Overpopulation is a major cause of war. All species, including human beings, breed prolifically. It is axiomatic that species breed to the limits imposed by their environments. An ecological equilibrium, or “balance of nature” evolves and remains stable over a long period of time. In times past, human beings relied on infanticide and war as principal means of reducing or moderating human numbers, when the carrying capacity of the land was reached. These were the same processes used by other animal species in response to overcrowding.

With the advent of Christianity as a major religion on the planet, the use of infanticide as a means of population control declined, and war remained the major policy tool used to address overpopulation. There are two aspects of the relationship of overpopulation to war. First is the response of a group that is being “squeezed” by the increase in population of another group (e.g., the American natives by European settlers). Second is the response of a government to the increase in the size of its own population. Although it is said that “a prince without population is without power,” nations throughout history have responded to their own overpopulation (inability of the land to feed the citizens) by launching war (e.g., the Greek wars of 750 – 550 B.C.). The response to overpopulation involved both the national leadership and the family. In the recent history of Western Europe, it was common practice for each family to send its second and later sons to join the military – only the first son would inherit the land, in order to avoid fractionalizing the family’s landholdings. When population exceeded the capacity of the land to support it, the national leadership proceeded to launch war on its neighbors. Wars continued for years, and thousands and thousands died. The leaders of the combatant countries mutually recognized the value of war in moderating population – it was not a “fight to the death,” and neither government was in jeopardy. Sun Tzu observed that it was not in the interest of a state to become involved in a protracted war, but he was speaking of a war that significantly drained national resources, not a long-term war that helped to moderate population size.

War is not, of course, the only phenomenon that moderates human population size. Bad weather may lead to famines, and climate change may lead to permanent changes in human population levels. Disease has sometimes played a significant role in moderating population, as in the case of the Black Death (bubonic plague) in medieval Europe and perhaps HIV/AIDS in Africa and Asia today. The principal topic of this article, however, is war, not overpopulation, and so the discussion is concerned mainly with the role of overpopulation as a cause of war, rather than with the influence of war on overpopulation. Most nations today are not terribly concerned with overpopulation, and would not consider going to war as a means of population control. They will still go to war in response to population pressure from another group (i.e., as a result of overpopulation), but not as a proactive population-control measure.

Modern times have severely restricted the use of infanticide and war as population-control measures, with the result that populations have exploded. The most egregious example is Africa (where I have worked for a number of years). Prior to a few hundred years ago, infanticide and war (and selling of slaves) were used to keep the population in balance with the rest of the environment. If population increases or environmental changes occurred so that the land could no longer support the population (by farming or hunting and gathering), a tribe or part of it simply moved on to other land. If there were already people there, war ensued, the losing tribe was exterminated, and the land continued to support the human population.

With the advent of the industrial age, disaster ensued. Disease control measures lowered the death rate, and the imposition of colonial rule prevented local tribes from moving around and waging war to keep population in line with carrying capacity. Christianity and changing Western morals, laws, and economics imposed restrictions on infanticide and slaving. The population began to grow rapidly. For most of the twentieth century, the population growth rate was an astronomical three percent per annum, with the population doubling about every two decades.

The impact on the environment was devastating. The beginning of the end was quite apparent by the middle of the twentieth century...

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