# What's the closest we've ever come to world peace? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 25, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-closest-weve-ever-come-to-world-peace/656632 "2013-04-25T00:18:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![donnie\_darko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@donnie\_darko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donnie_darko)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-closest-weve-ever-come-to-world-peace/656632/21 "2013-04-30T21:16:03Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > " > > Apples & Oranges. Disagreed. I see “peace” as being more than simply the absence of war. It’s the absence of violence and subjugation of all kinds. I’d even include the lack of ecological destruction as part of “peace”. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-closest-weve-ever-come-to-world-peace/656632/22 "2013-05-01T20:20:19Z")
> [@donnie\_darko](#): > > I heard the Neolithic was very peaceful, and that people had Mother-oriented religions back then. Not sure how true that is. That’s not accurate at all. The Neolithic refers to a specific time period, but most of the evidence clearly points to very high rates of violent deaths in most premodern societies. Check out **War Before Civilization**. [War Before Civilization - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Before_Civilization) It’s a common mistake to characterize Neolithic humans as living in unfortified dwellings and that therefore war must not have been a problem for them. There actually is evidence of fortified Neolithic dwellings and there’s many examples of human remains from the Neolithic that show trauma from man made weapons. > **[Neolithic | Social organization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neolithic#Social_organization)** > > During most of the Neolithic age of Eurasia, people lived in small tribes composed of multiple bands or lineages. There is little scientific evidence of developed social stratification in most Neolithic societies; social stratification is more associated with the later Bronze Age. Although some late Eurasian Neolithic societies formed complex stratified chiefdoms or even states, generally states evolved in Eurasia only with the rise of metallurgy, and most Neolithic societies on the whole ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-closest-weve-ever-come-to-world-peace/656632/23 "2013-05-02T01:49:03Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Civil war in Greece and China. Colonial rebellions in the Far East which caused the British several thousand casualties. Japan surrendered in August 1945 and the Chinese and Greek Civil Wars didn’t start until March 1946. So there was a seven month period of peace. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-closest-weve-ever-come-to-world-peace/656632/24 "2013-05-02T01:50:32Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Japan surrendered in August 1945 and the Chinese and Greek Civil Wars didn’t start until March 1946. So there was a seven month period of peace. Pretty sure there was some sort of fighting going on-for example the Soviets were fighting Ukrainian rebels who’d sided with the Germans well into the late '40s (when they were being supported by the CIA). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-closest-weve-ever-come-to-world-peace/656632.md?page=1)