ABSTRACT
The question has been raised whether the traditional view of early society as one of constant warfare is really justified by the facts. There is, in fact, no doubt that to speak of a state of war as normal is in general a gross exaggeration. Relations between neighbouring communities are in general friendly, but they are apt to be interrupted by charges of murder owing to the belief in witchcraft, and feuds result which may take a more or less organised form. In the lower stages it is in fact not very easy to distinguish between private retaliation when exercised by a kinsfolk or a body of friends, and a war which is perhaps organised by a leader chosen for the occasion, followed by a party of volunteers. Strictly, we take it that external retaliation means a quarrel exercised by a part of a community only upon members of another community, while war means an operation conducted in the name of the community as a whole. Feuds would thus also be the appropriate name for reprisals exercised by one branch of a community upon another, e.g., as between two clans or two local groups within a tribe. As distinguished from a feud, war implies a certain development of social organisation, and is probably not so common at the lowest stages as it becomes higher up.
