Introduction
The purview of environmental historians is extensive and includes the study of military organizations and war. Over the past 500 years, most communities took the probability of warfare seriously and carried out activities in preparation for an incoming war. The states had a principal duty of protecting its people during an attack. The contributions that countries imposed on people were legitimized through the promise of protection from enemies. Most revenue collected by the government was used to strengthen their militaries. Therefore, military organizations and war play a crucial role in society's environmental history. The prospect of warfare and the army concerns significantly impacted resource and land-use policy. For example, these concerns prompted imperial China to preserve hunting grounds, British India, to maintain horse pastures and the United States to create a strategic petroleum reserve. 1 Besides, states and militaries transformed how people perceive aspects of nature like horses, mosquitoes, coal, and iron. The interaction between the environment and war has a significant impact on both warfare and the environment.
How the Environment has Influenced War
Woodlands and forests were crucial in sustaining the bonds between the environment and war. Human beings approach battle with weapons. Since the evolutionary time, the big brains of humans have enabled them to fight and hunt as a team. The big brain has also allowed people to make spears, clubs, and other warfare instruments. 2 Early weapons such as slings, arrows and bows, spears, and clubs were made using wood, although one end was made of metal or sharpened stone. After metal weapons emerged, wood is still an essential material in weapon construction. Bronze-pointed spears have their shafts made using wood. Besides, the bronze needs smelting, which is done using a charcoal or wood flame. The pit props of mining copper and tin used in the making of bronze are also made using wood. Most of the forest in Cyprus was lost due to copper smelting after mining in the ancient Mediterranean.
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Apart from weapons, transport and logistics are also involved in warfare. Battlewagons and animal-drawn carts were used in war around 4700 years ago in Mesopotamia. 3 The instruments were mainly wooden, carried supplies, and were used as mobile defenses during a fight against horse riders. Mesopotamia was also the debut area for chariots that provided massive armored warriors and bowmen with transport on a battlefield. The chariots were mainly made of wood. Chariots are significant because they revolutionized society and war by bringing a change in social organization to warrior aristocracies. Besides, they remained a powerful instrument of war throughout China and Britain. Woodlands and forests, which form part of the environment, influenced war through providing weapons and transport instruments for communities at war.
Water resources is another environmental factor that has promoted warfare. Over half of the population in the Middle East and Northern Africa depends on river water. 4 In the Middle East, water resources are not evenly utilized and distributed. Besides, each of the major rivers in the area passes through an international border. Since all major rivers are shared among nations, dividing and allocating water has become a serious political issue that makes disseminating and collecting the most basic information on the availability and use of water complicated. Geographical, religious and ideological disputes in this region are associated with tension related to water. Even parts of the land that have extensive water resources are put under this pressure. The problem has accelerated in recent years due to rising water demands, intense political disagreements, and the limited options of enhancing the management and supply of water.
Among the most significant issues is the Jordan and Syria dispute over the operation and construction of Syrian dams on River Yarmuk, the Turkey, Iraq, and Syria disagreement over the joint management of River Euphrates, and how the quality of water can be protected so that all dependents of the sources benefit. According to history, water has justified war between Middle East countries: water is a tool for military conquest, a target and object of conflict, and a provider of political and economic power. 5 Although one cannot disentangle the several causes of conflict that are intertwined, disputes related to environmental factors and competition for natural resources are increasingly affecting international relations. Such disagreements take different forms, including utilization of the environment or natural resources as targets for military conquests or instruments of war.
How War has affected the Environment
War has impacted on the environment by causing governments to strengthen systems for protection and management of resources, particularly resources that are important for the military. The impact of human activities on the natural world is as old as the presence of Homo sapiens. Throughout history, collective violence has been a significant aspect of the behavior of human beings. Warfare has accumulated strength in the hands of military organizations and enhanced the existence of powerful governments that regulate how nature is utilized. The post-war years have been shaped through the resulting rapid strengthening of resource management regimes. 6 Moreover, wildlife conservation in several nations was almost derailed after WW1 and WW2. Fortunately, the wildlife movement obtained a new organizational momentum after the wars. The devastation of landscapes, including wildlife, after WW1 caused disillusionment and trauma among people and created links between the international wildlife conservation movement and the postwar peace movement. As a result, an effort to protect and survey the endangered species began. After WW2, the creation of new laws for wildlife protection led to the development of the International Union to preserve nature.
