Why did Thomas Hobbes describe the state of nature as a war of all against all?

Thomas Hobbes described the state of nature as a "war of all against all" because he viewed human beings as naturally antisocial, driven primarily by self-interest, competition, and a desire for glory or vanity. In this hypothetical condition, there is no common power or sovereign to enforce laws or adjudicate disputes.1234

Hobbes argued that because individuals are roughly equal in their ability to harm one another, they exist in a state of constant fear and mistrust. Even moderate individuals are forced to engage in preemptive violence to ensure their own survival, as they cannot rely on others to abide by any moral standard. Consequently, in the absence of a social contract that transfers individual power to a Leviathan, human life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short," with no possibility for industry, commerce, or civilization. For Hobbes, this state is an unsustainable condition of anarchy that can only be resolved by the establishment of an absolute political authority capable of maintaining peace.4321