bject as attained, and the
business of War as ended, by a peace.

As protection of the country is the primary object for which the
military force exists, therefore the natural order is, that first of all
this force should be destroyed, then the country subdued; and through
the effect of these two results, as well as the position we then hold,
the enemy should be forced to make peace. Generally the destruction of
the enemy's force is done by degrees, and in just the same measure the
conquest of the country follows immediately. The two likewise usually
react upon each other, because the loss of provinces occasions a
diminution of military force. But this order is by no means necessary,
and on that account it also does not always take place. The enemy's
Army, before it is sensibly weakened, may retreat to the opposite side
of the country, or even quite outside of it. In this case, therefore,
the greater part or the whole of the country is conquered.

But this object of War in the abstract, this final means of attaining
the political object in which all others are combined, the DISARMING THE
ENEMY, is rarely attained in practice and is not a condition necessary
to peace. Therefore it can in no wise be set up in theory as a law.
There are innumerable instances of treaties in which peace has been
settled before either party could be looked upon as disarmed; indeed,
even before the balance of power had undergone any sensible alteration.
Nay, further, if we look at the case in the concrete, then we must say
that in a whole class of cases, the idea of a complete defeat of the
enemy would be a mere imaginative flight, especially when the enemy is
considerably superior.

The reason why the object deduced from the conception of War is not
adapted in general to real War lies in the difference between the two,
which is discussed in the preceding chapter. If it was as pure theory
gives it, then a War between two States of very unequal military
strength would appear an absurdity; therefore impossible. At most, the
inequality between the physical forces might be such that it could be
balanced by the moral forces, and that would not go far with our present
social condition in Europe. Therefore, if we have seen Wars take place
between States of very unequal power, that has been the case because
there is a wide difference between War in reality and its original
conception.

There are two considerations which as motives may practically