Quote Originally Posted by William F. Owen View Post
Isn't the primary purpose of Government, the defence of the nation? Folks pledged their allegiance to Kings, because he defended them.
Actually, people defend themselves. They also built pyramids - the Pharaoh's did likely not lift a single stone for that.

The ancient Germanic societies were said to have a very basic system of allegiance; warriors join some "noble" man of whom they expect good leadership for a skirmish or battle. The leader didn't provide "defence" - he provided leadership.

That only changed when stirrup riders with armour (both horse and body armour were pretty much privileges of the rich in Gallic and late Germanic societies) became more important and the society turned into a feudal one in which the nobles became the standing army and judges of the country, led by a king who also governed.


In regard to "primary purpose is defence"; I have a different suspicion, and that applies to NATO as well. The primary value (and thus unofficial primary purpose) of a common government is in my opinion that it keeps the people from fighting and hindering each other - not the defence against foreigners.
The first German unification was more about getting rid of all those tariffs than about defence as far as I know.

Unifications explicitly for the purpose of a common defence (Vercingetorix, Arminius) tended not to last.