The Stateless Anglo-Saxons

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I'm listening to Jennifer Paxton lecture on the history of Medieval England. She mentions that when the German barbarians arrived in England in the fifth century, they were a stateless society. We can tell, she continued, a lot about what they valued by their poetry. And what did they seem to value the most?

Warfare.

Comments

  1. Avram7:26 PM

    As did the Spartans and as did the Romans, both of which had super strong states. I think most of everyone back then just valued war the most.

    ReplyDelete
  2. gcallah9:40 PM

    The point is, however, that eliminating the state would not have (and will not?) eliminate war.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous2:40 AM

    Professor Callahan, what do you think about liberal assertions of war and peace as stated in von Mises' Omnipotent Government?

    I was not convinced by his assertion that propensity to war or likelihood of war shall somehow be greatly reduced with a liberalised economy, a cosmopolitan policy towards migrants and foreign investors, small government, and large enough government spending on national defense.

    His very own book admits that Germany, in the time of laissez-faire, still took over Alsace Lorraine. His own book only had examples to the contrary! Even Danes, one of the very earliest groups to liberalise as traders in the Hanseatic, had their own share of imperialism against other Europeans.

    ReplyDelete
  4. gcallah5:31 PM

    I don't know, Prateek. I'd have to investigate it more.

    ReplyDelete

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