In Animal Farm, what is the Chapter 5 dispute about farm defense?
After the animals successfully rout the attacking farmers, they have a disagreement over how to continue providing for the common defense. Showcasing their different leadership styles, Napoleon and Snowball argue:
According to Napoleon, what the animals must do was to procure firearms and train themselves in the use of them. According to Snowball, they must send out more and more pigeons and stir up rebellion among the animals on the other farms.
(Orwell, Animal Farm, george-orwell.org)
Napoleon's ideal defense is a strong weapons plan, to fight off attackers and prove to the world that the Animal Farm is a working, vital entity. Snowball's plan is to make the issue of farm defense moot; with all the other farms dealing with their own uprisings, there will be no attackers and so no need to defend. Each position has merits: on the one hand, if the farm is self-sufficient...
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in defense, they have little to fear; on the other hand, if they never need to defend, ready access to weapons could be internally dangerous. At the time, neither side wins precedence, and the issue of the day moves on to the windmill.
References
In "Animal Farm," what is the dispute about farm defense and which animal is ejected?
Animal Farm is George Orwell's 1945 novel about animals who seize control of a farm. It reflects events in the early history of the Soviet Union.
In the story, the animals, having faced one human attempt to retake the farm, soon become aware a second attack is coming. Snowball and Napoleon disagree about the best method for defense, with their disagreement paralleling the disagreement between Joseph Stalin's concept of "socialism in one country" and Leon Trotsky's idea of "permanent revolution," which argued that the international vanguard could not survive in a capitalist world and therefore non-capitalist states must be made socialist.
In this case, Napoleon argues for a static defense of the farm using firearms, similar to Stalin's concept of "socialism in one country." Snowball, by contrast, says that the animals must "send out more and more pigeons and stir up rebellion among the animals on the other farms."
Napoleon ultimately prevails, forcing Snowball to flee the farm, not unlike Trotsky's own exile from the Soviet Union.
Napoleon and Snowball disagree about the best way to defend the farm. Snowball wants to create more rebellions on other farms by sending the pigeons to stir things up. Napoleon thinks the best way to secure their safety is to do it from within. He wants to get weapons and train the animals to use them.
Snowball believes the way to improve the farm is through the building of a windmill. Napoleon does not think it is a good idea, he wants to increase food production. They decide to put it to a vote. When the animals come together to vote, and the vote appears to favor Snowball's idea, Napoleon cues the nine dogs he took under his wing, and they rush at Snowball. Snowball is forced to run for his life, and narrowly escapes. He is never heard from again.