in all history, what is the most common cause of war?
444988
religion is given as the reason but greed is behind most of them
499897
The causes of the war were a complex series of events, including slavery, that began long before the first shot was fired. Competing nationalisms, political turmoil, the definition of freedom, the preservation of the Union, the fate of slavery and the structure of our society and economy could all be listed as significant contributing factors in America's bloodiest conflict.\n\nFor more info visit the link below.\n\nAll the best!
851659
The immediate Causes of World War II are generally held to be the German invasion of Poland, and the Japanese attacks on China, the United States, and the British and Dutch colonies. In each of these cases, the attacks were the result of a decision made by authoritarian ruling elites in Germany and Japan. World War II started after these aggressive actions were met with an official declaration of war, armed resistance or both.
380024
War is usually about the most wanted commodity.  The most important commodity I can think of is Water.  So if I had the resources and the evil nature, I would go after controlling all the water supply world wide.  This is the ultimate power ... but I'd need to hire real smart scientists to figure out how to separate the people from my new water supply that only I control.
390631
Religion used to be the number one cause, but now I think it's more likely National interest, i.e. protecting ones resources (oil etc), or political reasons, or simply a desire to divert attention from problems at home - a successful war will always instill a sense of national pride e.g. the UK went to war with Argentina in the 1980's and that created an immense sense of National Pride and won an election for the Conservatives, while at home unemployment was rising etc.
544910
I prefer not to categorized by that obnoxious distinction.\n\n"Religion" has been the cause of most of the bloodiest wars in history. It is also determined by the United Nations to still be the number one cause of wars. Even today, that is why the United States is in Iraq.\n\nAlthough I was raised a  Christian, I have studied Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Gnosticism, most other religions as well as the philosophy of Buddhism.\n\nI've tried to take the best of these and reject the worst of these and combine them with my physics and scientific background to come to where I am now.\n\n"RELIGION" just sides each one against the other and too often blind people from seeing the overall picture.  It is beautiful, they do not know what they are missing.\n\nI guess you would call me "spiritual".
807013
OPPRESSION and GREED is the MAIN reason for CONFLICT.
1173828
Many wars are caused by hatred. Hatred is caused by ignorance.\n\nMy friend, you have a point.\n\nMake our students study history more......Make history more accessible to adults. We need to know our own history and the history of the world. That way we can understand each other and hopefully avoid another big crisis.
843917
War is murder. It has never solved anything. It should be forever abolished. \n\nLast night I had the strangest dream. A dream, I've never known. I dreamed I saw a mighty room, filled with women and men, and the paper they were signing said, they'd never fight again. And when the paper was all signed and a million copies made, they all joined hands and bowed their heads and grateful prayers were prayed. And the people in the streets below were dancing 'round and 'round while guns and swords and uniforms lay scattered on the ground.\n\nSee how simple it really is?
864692
The greatest causes of war, bigotry and hatred are a failure to communicate openly and trying to force others to comply with your beliefs. Open, honest dialog between people would resolve so much without the need for bloodshed.
906313
In my opinion, war contracts and oil.\n\nSaddam was invaded because of Location, Location, Location.
366234
I think everyone agrees that war is not solution to anything however our brain is so susceptible to external factors that we get carried way with momentary impulse and get to agree with wars. Otherwise history is witness it has never solved the problem. Though I remember one war which brought peace was Kalinga war (fought by one of the Indian King Ashoka who after war realized that all this destruction was useless and he left all violence after that and turn to Buddhism).
660227
The origins of the American Civil War lay in the complex issues of slavery, politics, disagreements over the scope of States' rights, Manifest Destiny, sectionalism, economic competition, modernization, and competing nationalisms of the Antebellum period. Although there is little disagreement among historians on the details of the events that led to war, there is disagreement on exactly what caused what and the relative importance. There is no consensus on whether the war could have been avoided, or if it should have been avoided.
1021727
War is simply organized aggression. Aggression is the result of people making choices. People are sinners by virtue of the gift of free-will. As long as there are people, there will be war-aggression-sin.
429372
No, I do not.\n\nSex is far older as a motivation for human conflict.  Individuals against each other for a single partner or tribe against tribe for sex slaves and wives.\n\nPower predates Religion as a force as well.  Sargon of Persia was the first human (at least in recorded history) to rule more than a single “City.”  He was also the first to have a paid standing army.\n\nHumans will always find an excuse for armed conflict.  Even if the reason is resources (oil) it is easier to sell as “democracy” vs. “religious terrorism.”\n\nDon’t get me wrong, religious reasons are real and do cause a lot of conflict.  But it is not the root of humanity’s problems.  Lack of tolerance, greed, power and even lust are far more responsible for current world events.
1163230
war is always kind of bad, but thats just its nature.  war also dramatically pushes the technological envelope.  (computers, planes, ships, space shuttles, radios, cars, etc, are as advanced as they are because of the wars people fight)\n\nmost people despise war.  i would much rather use diplomacy to solve international problems, but unfortunately sometimes guns and bombs are the only solution, and if the situation calls for it, than i would use war.
407177
This object is not the cause - it's merely an attempt at justification.\nDifferent foreign wars have different real causes, but economics is usually present.  These days it's the over-powerful lobbies of Israel, the CIA and the US Military.