Introduction: Encountering WarHow history comes to the historianGoing to warHistory, a human scienceArchaeology in historyWar and European Protohistory revisitedWhat Wars?Introductory narrative: Once upon a time, a warrior’s weapons…War wordsTheories of warThe philosophical angleStateless societies as seen by EuropeansThe ‘savage’ beneath our feetEver more archaeological evidenceArchaeology and historyThe ‘primitive’ in the cityThe war of originsThe Celt of our dreamsAnd there was war…Research ‘evidence’Introductory narrative: Keeping ArmsAn abundance of evidenceAfter the battleThe Metal Ages in picturesScenes of combatThe first battlefieldsSacred sites and cult objectsSkeletons and splintersThe Lessons of BonesWhen Metal SpeaksIntroductory narrative: The World of MetalFascinating metalMetal choices in EuropeUnpicking harlequin’s cloakHierarchies that dare not speak their nameDeciphering and understandingIn the laboratoryStarting the investigation at the endIn the bronze smith’s cauldronUnder the metalworker’s hammerA list of weaponsNarrative introduction: The bronze-smith in his workshopThe sword extends the armThe sword evolvesAnd a scabbard…The spear thickensArrows of outrageous fortuneThe ambiguity of the hafted axeA shield to protect the bodyThe metal helmet reinforces the warrior’s headMetal to embellish the breastOff to warIntroductory narrative: Taking up armsViolence in the PalaeolithicMultiple-use technology in the NeolithicWhat kind of Neolithic ‘war’?Declaring war in the Bronze AgeThe revolution in fighting in 1700 BCMultifaceted war in the Iron AgeViolence upon violenceFarewell to armsMetal hoardsWar in all its StatesIntroductory narrative: The 1000 BC warrior on the Normandy coastWomen: goddesses or sinners?Masculine dominationRich women without weaponsTransgressing normsReasons for warThe State, primitives, the written word. Terms of power.What sort of society?Three ages of war?Words and functions for allThe West in the dynamics of warfareConclusion: The human levelQuestions of scaleWar and peaceA trip to the Bronze Age kitchenOne day, sometime around 1700 BC, a bronzesmith made the first sword. This marked a technological turning point, giving rise to an arms race that has never since ceased. Soon, over a vast area between the Baltic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, thousands of weapons were manufactured. They were used in combat, then laid to rest, whole or broken, often during complex rituals that are still hard for us to understand. Through the sword, the Bronze Age brought war into being. The warrior became an important figure. Societies were transformed, and came to revolve politically and economically around warfare. Western Europe developed new social structures, a new kind of civilisation involving neither towns, nor writing. By tackling the subject ‘a call to arms’, Anne Lehoërff investigates war’s long-term development. She focusses on oral societies which have for a long while remained poorly understood, passed over by a historical tradition that saw the world of Classical Antiquity in a different light to that of ‘primitive’ peoples. But our European ancestors have their own history, and this book tells it.The French edition of A CALL TO ARMS was awarded the Verdun World Peace Center History Prize in 2018.