's navy and merchant marine brought Germany
and England into sharp competition. Military and naval men have
seen for years that these competing nations would have to go to
war some day in "self-defense."

In the minds of some people the idea of what constitutes "defense"
is rather hazy, and "defense" is deemed almost synonymous with
"resistance." Perhaps the clearest idea of what constitutes "defense"
is given in a sentence in Webster's Dictionary, that reads: "The
inmates of a fortress are _defended_ by its guns, _protected_ by
its walls, and _guarded_ against surprise by sentries."

The distinction is important, and the partially aggressive character
of defense it indicates is exemplified in all walks of human and
brute life. Any animal, no matter how peaceably inclined, will
turn on his aggressor--unless, indeed, he runs away. No one ever
saw any brute oppose a merely passive resistance to attack. Every
man recognizes in himself an instinct to hit back if he is hit. If
it be an instinct, it must have been implanted in us for a reason;
and the reason is not hard to find in the universal law of
self-protection, which cannot be satisfied with the ineffectual
method of mere parrying or resisting.

Naval defense, like military defense, therefore, is not passive
defense only, but contains an element of "offense" as well. When
the defense contains in large measure the element of offense, it is
said in military parlance to be "offensive-defensive"; and the most
effective defensive is this offensive-defensive. When a defending
force throws off its defensive attitude entirely and advances boldly
to attack, it is said to have "assumed the offensive"; but even this
assumption, especially if it be temporary--as when a beleaguered
garrison makes a sortie--does not rob the situation of its defensive
character.

For these reasons the dividing line between offense and defense
is very vague; and it is made more vague through a realization by
all military people that the offense has certain decided advantages
over the defense (unless the defense has the advantage of position);
so that when strained relations between two nations come, each
is so fearful that the other will take the offensive first, when
the two nations are near each other, that it is apt to take the
offensive first--in real _self-defense!_ A striking illustration
is the action of certain European Powers in the latter part of
July, 1914.

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