Oh, and here's the really ugly part of it:

Maintaining huge military forces is VERY expensive. That in itself will presently drive the owner of those forces to either...

1. disband much of the military (which is a very hard pill to swallow, when you spent all that good money building them up)

or

2. launch new invasions of your weaker neighbours to raise much-needed cash (Thus putting your glorious military to the use they are intended for and gaining valuable experience for your troops and raising their morale and making the folks at home feel GREAT! And increasing the government's popularity too!)

You can see why option # 2 is much more appealing. ;-)

All you have to do is make sure you don't LOSE the war.

Any of this sound familiar?