War+and+Conflict

As long as there are humans, there will be wars and conflicts. Around 4000 B.C.E., city states began to develop and with them came conflicts. The Sumerians were constantly at war for around 2000 years so their military technology improved a lot. War often aroused because of goods and land or just because another city state wanted to show that they are more powerful and take over. Trade and other peaceful contact enriched Sumer but other conflicts led to warfare. Sumer traded with its neighbours and flourished however they had acquired many strong enemies that wanted to take over the empire. Sumer was the earliest empire and was very small in comparison to how far the later empires stretched.   
 * __Conflicts __**

To the right are some Sumerian weapons made of copper and bronze as Sumer was able to smelt the pure ore by fire. The weapons were carried by infantry were very deadly.

The Sumerians fought with chariots with 4 wheels pulled by donkeys. The chariots wheels had no spokes as they were just solid wood which added weight but made the carts no less effective. The wheel was a very successful innovation that has greatly changed our liver today. The chariots could be pulled very fast which would strike fear into the enemy. The Sumerians had not domesticated horses so donkeys were used for many tasks. They also had bows and arrows which were fired from chariot riders and were very effective. Spears, bronze daggers and swords were other weapons also used by the Sumerians. For armour they wore leather jackets studded with bronze and copper helmets. They carried long rectangular shields as well. The Sumerian soldiers were very fierce and were good fighters with battle strategies. If there were four people in a chariot one would use the bow one would drive and the others would protect the bowman with shields.  When the Sumerian king would send his army out to plunder mountain cities they would also bring back many slaves. The prisoners, which became slaves later, were treated very harshly after captured as some carvings depicted. The Sumerian people thought slavery was that the gods had given them victory over inferior people. Some pictures show soldiers using an army battle formation that requires high discipline and those un-trained soldiers would not have been able to use affectively. That suggests that the Sumerian army consisted of professional soldiers so they might have not fought with many slaves. To the left is a 4 wheeled Sumerian chariot which some think was only used as a mode of transportation as it cannot turn well but when archaeologists found one it had weapons in it. They only used donkeys to pull the chariot as they had not domesticated horses.  Protection from danger __** Sumer had defensive walls made of bricks which provided some protection from enemies on a siege attack. The Sumerians tried to slow enemies attack with mud brick walls but some foes could not be deterred and smashed right through the walls. Sumer was in a very vonerable place as it was in a valley surrounded by other powerful city states. As city states began to expand their areas of influence began to overlap which created arguments over city states. During the second rule of the Sumerians, the Sumerian king was not able to enforce laws and make people pay taxes over his whole empire, so the empire broke off into provinces each with a governor who enforced the laws, taxes and prepared the army for the constant warfare Sumer was in.
 * __Weapons __**
 * __Slavery__**
 * __

**__History of Sumerian Conflicts__**  As the famous Erasmus said, "as long as there are humans there will be wars". This statement is very true as thousands of years ago humans still fought for: power, land, resources, and to show who is the all mighty leader of the land. Early people and leaders seemed overly fond of war as they fought just to extend their empire, rule and power. The Sumerians had four main battles in their history as they rose and fell out of power twice. Their major battles and admittances to power were as listed:  <span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">**By: Brent Coutts** <span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
 * Early farmers settle between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers creating towns and villages in 6000 BCE.
 * Some villages turn into cities which gave the rise to the Sumerian civilization.
 * The Akkadians fight and overpower Sumer uniting the land between the rivers under the first empire in 2300 BCE.
 * <span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The Sumerians conquer the region after defeating the Akkadiens in 2125 BCE.
 * <span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Under the rule of king Hammurabi Babylon gains control by defeating the Sumerians in 1792-1595 BCE.
 * <span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">A chaotic age lasts for centuries and several empires rise but they are not able to keep a lasting empire because the tribes on the edges of Mesopotamia continue to attack from 1595 BCE-1157 BCE.