THE ORIGIN OF THE NATION STATE: LIMIT WAR. —-“In 1648, at the end of the Thirt

THE ORIGIN OF THE NATION STATE: LIMIT WAR.

—-“In 1648, at the end of the Thirty Years’ War, the Treaty of Westphalia gave a practical sovereignty to the German states, which until then were semi-independent components of the Holy Roman Empire.

This more firmly established the sovereignty of the nation-state, which meant, among other things, that governments would have exclusive rights to organize and maintain their own militaries.

Before this time, many armies and nations were controlled by religious orders and many wars were fought in mêlée combat, or subversively through bribery and assassination.

The first generation of modern warfare was intended to create a straightforward and orderly means of waging war.

Alternatively, it has been argued that the Peace of Westphalia did not solidify the power of the nation-state, but that the Thirty Years’ War itself ushered in an era of large-scale combat that was simply too costly for smaller mercenary groups to carry out on their own.

According to this theory, smaller groups chose to leave mass combat—and the expenses associated with it—in the domain of the nation-state.”——

Tribal Raiders were defeated with Melee warfare : G1

Melee warfare was defeated with the rifled musket: G2

Musket warfare was defeated with the machine gun and mechanized infantry: G3

Mechanized infantry was defeated by the mass market cost of AK47’s and RPG’s.