A State is a society occupying a definite territory and obeying the direction of a government. Its purpose is first to provide that security which enables men to work for their living and then to render possible to its people, through law, order and co operation, that free exercise of their faculties that makes life worth living. The division and specialisation of labour produce capital, which gives scope for the development of men's mental and spiritual powers. Obedience to law becomes habitual and spontaneous. The arts and sciences flourish. Within the State groWs up a variety of associations, industrial, commercial, intel lectual and religious. The State asserts its supremacy over them all and admits no rival to the supreme authority of its government.
Growth means expansion. The orderly life of the State brings with it an increase of population, of wealth and of power and the multiplication of those wants which the community feels and endeavours to supply. Expansion means first of all more space. The growing State seeks to enlarge its boundary. If the
land beyond its borders is unoccupied, all that is required is to take possession of it ; but if it is the property of another State its occupation will be resisted and there will be war. Every State therefore has its organs for war, its armed forces.
In the anatomy of the State as of any other organism structure corresponds to function. The organs of nutrition and circulation, usually self-controlled, are the agricultural and commercial sys tems. The organs of perception and action, controlled by the organ of direction, the government, are the diplomatic service, the army and the navy, to which the twentieth century has added the air force. A full view of war will perhaps best be obtained by a consideration of the structure and working of the organs of action, beginning with the army as the oldest and best known, and tracing their evolution in connection with that of the State. The ground will thus be cleared for a retrospective and prospective view of the relation between war and civilisation.