yourself of the power of offence and resting on defence alone, and the
other, the idea that war consists entirely of battles between armies or
fleets. It ignores the fundamental fact that battles are only the means of
enabling you to do that which really brings wars to an end-that is, to
exert pressure on the citizens and their collective life. "After shattering
the hostile main army," says Von der Goltz, "we still have the forcing of a
peace as a separate and, in certain circumstances, a more difficult task
... to make the enemy's country feel the burdens of war with such weight
that the desire for peace will prevail. This is the point in which Napoleon
failed.... It may be necessary to seize the harbours, commercial centres,
important lines of traffic, fortifications and arsenals, in other words,
all important property necessary to the existence of the people and army."

If, then, we are deprived of the right to use analogous means at sea, the
object for which we fight battles almost ceases to exist. Defeat the
enemy's fleets as we may, he will be but little the worse. We shall have
opened the way for invasion, but any of the great continental Powers can
laugh at our attempts to invade single-handed. If we cannot reap the
harvest of our success by deadening his national activities at sea, the
only legitimate means of pressure within our strength will be denied us.
Our fleet, if it would proceed with such secondary operations as are
essential for forcing a peace, will be driven to such barbarous expedients
as the bombardment of seaport towns and destructive raids upon the hostile
coasts.

If the means of pressure which follow successful fighting were abolished
both on land and sea there would be this argument in favour of the change,
that it would mean perhaps for civilised States the entire cessation of
war; for war would become so impotent, that no one would care to engage in
it. It would be an affair between regular armies and fleets, with which the