Human landscapes are also tied to natural resources. Besides, every community has a unique relationship with the natural world. War also has a degrading impact on the environment. It is difficult to identify long-term and short-term changes in natural resources and landscapes after a war. The fight between the Union Forces of Sherman and the army of General Joe Johnston over the management of northern Georgia significantly destroyed the views in the region. The conflict between the two powers led Sherman to launch a strategy whose aim was to shift destruction from the unintended war consequence to an organized weapon of warfare. He led campaigns through the Carolinas and Georgia to destroy the social, physical and economic landscapes of the area. The stated objective of this campaign was to dismantle the transportation, industrial and agricultural infrastructure of regions that were against his rule. The war set fire on warehouses, structures and buildings that can be used for military support. Railroad tracks were destroyed, and cotton stores burned to diminish the opponent’s ability to finance revenge warfare. 7 Sherman used fire to reduce the military powers of the Confederacy Army by burning everything into ashes.
The destructive effects of war on the environment can also be seen during the Sino-Japanese War in the Henan Province of North China. After causing a severe environmental disaster, residents of the regions were forced to migrate. China’s military blasted the dikes of the Yellow River, causing residents to flee and seek refuge in other areas. Over 30 percent of the land was submerged. 8 The flooding, together with poor weather led to famine, causing people to escape starvation. War frequently displaces populations, derails economic growth and destroys the nutrition and health of vulnerable people. In Henan province, the rural infrastructure of the area collapsed, and crop cultivation became impossible. The areas where people had settled turned to desolate wastelands.
To sum up, the interaction between the environment and warfare has a significant impact on both war and the environment. Environmental factors, such as forests, rivers woodlands can be used as instruments of warfare. On the other hand, warfare significantly destroys landscapes, displaces people, depletes natural resources, and displaces people. However, war can accelerate government efforts to strengthen wildlife after a battle. I believe the impact of war on the environment has more long-term consequences than the effect of the environment on war. The reason behind this is that warfare destroys most aspects of the environment, including landscapes, rivers, natural resources and wildlife. Besides, it also displaces populations. Therefore, the impact of war on the environment is more destructive and impactful over time.
Bibliography
Brady Lisa. Devouring the Land: Sherman's 1864-65 Campaigns . College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2009.
Gleick Peter. “Water, War, and Peace in the Middle East.” Environment 36, no. 3 (1994): 6-42.
McNeill, J. R. McNeill. “Woods and Warfare in World History .” Environmental History 9, no. 3 (2004), 388-410.
Muscolino Micah. “Violence against People and the Land: The Encironment and Refugee Migration from China’s Henan Province, 1938-1945.” Environment and History 17, no. 2 (2011), 291-311.
Tucker Richard. The Impact of Warfare on the Natural World: A Historical Survey . College Station: Corvallis Oregon State University, 2004.
1 McNeill, “Woods and Warfare in World History ,” Environmental History, 9, no. 3 (2004), 388.
2 Ibid., 390.
3 McNeill, “Woods and Warfare in World History ,” Environmental History, 9, no. 3 (2004), 390.
4 Peter Gleick, “Water, War, and Peace in the Middle East,” Environment , 36, no. 3 (1994), 8.
5 Peter Gleick, “Water, War, and Peace in the Middle East,” Environment , 36, no. 3 (1994): 8.
6 Richard Tucker, The Impact of Warfare on the Natural World: A Historical Survey (College Station: Corvallis Oregon State University, 2004), 35.
7 Lisa Brandy. Devouring the Land: Sherman's 1864-65 Campaigns . (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2009), 49.
8 Micah Muscolino, “Violence against People and the Land: The Encironment and Refugee Migration from China’s Henan Province, 1938-1945,” Environment and History, 17, no. 2 (2011), 310.
