Webpack will not compile anytime "require" appears in index.js

I'm a new dev but have a few projects under my belt. I'm stuck on a peculiar issue and I don't know where to start looking for a solution. Whenever I try to run "npm run build-dev", I get 38 error messages such as:

ERROR in ./src/index.js 1:13-28 Module not found: Error: Can't resolve 'path' in '/Users/******/src'

BREAKING CHANGE: webpack < 5 used to include polyfills for node.js core modules by default. This is no longer the case. Verify if you need this module and configure a polyfill for it.

If you want to include a polyfill, you need to:
    - add a fallback 'resolve.fallback: { "path": require.resolve("path-browserify") }'
    - install 'path-browserify' If you don't want to include a polyfill, you can use an empty module like this:     resolve.fallback: { "path": false }

However, my index.js has only one line:

const express = require('express');

Did I add anything in package.json or webpack.dev.js that could create dozens of can't resolve error messages? I'm quite confused as I can't initialize the project.

Thank you very much for your help, Matt

package.json

{
  *******
  "scripts": {
    "start": "node dist/bundle.js",
    "build-dev": "webpack --config webpack.dev.js",
    "build-prod": "webpack --config webpack.prod.js",
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
  },
  "keywords": [],
  "author": "",
  "license": "",
  "description": "",
  "dependencies": {
    "axios": "^0.27.2",
    "dotenv": "^16.0.2",
    "express": "^4.18.1"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@types/node": "^18.7.18",
    "babel-loader": "^8.2.5",
    "clean-webpack-plugin": "^4.0.0",
    "dotenv-webpack": "^8.0.1",
    "ts-loader": "^9.4.0",
    "webpack": "^5.74.0",
    "webpack-cli": "^4.10.0",
    "webpack-dev-server": "^4.11.1"
  }
}


webpack.dev.js 

const webpack = require('webpack');
const path = require('path');
const Dotenv = require('dotenv-webpack');

module.exports = {
    entry: './src/index.js',
    mode: 'development',
   /*resolve: {
        extensions: [".ts", ".tsx", ".js"]
      },*/
    module: {
        rules: [
            {
                test: /\.js$/,
                exclude: /node_modules/,
                loader: "babel-loader"
            }
        ]
    
    },
    plugins: [
        new Dotenv()
    ]
};