the escalation of war throughout modern history, culminating in the world wars, is a fascinating subject. the methodology of total war is so alien to the human

the escalation of war throughout modern history, culminating in the world wars, is a fascinating subject. the methodology of total war is so alien to the human psyche that it requires quite a bit of brain washing and careful planning, and even then you constantly have to maintain it via a strict hierarchy, lest you get the sort of unspoken agreements between sides as discussed extensively in the article. the escalation to total war was caused by at least three things: 1. the growth of government as a percentage of GDP (more efficient taxation and indoctrination) allowed ever greater a nation's economic output to be turned to aggression. see Bertrand de Jouvenal's excellent On Power for a lengthy dissertation on this subject. 2. the slow change from a multi-polar to bi-polar power arrangement. in the animal kingdom you will see "posture fighting" between contesting males where little actual damage is done. This is because a real fight is disastrous, even for the male who wins since he may be weakened so much that he can not now defend himself against a third male who will swoop in on this opportunity. Likewise with a multi-polar power arrangement. No one nation will devote tons of resources to a total war with another because doing so will weaken both with regards to other nations. what we see in pack animals (including primates) is that aggression generally only occurs when one side has overwhelming advantage (5 vs 1) and thus can act without reprisal. larger fights, while rarer, usually end when one side gets a kill. why doesn't the winning side press the advantage? again, the risk is large for an uncertain payoff. 3. of course, technology. this one is harped on by so many history channel shows that I feel no need to go into it.