War, i.e., armed men, are applied, there the idea of fighting must of
necessity be at the foundation.

All, therefore, that relates to forces of War--all that is connected
with their creation, maintenance, and application--belongs to military
activity.

Creation and maintenance are obviously only the means, whilst
application is the object.

The contest in War is not a contest of individual against individual,
but an organised whole, consisting of manifold parts; in this great
whole we may distinguish units of two kinds, the one determined by the
subject, the other by the object. In an Army the mass of combatants
ranges itself always into an order of new units, which again form
members of a higher order. The combat of each of these members forms,
therefore, also a more or less distinct unit. Further, the motive of the
fight; therefore its object forms its unit.

Now, to each of these units which we distinguish in the contest we
attach the name of combat.

If the idea of combat lies at the foundation of every application of
armed power, then also the application of armed force in general is
nothing more than the determining and arranging a certain number of
combats.

Every activity in War, therefore, necessarily relates to the combat
either directly or indirectly. The soldier is levied, clothed, armed,
exercised, he sleeps, eats, drinks, and marches, all MERELY TO FIGHT AT