War….what is it good for? Well for a few, it is good for a lot of profit.

“America…goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy,” 

-John Adams

“The sinews of war are infinite money.” 

-Cicero

Plato had it right when he said “All wars are fought for the sake of getting money.”  War is universally decried but seldom avoided.  Politicians love to speak of universal brotherhood but few can stave off the siren song of the profits and power that comes from waging war.  Rome excelled at war and conquest, while the US has had a more complicated relationship.  We will explore both.

The Roman Evolution

In the early days of the Roman Republic, the military functioned as a citizen-militia. Service was tied to property ownership, requiring citizens to supply their own armor and weapons to defend the state. Structured around the seasonal levy (dilectus), this early system fostered a strong civic ethos, as soldiers fought for their own land and constitutional representation. However, as Rome expanded across the Mediterranean, the traditional militia model began to strain under the weight of long campaigns abroad. 

 The turning point came in the late 2nd century BCE with the Marian Reforms, which abolished property requirements and opened the ranks to the landless poor (capite censi). This transformation shifted the military from an amateur civic force into a professional, standing army. However, because the Roman Senate failed to create a state-funded pension system, soldiers became entirely dependent on their individual generals for loot and post-service land allocations. This dynamic sowed the seeds of deep institutional corruption, as military command became a lucrative vehicle for personal ambition. Generals began utilizing their armies not as instruments of the Republic, but as private political instruments. 

Crassus: The Anti- Cincinnatus

 By the mid-1st century BCE, the triumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus exemplified how wealth and military power could interlock to subvert the Republic. Crassus used his immense fortune—much of it acquired through corrupt land speculation and extortion—to field personal legions, most notably during the suppression of the Spartacus slave revolt. For Crassus and his contemporary rival Julius Caesar, the military was a vehicle to gain leverage over the Senate. 

Commanding legions offered access to provincial plunder, which in turn financed election bribes (ambitus) in Rome. The ultimate decay of republican military norms culminated in civil wars, as soldiers routinely chose loyalty to a generous commander over allegiance to the state.  To stabilize this dangerous dynamic, Augustus established the Principate, creating a permanent, state-paid standing army directly loyal to the Emperor. While this initially professionalized command structures and curbed warlordism, corruption adapted to the imperial system. The Praetorian Guard, established as the Emperor’s personal security force, quickly realized its position as the ultimate kingmaker. Over time, securing the army’s favor required massive financial bribes (donativa). This extortion reached its peak during the Crisis of the Third Century, most notoriously in 193 CE when the Praetorian Guard assassinated the emperor and auctioned off the Roman Empire to the highest bidder, Didius Julianus. 

 By the Late Empire, the military apparatus had deteriorated further under systemic corruption and fiscal strain. Local elites frequently bribed imperial assessors to exempt their estate workers from conscription, forcing the army to rely increasingly on foreign “barbarian” mercenaries (foederati) who lacked ideological ties to Rome. Meanwhile, quartermasters and military officers routinely skimmed funds intended for rations, equipment, and payroll, resulting in under-supplied and demoralized troops. The late Roman legion was no longer the disciplined citizen-soldiery that had conquered the Mediterranean, but a bloated, bureaucratic force crippled by internal graft and shifting loyalties.  

Ultimately, the evolution of the Roman military reflects a transition from civic duty, think Cincinnatus,  to systemic exploitation. As the structural link between the soldier and the state dissolved, military power became a commodity bought, sold, and leveraged by ambitious generals, corrupt guards, and desperate emperors. Corruption did not merely accompany the transformation of the Roman army; it actively accelerated the erosion of constitutional order and compromised the defensive integrity of the empire itself.

The American Ideal…the American Reality

Early American foreign and military policy could best be characterized by this quote from a famous speech from John Quincy Adams. “She goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all”.  After all, the American project was in its nascent days and it really couldn’t project much power abroad anyways. It was focused on home.  

Throughout the 19th Century the country was still focused at home and the Western land that was waiting to be claimed as part of “Manifest Destiny’.  Military activity was limited to support these aims through things like the Mexican-American war, the internal Civil War, and the many skirmishes with Native Americans defending their ancestral homelands. The Monroe Doctrine was in place but hardly enforced. 

Things would change drastically in the 20th Century.  Europe’s gradual decline was accelerated by WWI and the US was the ascendent power.  The Spanish American War proved that the US could exert power and propaganda as well as the old world and business interests were fast seeing that the military could be a useful tool to further their interests.

Even before WWII started people were starting to notice the evolution of the Military. Most notable among them was one of America’s most decorated soldiers, Smedley Butler. As one of the most respected and successful military figures he was approached to lead a coup as part of a plot to overthrow the

Mr. Butler

Roosevelt Administration. Butler, a man of superb character, rebuffed the offer and alerted the authorities.  He had served long enough to be jaded to the reality of war and he coined this famous quote.

“War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.”

Shortly after this the US would be dragged into WWII.  Even though the US mainland was never really threatened this is arguably the most justified war we have fought.  Ultimately the US entrance to the war turned the tide and eventually Europe was liberated and Japan vanquished.  America was now on top and its only competition was with the USSR over who could best shape the world for the rest of the century.

As the Cold War launched, the US pursued soft power, quiet wars, and espionage to counter Soviet threats. The struggle of Capitalism vs. Communism was the perfect justification and Russia was an easy bogeyman to keep defense spending high.  This led one-time War hero and later President Dwight D Eisenhower to give his famous Military Industrial Complex speech that provided quotes like this.

“We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

Those wise words were ultimately unheaded and the military became one of the biggest pieces of what has been affectionately known as the “blob”. In its narrowest definition, it applies to how US Foreign policy is applied but recently it has merged with the notion of a permanent deep state that encapsulates the permanent bureaucracy that partners with big business interests to shape policy and influence politicians. 

Its reach is wide and could include entities like Rand Corporation, Deloitte, the State Department, DoD, and other organizations that interface with Defence contractors like Lockheed Martin. Wherever the levers of money can be controlled you can expect private interests and their attending government counterparts to be nearby exerting their influence.

Now we find ourselves $40 trillion in debt in no small part due to wars in places like in Iraq and an over extension of our military presence.  Entire industries are solely dependent on the government coffers and they have every incentive to ensure that Uncle Sam keeps doling out money on F-35’s, pointless studies, and coercive military aid. Smedley was right, war is a racket.

War Is Not Glorious, It is Big Business

From Ancient Rome to contemporary America, military forces have undergone a fundamental shift: they stopped protecting the republic and started serving the elite. Early armies were built on invested citizen-soldiers fighting for home and principle. Today, military power has been outsourced to advance economic conquest rather than actual defense. The high-minded patriotic rhetoric surrounding modern warfare is little more than a thin veneer, designed to trick a trusting public into believing elite agendas serve the common good.

Additional resources:

• Great video detailing the life of Smedley Butler- link
• How Rome used conquest to grow its wealth- link
• Video comparing Roman and US military ranks- link