War as a way of mopping up and disposing of unproductive people

The idea that war serves as a tool for “mopping up” or disposing of unproductive or surplus populations is a theory that has existed in various forms, but is largely discredited as a general or intentional policy in most modern historical scholarship. While population pressures have been factors in the origins of some conflicts, and certain ideologies have justified war as a form of elimination or selection, wars are rarely, if ever, explicitly waged with the primary aim of thinning out “unproductive” people.reddit+5

Historical Theories and Examples

• Social Darwinism: In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, some scholars and military leaders justified war as a “natural” part of human struggle and evolution, potentially benefiting the “fittest” and eliminating the weakest.encyclopedia.1914-1918-online+3

  • Some German Social Darwinists during World War I saw war as a “biological necessity” and a means of national improvement, with figures even suggesting that “undesirables” should be put in harm’s way at the front.creation+1

• Ancient and Pre-modern Societies: There are rare historical instances where elites used war or violence for population control. For example, ancient Sparta regularly declared war on its servile Helot population, effectively sanctioning murder as social control.reddit

Population and Warfare

• Demographic Pressures: Overpopulation and resource scarcity have occasionally contributed to conditions for war (see Malthusian catastrophe theory), but wars are not commonly planned as deliberate mechanisms for population reduction by targeting the “unproductive”.pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih+1

• Empires and Expansion: Population growth sometimes drove expansionist wars as growing societies sought more resources. Internal unrest and “surplus population” were sometimes managed through colonization or settlement rather than direct elimination by war.wikipedia+1

Modern Population Control and Eugenics

• Population Control Policies: In the 20th century, some regimes pursued eugenics or forced sterilization as a form of “population quality control”—not by war, but by state intervention, often targeting marginalized groups.climateandcapitalism+2

• Genocide and Atrocity: Some genocidal campaigns, such as the Holocaust, involved attempts to eliminate entire populations deemed “undesirable” or “unproductive” by ruling regimes, but these are not traditionally classified as war per se, but as crimes against humanity.reddit

Scholarly Consensus

• Most historians argue that wars have almost never been explicitly or primarily justified by population reduction aims, and the notion of eliminating the “unproductive” by war remains a social-Darwinist or dystopian thought experiment rather than genuine state policy in most contexts.pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih+2

Conclusion

While theories of war as an instrument for eliminating surplus or “unproductive” people have been discussed and even advocated by some ideologues, there is little historical evidence that most wars are fought with this as a main purpose. Such ideas reflect fringe ideologies more than mainstream policy or common war aims throughout history.wikipedia+4

1. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/44b1s5/has_war_ever_been_used_for_the_purpose_of/
2. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2781832/
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthusianism
4. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/social-darwinism/
5. https://scholarworks.indianapolis.iu.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/ac0bd93c-5b98-4a9f-aa2e-027924a480e5/content
6. https://creation.com/darwinism-and-world-war-one
7. https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/14319?lang=en
8. https://climateandcapitalism.com/2009/11/23/the-dark-past-of-population-confrom/
9. https://www.mercatornet.com/kissinger_turned_population_control_into_a_cold_war_weapon
10. https://www.cato.org/commentary/cruel-truth-about-population-control
11. https://confluence.gallatin.nyu.edu/sections/research/the-war-against-populations
12. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9285280/
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_population_planning
14. https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch25.htm
15. https://scholars.wlu.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2135&context=cmh
16. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1215/18752160-3678322
17. https://viewpointmag.com/2015/10/31/surplus-population-social-reproduction-and-the-problem-of-class-formation/
18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism
19. https://cominsitu.wordpress.com/2017/03/21/the-surplus-population/
20. https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/article/download/1032/711/3875