Warlike conflicts have strongly influenced viticulture since
ancient times. These were primarily negative effects by nature, but there were also positive aspects. When conquering new territories, vines have always been planted by the victors alongside other plants to document their claim to ownership and their will to stay longer. The most recent example is the conquest of the Golan Heights during the Six Day War in 1967, where the
Israelis planted vines after the occupation. If there was already viticulture in the conquered territories, the enemy's vineyards were often destroyed. This was especially the case during the campaigns of those peoples where
alcohol was banned, mostly for religious reasons.
The Roman legionnaires had an enormous need for wine during the countless war campaigns. In almost all areas of the Roman Empire this had an enormously positive influence on viticulture, including
Germany and
Austria. In Europe, the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) had extremely negative effects. Around two thirds of the vineyards were destroyed and never replanted afterwards. The area under vines in Germany was previously 300,000 hectares, compared to 100,000 today.
As painful and destructive as the conquest of the territories in the
New World was for the natives and their cultures from the beginning of the 16th century onwards, it was only there that viticulture was established. Before that, viticulture or the production of wine was unknown in North and South America and also in
Australia,
New Zealand and
South Africa. The motivation of the European conquerors for viticulture was (also) the production of
mass wine. Therefore the responsibility and also the knowledge for the viticultural cultivation lay mostly with monastic orders of the Catholic
Church. Warlike conflicts very often changed trade and consumption habits.
When
France and
England fought each other at the beginning of the 18th century, the export of French wines to England, which had been flourishing for a long time, was banned. As a result, the
port wine of
Portugal, allied with England, became immensely popular. The area most affected by war was the French
Champagne, due to its strategic location. The vineyards there were destroyed several dozen times in the course of history. During the First World War (1914-1918), the area was cut through by trenches and barbed-wire fences. Despite this, the rest of the vineyards were worked by the winegrowers even during the terrible battles, and wine and
champagne continued to be produced. See also under
drinking culture.
