In her ongoing studies of chimpanzees, Jane Goodall discovered that in many behaviors they are quite similar to humans, even to the practice of war. In 1974, she observed the beginning of a four-year war between two groups of chimps, an event she termed the Four Year War of the Gombe. Chimps, Dr. Goodall found were extremely territorial, and " actively patrolled the boundaries of their home range at least once a week, monitoring the movements of their neighbors. And not only did they defend their territory, they also sometimes enlarged it at the expense of a weaker neighbor." [Italics in original] In her opinion, the cause of this four-year war was when one group of chimps broke away from another group and attempted to occupy a portion of the territory formerly used by the whole group. The males remaining in the original group were frustrated "at being denied access to an area over which they had roamed until it was occupied by the breakaway community. ”1
Is this not the same causus belli as the American War of Independence and the American Civil War? In the former case, one group sucessfully broke away from another and denied a certain territory to the non-breakaway group. In the second case, the breakaway group was not successful and they suffered domination and forced reintegration (of somewhat dubious success) into the larger group. Unlike the War in the Gombe, the members of the unsuccessful breakaway group were not exterminated, although this has not always been the case in other human wars of rebellion.
Dr. Goodall shows a keen insight into the human military mind by virtue of her long study of the chimpanzees. She writes:
Some male chimpanzees, particularly the younger ones, found intercommunity conflict absolutely thrilling. Despite the risk, adolescent males had sometimes crept closer and closer to watch the “enemy” even when the rest of their “patrol” had retreated to its own home range. This fascination with danger would have been crucial to the emergence of warfare in early humans. The killing of adult conspecifics (members of the same species) is not common among mammals, as such conflicts can be dangerous for the aggressors. It has always been decessary to encourage human warriors by cultural methods: glorifying their role, condemning cowardice, offering high rewards for bravery and skill on the battlefield, and so on. But if human males were inherently disposed to find aggression attractive, particularly aggression directed against neighbors, this would make the training of soldiers much easier. 2
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The power of this fascination with warfare, violence, and death is readily apparent in humans. Take for instance, the Roman fascination with gladiators. And if you think modern humans are different, examine closely the recent craze of Ultimate Fighting. It is the equivalent of Roman gladiatorial contests without weapons (and one has to wonder how soon that will happen). The news/entertainment industry is another example.
The problem, Dr. Goodall writes, is the process of pseudospeciation, something that takes place in chimpanzee societies, as demonstrated by the Four Year War of the Gombe, and in human society, as is evident from the long history of warfare between the many and various groups of humans. Pseudospeciation is the process whereby different human groups acquire different cultural practices, such as religion and language. (Arguably, the acquisition of varying physical characteristics, such as skin color, is another form of pseudospeciation, but Dr. Goodall's discussion did not touch on that aspect of the process.) Pseudospeciation leads to the creation of group identities, and the members of each group demonstrate on set of aggressive behaviors with those of their in-group and another set of agressive behaviors with those of the various out-groups with which they come into contact. With members of their own in-group, male chimpanzees show a ritualized series of threat displays the primary purpose of which is to actually avoid fighting and the risk of mutual harm. With members of an out-group, chimpanzees follow a much more violent pattern of behavior much like that they reserve for dangerous predators. These attacks result in great physical harm and often death for the object of their agression. This is much more complex than mere xenophobia, as Dr. Goodall argues, because, in the case of the Four Year War of the Gombe, the members of two groups had formerly been companions and even grooming mates with each other prior to the time when one group chose to break away from the other. 3
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The earliest civilizations were organized for warfare.
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Psychologist Julian Jaynes
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The earliest civilizations were organized for warfare.
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1 Jane Goodall, A Reason for Hope, (New York: Warner Books, 1999), 127-128. These incidents are also described in Dr. Goodall's other books, specifically: The Chimpanzees of Gombe - Patterns of Behavior, and The Chimpanzee - The Living Link Between 'Man' and 'Beast,' The Third Edinburgh Medal Address.
2 Goodall, Reason for Hope,, 128.
3 Goodall, Reason for Hope,, 128-130.
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Image scanned from the inside front cover of: A Reason for Hope by Jane Goodall (New York: Warner Books, 1999).
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