenance, destroying a civilisation’s crops and livestock as part of the Scorched Earth Policy would be like knocking out the legs of a table: it would almost always result in inadvertent collapse.
Next, moving on to how the domestication of animals in the Neolithic Revolution could have served as a key enabler for the subsequent employment of animals in Ancient War.
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Interactive graphic: click on “Domestication” and any animal image for references/to find out more
Prior to researching this topic, I always thought that the domestication of animals served only 2 purposes: Sustenance and Companionship. However, I was wrong – domesticated animals were used for warfare too! Although I could not find evidence that domestication was a prerequisite for their military use, it was interesting that in all the examples I found, the animals used to wage war were first domesticated for agricultural purposes. In hindsight, it does make sense that before animals could be harnessed for warfare, they had to be trained or controlled by humans to a certain extent first.
Frankly, I never intended to dedicate a second post to this topic. However, it was interesting to explore the relationship between the Neolithic Revolution and Ancient War tactics, and I was able to appreciate the significance of the Neolithic Revolution more.
This wraps up my exploration of Ancient War and the Environment. Up next, the Impact of Modern Warfare on the environment, stay tuned!
* graphics: created by me on Canva, image source: Pixabay
See Toh Ee Kin
September 20, 2020 — 9:01 pm
Hi Kelly,
Interesting that observations about why and how those two tactics came to prominence in ancient war.
I agree that agricultural war may have been popular due to our reliance on it. Even today, industry and other factors that give enemies the capability/resources to sustain war are targetted. However, I am not too sure if the goal of war is always the collapse of an enemy state. War is often treated as an extension of diplomacy by other means and there may be other goals involved (expansion, political concessions and whatnot).
Technological developments being used in war is interesting too. Recent technological developments (such as rocketry and GPS) occurred for military purposes before becoming mainstream. This seems opposite to what may have happened with animals in warfare.
Looking forward to your posts about modern warfare!
Cheers,
Ee Kin
Kelly
September 24, 2020 — 2:03 pm
Hi Ee Kin, thanks for your comment! (-:
You’re right, I realised I totally overlooked the other objectives of war, and that the impacts of war can vary based on the objectives of which they are waged. For example, civil wars are waged to contest for constitutional change and political reform, and they are fought with intentions by the opposition to improve a nation, definitely not to undermine it into collapsing. Another example of “war” that does not necessarily aim to cause mass death and eradicate a nation might be Economic War, which I will be looking into in one of my following posts!
I really appreciate your comments as they always never fail to help me broaden my perspectives and learn something new!
Cheers,
Kelly
Li Zhe
September 20, 2020 — 10:29 pm
Wow Kelly, this is an AMAZING post!!! Truly stunning, I love the links you were able to make between our class content and your blog topic. Since the Neolithic Revolution, humanity has become so reliant on farming whether crops or animals. This theme of being over-reliant on a commodity is a that factor that greatly affects geo-politics and the environment even to this day. I think it is for this reason that Singapore is making such a huge effort in pushing the 30 by 30 plan. By that I do not mean Singapore is going to go to war or anything. But personally, I feel the world is getting increasing volatile. Humanity is starting to feel the pain of climate change. I think countries either unite to face the climate crisis or become increasingly split and inward looking. I was wondering if you would be exploring about the possible positive impacts war/conflict could have on the environment?
Kelly
September 24, 2020 — 2:54 pm
Hi Li Zhe, thank you so much for your kind words! (-:
I really liked how you linked the age-old concept of over-reliance to the modern issue of fighting climate change, and definitely agree that climate change can either unite or drive a wedge between nations. In fact, climate change can not only exacerbate wars, but also cause them, as seen from this article.
While I was unable to find any positive impacts of war on the environment, I learnt that the military can benefit its conservation, and plan to cover that instead in one of my future posts. However, I will always be on a look out for any positive environmental impacts of war, and update this comment/post about it if I find anything!
Cheers,
Kelly
See Toh Ee Kin
September 25, 2020 — 11:03 pm
Hi Li Zhe, interesting that you brought up food security. People have often accused Singapore of operating under a siege mentality. Many have long speculated that unilateral action on Malaysia’s part regarding water supply may result in conflict (https://www.jstor.org/stable/25798564). Since then, we have been able to become much more independent regarding water security.
Food security is a whole different ball game, but imports may also be affected by the vagaries of geopolitics, effects of climate change and other black swan events such as zoonotic diseases that may affect food safety.
Hi Kelly,
As always, I look forward to your posts. The link between the military and conservation seem interesting too! I happened to be involved in a citizen science survey of the Raffles Banded Langur. The researchers published something which you may find interesting: https://lkcnhm.nus.edu.sg/app/uploads/2020/05/NIS-2020-0002.pdf
Rachel Lim
September 21, 2020 — 2:45 pm
Hi Kelly! I found it really interesting how you thought to relate our lecture to your blog 🙂 For some reason, when I thought of using animals in warfare, the first image that came to mind was catapulting sick animals over a wall to spread the plague (probably read one too many fantasy novels).
That however got me thinking, these kinds of warfare are obviously meant for the human inhabitants, to make them suffer and give up, but were there also any implications for the actual animals used in warfare?
Kelly
September 24, 2020 — 4:23 pm
Hi Rachel! Thanks for dropping by! (-:
Firstly, turns out that your impression of the use of animals in warfare is not just a reverie! After doing some digging, I found that Mongols did in fact hurl infected Cadavers over border walls to infect the people of Caffa in the the 14th century. I find the idea of using animals in Bioterrorism to be extremely terrifying, seeing the sheer consequences of the spread of a zoonotic disease play out in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The implications on the actual animals used in warfare (were and) can be severe and catastrophic. Though I am not too sure of the impact of infection on animals used in bioterrorism, their use in combat can not only harm the survival of individual animals by undermining their welfare (eg horses perished due to wounds and starvation), but also cause extinction of whole species (eg war elephant due to over-exploitation in combat).
Look forward to having you back!
Cheers,
Kelly
Joanna Coleman
September 25, 2020 — 7:12 pm
Kelly,
You’re knocking this assignment out of the stratosphere ! This post exemplifies originality, critical thinking, creativity, careful use of visuals and pretty much everything you’re supposed to demonstrate in your blog. Very few students achieve this level of thinking by the end of the sem, let alone halfway through.
I’m awfully proud of you, hoping you keep up the great work and hoping this blog can inspire your peers.
What an absolute joy to read this. I think you’re going to do very well when it comes to academic inquiry in general.
Totally loving you,
jc
Kelly
September 30, 2020 — 1:15 pm
Hi Dr Coleman, thank you so much! (-: