Why wars occur

Key points

Wars can occur for a number of reasons including:

• religion (for example, if followers of a religion are being badly treated in another country) 
• nationalism and ethnicity (for example, if an ethnic group wants to set up its own country)
• economics (for example, if a country has oil but its neighbour does not)
• polictal reasons (for example, if one country is communist and wants to make other countries communist)