And so following your logic, since war is expensive, it would be rational for any empire to have colonies to increase their profits and thus their ability to se

And so following your logic, since war is expensive, it would be rational for any empire to have colonies to increase their profits and thus their ability to secure themselves economically and geographically. I might add for clarification: war is almost never profitable for the common people but is highly profitable for those in power. >Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. -James Madison