STRUTS is a 'framework' seperate from the
J2EE standard (much like Turbine, TEA and countless others). As such, J2EE containers (
Tomcat, WebLogic) have no idea of how to use STRUTS. The STRUTS ActionServlet acts as the bridge between the expected J2EE structure and STRUTS. This is why both web.xml and struts-config.xml are required.