The means available (or opposed) in war are the human and material components of fighting strength (page 8). The physical conditions prevailing in the field of action are, in war, the characteristics of the theater of operations. Fighting strength is thus derived from the means available (or opposed) in war, as influenced by the characteristics of the theater. Relative fighting strength (comparative resources in war) involves a comparison of means available with means opposed, due account being taken of the influence exerted on both by the characteristics of the theater. In war, relatively large masses of human beings oppose each other with hostile intent, while the means available and opposed, and the physical conditions established by the operations of war in the theater of action, tend more and more to acquire a highly specialized character. The consequences as to costs, in war, also assume a special significance, inasmuch as they may materially influence the development of entire nations or of the world situation. Factors as Universal Determinants in War. Tabulated for convenient reference and expressed in terms in general use in the military profession, the factors governing the attainment of an end in war are therefore: (a) The Nature of the appropriate Effect Desired, (b) The Means Available and Opposed, (c) The Characteristics of the Theater of Operations, and (d) The Consequences as to Costs. These factors, thus expressed in abstract form, are the universal determinants of the nature of the objective and of the character of the action to attain it. Their further resolution into factors of more concrete form is indicated hereinafter (see Chapter VI, in the discussion of Section II of the Estimate Form). The Objective in War. The objective (page 3), a term long in use in the military profession in connection with the "objective point", has acquired by extension the significance of something more than the physical object of action. The latter, as explained later (page 37), is properly denominated the "physical objective". In the abstract, an "objective", in present general usage as well as in the military vocabulary, is an end toward which action is being directed, or is to be directed; in brief, an end in view, a result to be attained, an effect desired (pages 19 and 30). An objective is an effect to be produced for the attainment of a further objective, itself a further effect. As already demonstrated (page 30 and following), the attainment of an end, in any human activity, requires action to maintain the existing situation or to create a new one. Therefore, in war, a special form of human activity, the attainment of an objective requires that action be actual imposition of an outside agency. The attainment of a correct military objective (discussed in detail in Chapter IV) requires, accordingly, the creation or maintenance of a favorable military situation.