Book contents
- Why America Loses Wars
- Why America Loses Wars
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- 1 Are We at War? What Do We Want? And Do We Want to Win?
- 2 The Way We Think about War (Particularly Limited War) Is Broken: Here Is How We Fix It
- 3 The Political Objective: Why Nations Fight (Limited) Wars
- 4 Constraints: Or Why Wars for Limited Aims are So Difficult
- 5 Strategy: How to Think about Fighting for a Limited Political Objective
- 6 And You Thought the War Was Hard: Ending the War and Securing the Peace
- Conclusion: Is History Rhyming?
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - Constraints: Or Why Wars for Limited Aims are So Difficult
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 August 2019
- Why America Loses Wars
- Why America Loses Wars
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- 1 Are We at War? What Do We Want? And Do We Want to Win?
- 2 The Way We Think about War (Particularly Limited War) Is Broken: Here Is How We Fix It
- 3 The Political Objective: Why Nations Fight (Limited) Wars
- 4 Constraints: Or Why Wars for Limited Aims are So Difficult
- 5 Strategy: How to Think about Fighting for a Limited Political Objective
- 6 And You Thought the War Was Hard: Ending the War and Securing the Peace
- Conclusion: Is History Rhyming?
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
All wars are fought under constraints. Wars for limited aims generally suffer from more numerous and intent constraints because the value of the political objective sought tends to be lower, and thus states will often do less and pay less for a shorter time. The most important constraints are the value of the enemy’s political objective, time, internal public opinion, the international political environment (which usually means third-party nations with an interest in your war), geography, and the military means (which includes nuclear weapons). Military and political leaders need to understand how these constraints affect their ability to fight and win the war, and they must also determine whether the constraints are actual or self-imposed, and, if they are self-imposed, whether or not they are wise. The constraints are examined via examples from the Korean, Vietnam, and Iraq Wars.
Keywords
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- Why America Loses WarsLimited War and US Strategy from the Korean War to the Present, pp. 81 - 120Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019