In the case of Israel, many wars have been fought, some for G-d and some not. The wars fought in the Name of G-d were those that sought to defend His Laws, and thus defend Israel. The wars fought for other reasons, were those that were not fought to defend G-d's Laws. The people fighting those wars might have thought they were fighting for G-d, just as they might have said, their laws were G-d's Laws, but this was not the case. These were people that had distanced themselves from G-d and from His Laws, and created their own laws. Therefore they were not fighting in G-d's Name, they were fighting for themselves. Whenever Israel followed G-d's Laws and was a nation of G-d, G-d was with Israel and the children of Israel never lost; they won, even against all odds. Then they would turn against G-d and follow other judges, and G-d would no longer be with them, and they would fall victim to their enemies. Then they would return to G-d, and Israel would be Redeemed. And these two things happened back and forth, until the time of David, when Israel brought itself close to G-d and became a great nation.

In the time of king David, G-d was with Israel and He Delivered all the enemies into the hands of Israel. All the land Promised to the children of Israel was Given to Israel. And Israel ruled over its neighbors and made a name for itself throughout the world. The nations followed in Israel's lead (the nation's observed the Word of G-d) and prostrated themselves before G-d in the Temple built by king Solomon (David's son). In that time, Israel fought no wars, for there was peace in Israel and the region known to Israel. Israel prospered, as did her neighbors, and the world became a better place. But king Solomon, despite his great and renown wisdom, was a greedy and foolish man. He used the wealth for himself, and treated his people like servants. And his son after him, wanted to be even harder than his father. The people of Israel were not willing to accept this. Therefore, Israel split into two kingdoms. There were 10 tribes in the north that became the kingdom of Israel, and two tribes in the south (Judah and Benjamin) remained loyal to Solomon's son, king David's grandson, and were known as the kingdom of Judah.

After this split in the House of Israel, the two were still one nation but they became two kingdoms, and were rival kingdoms. Their problems doubled, for not only did they have the world to fight against, they also had themselves to combat. The House of Israel declined and its people followed the judges of other nations, trying to be like other peoples rather than remain a Light unto the nations. The people were led by kings, and together they led themselves astray. They would distance themselves from G-d, as before, and then they would return: When they followed G-d's Laws, G-d was with them, and they were strong. When they followed other judges, G-d let them fall victim to their enemies. This happened back and forth, as had been the case before. And there were prophets, like before, that spoke the Word of G-d to Israel, encouraging the people to return to G-d. But Israel only got worse and worse. And the prophets only spoke more and more harshly against Israel, and spoke of great calamity and death. Until Israel reached the bottom and was struck down by a devastating blow. First the kingdom of Israel was conquered and slaughtered in battle, and its people were carried off in exile by the Assyrians. Then the kingdom of Judah was swallowed up by the Babylonians (who had gobbled up Assyria) and its people were brutally massacred. The Temple was destroyed, the Land laid waste, and the people of Judah that had survived, were carried off in exile as well.

That was the end of Israel, in its Land, until 70 years had passed and the children of Israel were allowed to return to their home and rebuild the Temple, by the order of Cyrus of the Persians (who had conquered the Babylonians and much of the world). But not all of Israel returned to the Land of Israel, and the proportion of Jews in the world was one third in Israel and the rest in exile. The Jews of the diaspora chose their own fate, and lived amongst foreigners. Therefore there's not much to say about them, because the course of their lives was bound by the fate of the nations in which they chose to reside. Whatever they did in these foreign nations is a matter of the those nations, and not of Israel.

But Israel did live on, and history was made in the Land of Israel. The Temple was rebuilt, hence the second Temple. After having lived in exile for 70 years, the children of Israel that had returned, did so because they could not part with Israel and yearned to be a nation of G-d once more. However, the second Temple period is a story of an Israel without G-d. It was a time when Israel was inspired by men and the thoughts of man, and not so much by G-d. They felt very sorry for what they had done and prayed with all their hearts that G-d would be with them, but they were lost. G-d was with them, otherwise they would not have been Returned to Israel and the Temple would not have been rebuilt, but they were not exactly with G-d. They tried to prove their devotion by doing all sorts of strange things, but these things only distanced them further from G-d and from each other. They formed movements of Judaism, creating many new customs and laws, rather than stick to what's important and follow G-d's Laws. They studied the Tanach with great devotion and discussed its Teachings to great depths. But rather than understand what was Written, they perverted its Texts. They came up with all sorts of explanations for their hardships, interpreted the Word of G-d according to their thoughts, argued over worthless matters, and fought about foolish things. Here they had so wanted to return to G-d, but instead they became like the other nations; lost, and without G-d. They were very confused and uncertain, and became a nation of men, ruled by men and the foolish thoughts of man, rather than a nation of G-d that is Ruled by His Laws.