Sparta was a city-state which had acquired territories well beyond the usual area required to support itself. It had to defend these territories if it wished to keep them against external invaders. And it had to defend itself internally against the serf population which had arisen from the original inhabitants who had been conquered, and the landowners who had been absorbed but were not full citizens.

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Sparta did not seek war once it had established this extended territory, but established the means to defend it. The full citizens lived a life as warriors for this task. They also drafted the free farmers as an additional warrior force, and the serfs were employed as light infantry on campaigns. Each Spartan soldier was allocated seven serfs and land to support them so they were able to spend their time on military activites rather than being farmers and part-time soldiers as in the other Greek city-states.

So war was a means of self-defence. The Spartans were usually slow to go to war, confident in their ability to wage it but not seeking it. Their object was to promote peace and stability, to discourage intrusions by their reputation for military excellence, and to support stability amongs other states to stop the continual disagreements amongst them getting out f hand and spreading to other states, including them.

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