Urbanization and wars have been two of the most important continuities in modern history. This book explains how the two became connected by describing the origins and historic development of the military-industrial complex in the California urban heartland. The union between military and metropolis arose during World War I from the needs of the Navy and the ambitions of California's evolving cities. These growing cities demanded stable economies to undergird their quest for urban greatness just at the time that the Navy needed Pacific coast base sites and supportive civilian political constituencies. The exigencies of the nation state combined with the aspirations of its "imperial" cities to create an alliance between war and urban society, which was enriched during the 1920s, World War II, and the Cold War. Here, Lotchin illustrates how United States warfare was changed into California welfare.