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# Colonial Military Burden

## Definition

The cost and responsibility of providing military protection for colonies, including naval forces, regular troops, and occasional war expenditures. This burden fell almost entirely on the mother country despite colonies being the primary beneficiaries of protection and often the source of military conflicts.

## Source Chapter

Book IV, Chapter 7

## Context

Smith identifies the military burden as the primary cost of empire that cannot be justified by benefits from colonial trade. He argues that this disproportionate burden, combined with the inefficiencies created by monopoly policies, makes the current colonial system economically disadvantageous for the mother country.

## Economic Domain

Regulation

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