Human beings wage war in the name of states or nations. Dying and killing prove that these entities exist. The proof of the pudding is the dying.

"History books" come into being about 2550 years ago, documenting mass-murder, what distinguishes us from other animals--who kill to obtain nourishment to survive (they do not "hate" the animals they kill).

 Human mass-murder occurs in the name as abstract entities (nothing to do with biological evolution). 

 Historians (such as Timothy Snyder) write massive volumes documenting the complex events that led wars and genocide in the Twentieth Century. These books are not necessary. 

 What distinguishes human beings from other animals is the invention of mass-murder, a novel form of behavior for the homo species, which came into being about 2600 years ago after millions of years of the living simple, pleasant (though trivial) lives in Africa.

Why did these gigantic events (war and genocide) come into being? This fundamental question has barely been posed by historians.

Richard Koenigsberg