Japanese samurai attacking a Mongol ship, 13th century William Rubinstein wrote 'Pre-literate societies, even those organized in a relatively advanced way, were renowned for their studied cruelty.'' The invention of gunpowder, and its eventual use in warfare, together with the acceleration of technological advances have fomented major changes to war itself.

Scarcity of resources meant defensive works were not a cost-effective way to protect the society against enemy raids. Keeley explains that early war raids were not well organized, as the participants did not have any formal training. All of these forms of warfare were used by primitive societies, a finding supported by other researchers. Keeley describes several styles of primitive combat such as small raids, large raids, and massacres. Keeley, a professor at the University of Illinois, says approximately 90–95% of known societies throughout history engaged in at least occasional warfare, and many fought constantly. For comparison, an estimated 1,680,000,000 people died from infectious diseases in the 20th century. In one estimate, primitive warfare prior to 3000 BCE has been thought to have claimed 400 million victims based on the assumption that it accounted for the 15.1% of all deaths. For the period 3000 BCE until 1991, estimates range from 145 million to 2 billion. Estimates for total deaths due to war vary wildly. Since the rise of the state some 5,000 years ago, military activity has occurred over much of the globe. About forty-five percent of the skeletons there displayed signs of violent death, specifically traumatic bone lesions. The earliest evidence of prehistoric warfare is a Mesolithic cemetery in Jebel Sahaba, which has been determined to be about 13,400 years old. Keeley, archeologist) The Egyptian siege of Dapur in the 13th century BCE, from Ramesseum, Thebes.

Main article: Military history The percentages of men killed in war in eight tribal societies, and Europe and the U.S.

Armed conflicts