War was a complex, vital component of Iroquois culture, and was at times an almost daily part of life. The Iroquois waged wars for a variety of reasons; while economic competition and rivalry for trade were important factors in Iroquois warfare, so were elements within their own culture. Europeans influenced and incited, both directly and indirectly, conflict with the Iroquois League and other Indian nations, but the Iroquois waged these wars according to their own cultural beliefs and by their own rules. Individual member nations among the Iroquois drove the warfare often attributed to the League as a whole. Because, they waged war as individual members of a loosely united, voluntary league, rather than a unified political state, they were never conquered. Thus, they remained an influential and important entity in colonial America longer than any other Indian nation. The only overview of Iroquois warfare to cover the entire colonial period, this study explores all major conflicts with an emphasis on how and why the Iroquois fought and the diverse effects of war upon their society.