usies
among individuals, commercial wars among organizations, physical
wars among nations.

Yet the instinctive desire of every one is for peace and comfort,
for the maximum of good with the minimum of exertion; and therefore
the normal person dislikes to see interjected into human life the
abominable confusion of war. From this it comes about that every
nation, even if it consciously brings about a war, always endeavors
to make it appear that the other party is the aggressor. For this
reason in every country the army and navy are said to be for the
"defense" of the country. No nation, no matter how aggressive its
policy may secretly be, openly declares that it intends to provoke
aggression. This does not mean that any nation ever deliberately
raises an army and navy for aggression, and then consciously deceives
the world in regard to its intention; for men are so constituted as
to feel more or less unconsciously that their interests and desires
are proper and those of their opponent wrong; and every nation is
so firmly persuaded of the righteousness of its own policies as
to feel that any country which exhibits antagonism toward these
policies is trying to provoke a fight.

Now these policies, especially after a nation has adhered to them
for long, seem vital in her eyes, and they usually are so. To Great
Britain, whose major policy is that she must be mistress of the
seas, it is vital that she should be. Her people are surrounded
by the ocean, and unless they are willing simply to eke out an
agricultural existence, it is essential that she should be able
to manufacture articles, send them out in ships to all parts of
the world, and receive in return money and the products of other
lands. In order that she may be able to do this, she must feel
sure that no power on earth can restrain the peaceful sailing to
and fro of her exporting and importing ships. This assurance can be
had only through physical force; it can be exerted only by a navy.
Germany has been gradually coming into the same position, and the
same clear comprehension, owing to the increase of her population,
the growth of their desire for wealth, and their realization of
the control by Great Britain and the United States of large areas
of the surface of the earth. Germany's determination to break down,
at least in part, that overpowering command of the sea which Great
Britain wields has been the result. The ensuing rapid growth and
excellence of Germany