WATCH History edition 5 - 2023

If you follow the news there is only one conclusion possible: a world without war is very far away. Even here in Europe, where we thought (or at least hoped) for a while since the 1990s that a long-lasting peace had arrived, things went wrong again when Russia invaded Ukraine.

How did these types of large-scale armed conflicts ever arise? When did we start brainstorming each other's brains in an organized way – and why? We try to answer those questions in this KIJK History. Strangely enough, that is easier said than done, because the first real wars were fought before writing was invented. But there are indications that they originated in the Middle East, a part of the world that is still far from peaceful.

In any case, war has existed for thousands of years – and yet it is a relatively recent invention in human history. You could say that we haven't had wars for longer than we have. We thought it was high time to reflect on this subject in detail.