Driving Force Behind War Previous to Capitalism

[the last donut of the night]

We know that a main driving force under capitalism is profit. It motivates the ruling class to drive workers into wars, and all that bad stuff we're already fully aware of. What motivated violence, or exploitation in feudalism, for example? Was profit a motive for warfare, for example? For example, what motivated the Crusades, exactly?

[Red Commissar]

War provides a place for the supply to be quickly consumed, and provides a continuing demand of product. It's the same reason why many of the old civilizations in the past often undertook these grandiose public work programs which gave us structures like the Pyramids...

The end goal may be economically motivated as well. Maybe the combatants are fighting over a resource-rich land. Maybe there is a fight over trade routes. The crusades, for instance, could be seen as an attempt by European feudal lords to get a direct route to eastern silk road, rather than relying on Venetian merchants who traded with the Muslim kingdom. Venice however managed to get itself involved in the transport and logistical support for Crusader armies, hoping to gain direct access to markets that Muslim kingdoms had controlled prior to this point Venice had remained nominally neutral only until the Fourth Crusade where Constantinople got sacked by the Crusaders, and they joined seeing it as a way to remove their competitor in the east.

Spanish attempts to hold on to the Low Countries were economically motivated. France's attempts to gain control of the lower countries were economically motivated. The struggles between Italian city-states and the wars that erupted when foreign powers intervened were definitely economically motivated. It could be argued that the chaotic state of the Holy Roman Empire was kept as such to prevent a single German nation from exploiting its resources, and to make it easier for outside countries to have access to them.

[Durruti's Ghost]

Gramsci is correct; however, I'd add that profit was not as strong a motive in feudalism as it is in capitalism. In capitalism as in feudalism, great importance is placed on one's social standing. However, in capitalism, social standing is determined almost entirely by wealth. The standings of the owners of the means of production are constantly threatened by the possibility of losing their means of production and being forced down into the proletariat. As a result, there is a very strong drive to accumulate wealth; by doing so, the capitalist cements his position relative to other, smaller capitalists, outcompetes them, and forces them down in to the proletariat. There was no such threat under a feudal system, where one's social status was more or less entirely determined by one's estate--even if you somehow lost all your land, you were still a noble. So, while the feudal landlord did exploit his serfs, the drive toward ever-increasing accumulation was less powerful and was based on a desire to outshine other members of the nobility, not out of the fear of being driven out of the nobility itself. That's not to say the economic drive was not important--on the contrary, it was (as in every stage of class society) fundamental. However, it did not yet have the obvious, ubiquitous presence that it has acquired in capitalist society.

[A.R.Amistad]

It could also be said that foriegn wars are driving forces that help a dying ruling class retain its power. You'll notice that in history, when progressive movements gain strength and more and more reforms are being put into practice (for example, WWI and the Progressive Era) the ruling class will rally the nation to some high flung nationalist cause to fight in a war, thus distracting the workers from taking power from a weakened ruling class and strengthening the ruling class position when the war is over.

[danyboy27]

We know that a main driving force under capitalism is profit. It motivates the ruling class to drive workers into wars, and all that bad stuff we're already fully aware of. What motivated violence, or exploitation in feudalism, for example? Was profit a motive for warfare, for example? For example, what motivated the Crusades, exactly?

main motives for an armed conflict
-money
-religion
-power (political or territorial)

take note that power is not the same has money, take hitler for exemple, his main agenda was to acquire a vital space to the east, and affirm his racial supremacy over europe.

Hitler could have decided to take the million reichmark given by his industrial buddies, clear the jews and just build a all powerful aryan capitalist germany, but he didnt, his goal was driven by power and domination of other cultures he deemed to be sub-human.

There is many conflict ongoing right now that are completly driven by religions, the Lord Resistance Army for exemple, have been raping and pillaging for years for the sake of religion, Israel is oppressing Palestine beccause Sionism state that its their GOD given right to own this land.

We could state that the Iraq war was driven by profit, but i would say it was more a war of politics, given the tremendous cost of this ongoing operation, the coo coo who planned this out at the head of the us governement must have messed up their budget, beccause having mercenaries and contractor is profitable when you can actually pay them.