ABSTRACT
War can be waged very effectively by individuals who are quite devoid of aggressive emotions. Like health, favorable weather, and adequate employment, peace is classified by most people as a desirable state. Even military leaders, trained for the professional pursuit of war, claim an ideal of peace for their own. War, as a means of mediation, has sometimes settled things once for all, as in the case of the American Revolution, after which the British and the Americans became allies. Again, following the American Civil War, although wounds have never entirely healed, although North and South resumed their former alliance without serious subsequent conflict. The interplay between technology and ideology involved in the generation of war is a natural target for anthropological inquiry, and it is just possible that knowledge gained from such studies may prove of use in making war unnecessary and, ultimately, obsolete.
