But what causes war? For every war fought, history books will give a complex narrative of political intrigue. But we can simplify this to say most, or perhaps all, wars are caused by a desire for land, money, and power. Political or patriotic ideologies, or religions, are sometimes wrongly blamed for starting wars.
By way of example, let us consider the wars of the twentieth century: WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam - to which we might also add the Spanish Civil War, Operation Desert Storm, and other lesser conflicts. The driving forces behind these wars was certainly not a domestic ideological struggle between two political parties inside one of the belligerents, nor was it religious belief.
In many cases, wars which are labeled as "religious" are in fact not at all religious. Three examples suffice to make this point: The Thirty Years' War (1618 to 1848) is often described as a religious conflict, but it saw the Roman Catholic French in an alliance with the Lutheran Swedes: the war was really about whether power in Europe would be centralized in an empire under the Habsburg dynasty, or whether power would be located with regional kingdoms. The so-called 'French Wars of Religion' (1562 to 1598) were not about religion, but about who should rule France, in which Henry I of Guise fought against the Bourbon Henry III; both were Roman Catholic. In the conflicts between northern Ireland and southern Ireland, which are often called religious, the real question is and always has been about role of the English: starting in 1169, Henry II made claims of sovereignty over parts of Ireland, and ever since, there has been fighting; but the English Reformation happened in 1532, so we see that both sides were Roman Catholic.
We see, then, that most wars are about land, money, and power. Even when history books label a conflict as a "religious" war, it actually is not a religious war, as our three examples above illustrate.
