In recent years, contradictions have been aggravated between the most powerful states and

economic and political associations (China, the USA, Russia, NATO, BRICS, and others). This trend has spread to comparatively weak, but no less ambitious countries (North Korea, Iran, Israel, Syria, and others). Moreover, the most developed states in their confrontation try by any means to draw into conflict weaker countries, which they can use to achieve their global goals. The emergence, organization, and course of a conflict can be expressed in different forms - from supporting opposition regimes in target countries (for example, Syria) to conducting large-scale military operations (for example, Russia-Ukraine), which, if control is lost, can escalate into a global war.

In a conflict, the active party often initially uses hostile actions against the target country, including a combination of different methods and means to achieve its goals without resorting to a classic military invasion. This type of action is called hybrid warfare. The main elements of hybrid warfare include:

1. Information Warfare: Spreading disinformation and propaganda to undermine morale and destabilize society in a target country.
2. Support for the opposition and rebels: Arrange support for groups operating in the target country by providing them with financial, material, and consultative assistance and by introducing agents specially trained to carry out “color revolutions.”
3. Covert Operations: Difficulty tracking and proving actions, such as sabotage and subversion.
4. Cyberwarfare: Attacks on a target country's information and computer systems.

Hybrid warfare is often waged in the “grey zone” between peace and war, making it difficult to determine when the conflict begins and to assign responsibility for actions. However, the hybrid war often escalates into more active military action and turns into war. The main goal of hybrid warfare is to decompose civil society and state structures to such a degree that it allows the interests of the aggressor to be pursued in the quality and quantity necessary for it. Most often, already at the hybrid war stage, significant damage is caused to the country's economy and human losses can also be significant if large-scale civil confrontation is achieved. At this stage, one of the most important destructive factors is the political, social, and moral decline in society, especially among young people, who, due to the lack of life experience, psychological stability, and the inclination towards radicalism inherent in youth, are most susceptible to the impact of factors of a hybrid war waged from outside.

Many wars in human history, and one could say most, have socio-economic factors at their core. Although the causes of wars can be varied and complex, they are primarily about the desire to control resources, territory, and economic advantages. The key aspects are:

1. Economic gain: Many wars have been and are being fought to capture or control natural resources such as gold, oil, gas, and other valuable materials.[1] Economic motives often underlie conflicts, even if they are disguised as other reasons.
2. Political interests: Territorial expansion and strengthening of political influence are also often associated with economic benefits. Control over new territories can provide access to resources and strategic advantages.
3. Trade Interests: Control of trade routes and access to markets is a very common reason for wars in history. For example, the Italian city-states supported the Crusades to control trade routes in the East.
4. Religious motives: Although religious wars such as the Crusades often had spiritual goals, they could also include economic and political interests such as control of wealth and territory.
5. Social Problems: Wars were sometimes used to solve internal social problems on the aggressor side, such as overpopulation or threats to the ruling elite. Wartime could serve as a means of suppressing internal conflicts and strengthening power.
6. Issues of security on the borders of states the creation of buffer security zones, and sometimes the issue of the survival of the state.

Even military campaigns such as the Crusades, which at first glance had exclusively religious motives: the protection of Christian shrines and pilgrims in Jerusalem from Muslims, had several key reasons:

1. Trade interests: Italian city-states such as Venice and Genoa supported the Crusades to control trade routes to the East.
2. Political interests: European monarchs and feudal lords saw the Crusades as an opportunity to expand their possessions and strengthen their political influence.
3. Socio-economic factors: Western Europe was overpopulated and the land was scarce, which prompted them to seek new territories to settle and solve the problem of unemployment in their own countries