Like other Westerners (blame Clausewitz) you mistakenly see war as a solution instead of the problem. Wars do often institute grand terrible changes but they generally make new problems as much as solve old ones: why? Because most wars are the results of miscalculations on one or both sides. Worse, wars are unpredictable agonistic conflicts where compromise is impossible due to escalation of commitment. Because the course of war is ALWAYS unforeseeable (the enemy gets a vote, third parties may intervene, technology may change, and the weather certainly will) war is not a solution. Everyone remembers Clausewitz’s stupid wrong claim that “war is continuation of politics by other means” and decide that must be true of ALL wars (as opposed to but a few). They, worse, utterly ignore Clausewitz’s more important and more accurate quote.
IN WAR, EVERYTHING IS SIMPLE.
BUT EVEN THE SIMPLEST THINGS ARE INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT IN WAR.
