Racism and slavery.

[Bubblegum Knight]

Hey guys. How does slavery start? What can cause a nation to hate another nation? Also, would one country sell any of their own people as slaves to another country? Would a country go to war with another country because they don't like slavery, even if their people aren't the ones being enslaved?

[Johnson Ironing]

War arises when resources are scarce, eg. Water, sea port, oil, rich grazing pasture/land


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[Azélor]

Would a country go to war with another country because they don't like slavery, even if their people aren't the ones being enslaved?

Countries like to wave ethics all the time but the real justifications for war are elsewhere.

[J.Edward]

Slavery and war were not really a connected issue throughout history.
There was slavery. And there was war. Sometimes in war, the loser would be enslaved.
But people didn't really have a problem with slavery, historically speaking, except once they became enslaved.
Slavery of various sorts and levels was common all over the world throughout much of history.

So, i would say only in a more modern world setting would that even be an issue.
But even today, countries wouldn't likely go to war with another country just to free slaves.
As Azelor suggests, there would be other reasons at play.
They might want to take that country's land, or resources.
Predominant reasons for war are generally land/resource oriented or power/control related.
Even when it appears that war is based on ideology, the ideology is usually just a vehicle for a completely different underlying reason.

For example, the US might fight a war in one country to stop another country from having control there.
Ironically, the country at war might not even be at the center of the real control issue.

Wars are seldom about the high minded ideals that people would like to believe they are about.
They're usually about less lofty things.

[Deadshade]

Slavery is just a more codified way to get working power for free.
I think that slavery developped with wars. Once you conquer a city and want to rule over it what do you do with the former inhabitants ?
An obvious solution is to kill them all or enough so that they don't become a problem for you in the future. But Killing a person is a horrible waste of ressources. So it is economically much more efficient to make that person work for you and in exchange he/she stays living.
This is a bargain beneficial to both parties and a bargain that you wouldn't refuse if you were on the bad side of a sword.

In the early civilisations, slavery was used everywhere and when conquering armies were returning home, they always brought a big crowd of new slaves. It was really Something to which a Roman, a Greek or a Chinese wouldn't give a second thought - it was just how world worked for them. The notion of generalized human rights (like freedom etc) appeared only a few thousands years later.
The reason might have been that after the industrial revolution, there appeared more efficient and less expensive ways to make a society tick along than slave labour. Indeed abolition of slavery happened first in the industrial nations while less developped societies kept it much longer.

[Johnson Ironing]

Racism/tribalism/class and nepotism rhymes/go together, whiles slavery comes way after a war, when all negotiations fail - eg - a sort of tax system, tribute/homage to the conqueror nation.


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[Larb]

Keep in mind there are many more types of slavery than just chattel slavery. Serfdom, debt bondage, and so on are all effectively types of slavery. Just some of the details are a bit different.

[Jaxilon]

Slavery has not always been a bad thing.

In ancient Israel a person who had fallen on hard times (perhaps a failed crop or business) and who was in dire straights could "sell" themselves to another individual as a slave. This made it possible for them to care for themselves and their family. This form of slavery was not usually permanent however. There were ways for a slave to become free again:

The slave could came up with the "repurchase price" and could buy back his freedom OR was set free automatically on the 7th year of servitude OR if a Jubilee year fell at that time they were free to return to their land. So 7 years or a Jubilee year whichever came first.

Additionally, if a slave loved his master and wanted to remain he could become a permanent slave. This might happen because either the master treated them very well (sometimes masters would provide a wife for instance). If the wife was with him when he became a slave the family left together but if she was provided through the master then the wife and any offspring where not free as they were belongings of the master). Obviously, it might be hard to walk away from such a situation and a slave might wish to remain as such. This deal of freedom did not apply to foreigners in the same way.

It gets a bit complicated and obviously was open for abuse but the idea wasn't all bad. In this case a slave was more like a hired laborer. Also, abusing a slave was a serious offence and if you seriously injured them (like knocked out a tooth or an eye) they were instantly free. I don't recall exactly but the idea was for slaves to be treated properly.

People being what we are, tend to loose our minds when we have any authority over others so there is always that tendency. I'm sure there were plantation owners who took good care of their slaves prior to the Civil War of the United States. I have a friend who has a big family estate in Arkansas because back in the day the landowners wrote their slaves into the inheritance. He lives there now in fact. So that's pretty cool.

By and large however, slavery was about money.

There were always slavers willing to sell their fellowman so I guess you could say a country would sell their own as slaves. I can't think of any governments that did this but I don't know.


Personally, I just pulled about a 48 hour workload with 4 hours of sleep in there somewhere, so while I do like my job there are times I feel like a slave and I surely wouldn't set the deadlines my company asks for. Does that make me a slave to them? The argument could be made since I am doing their bidding. If so, it is at least a more agreeable form of slavery than most.

Wars have been fought for every reason under the sun but they seem to always be about greed, hate and power.

Hopefully, that made sense because like I said, I'm very tired.

[Sigurd]

Slavery, by definition, is a bad thing. It removes choices and subjugates the human spirit to another's wealth.

Historically, and today, wealthy\powerful people(s) tolerate it when it is someone else, and\or they benefit from it. It is the crushing extreme of what humans will do to each other. It is typically centerred around goods, dangerous labor, or sex.

It's a grim reality.