’War is like love, it always finds a way’.

The commonly held belief that there have always been wars is documented, and its implications for the inevitability of war are explored. Against this belief is placed a new definition of war as a social institution that was born with civilization about 13,000 years ago. War is dissociated from mere violence, aggression and homicide, and is presented as a reflection of the culture rather than a pathology that can be eradicated. Thus, the presumed innate tendency to make war and the inevitability of war are challenged. This paper takes a psychohistorical approach to warfare and describes the co-evolution of warfare an