- [!] Status - status-updated:: completed 2021-08-06 There's this really common phenomenon where people will ask, "What's your favorite war?" I kind of hate this question, mostly because the history buff obsession with different wars often makes me uncomfortable. World War II was horrible, World War I was horrible, the Punic Wars were horrible. The Napoleonic Wars, The 100 Years War, the War of the Roses... I generally find all of them more depressing than interesting. Like the protagonist’s mother in _The Offer,_ I’m less concerned with the strategic outcomes sought by distant leaders and more concerned with the heartbreak and loss war leads to on the “home front.” If we're talking about war, I try to never lose sight of the fact that, inevitably, a lot of people died. Nothing good really comes from war. At best, a war can stop terrible things from continuing to happen, and you can say "it was necessary to get involved." But the breathless enthusiasm some people—some war buffs, I guess—have for certain historic wars makes me uncomfortable. That isn't to say that I don't think we shouldn't study war—there's a lot to be learned from history, good and bad. And so, when pressed, I will admit that the War of 1812 is my favorite war. It's the war that [multiple sides felt they won](https://nationalpost.com/news/tallying-the-winners-and-losers-of-the-war-of-1812). (Not all: the Native Americans who allied with the British definitely didn’t “win” the War of 1812.) The British felt like they achieved their goal, because they managed to impress enough naval soldiers for them to win their war against the French. For them, the War of 1812 was a sideshow to the Napoleonic War. Their fight with the French was in fact the impetus behind the War of 1812, since they desperately needed more sailors for their naval battles. Plus, they managed to defend their colonies: the Canadians feel like they won because they managed to stave off American invasion. Americans feel like they won because they managed to get the British to stop impressing their sailors into the British Navy. To be sure, the War of 1812 is a relatively obscure war; it's barely covered in classrooms outside of the Baltimore region, and when it comes up, it's relevant mostly because the national anthem was written during the [Battle of Baltimore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baltimore). One might think that one of the reasons the War of 1812 resonates with me so much is because I grew up in the area. I drove past the monument for the [Battle of North Point](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_North_Point) on a weekly basis for most of my teens and 20s. I visit [Fort McHenry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_McHenry) and [Fort Smallwood Park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Smallwood_Park)—both which both fought in the defense of Fort McHenry—pretty regularly. That isn't why, though. I value the War of 1812 above other wars because it is a constant reminder that wars are won the hearts of men, not on the fields of battle. Winning a war is, to my mind, best defined by who's achieved their objective. Sometimes more than one objective can be achieved and everyone "wins." Sometimes war ends in a Pyrrhic victory, where no one really “wins.” America dominated the battlefields of Vietnam but [never achieved its objectives](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2wmizc/what_was_the_united_states_overall_goal_during/). This has led to a lot of frustration on the part of generals and political “hawks,” who point to the incredible military might of the United States and want to know why the US Military can’t just go in and smash everything and “win the war.” The trouble is that [wars typically aren’t fought with the goal of total annihilation of the enemy in mind](https://www.quora.com/Which-part-of-the-year-season-started-most-wars). For one, genocide tends to upset trade partners, and for two, destroyed cities can’t produce resources. Modern war at the level the “great states” are playing is usually about [geopolitical hegemony, it’s about power and influence](https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/bidens-failure-on-covid-vaccine-monopolies). Most of the wars that have been fought by the United States in the last 30 years have ostensibly had the goal of spreading democracy, or establishing a stable government, and those kinds of objectives are just fundamentally harder than “capturing a city” or controlling a territory so that members of the state population can occupy it safely, as was the case in during American westward expansion. For that, you need propaganda. You need *complete* control not just of the land but of the people; You need things that are just not possible without complete conquests in a way that modern wars isn't oriented around. Damn few ancient wars were fought with that goal, either—the ancients were mostly raiding for supplies and trying to settle disputes at the point of a sword. Wars of deliberate territorial expansion are comparatively rare, especially if you’re looking for examples where the bureaucracy of the state is turned toward the task, rather than one conqueror like Genghis Khan or Alexander the Great. The two pre-modern examples I can think of off the top of my head are Rome and the Inca. The Inca and and the Roman systems were remarkably similar. The Romans took control of nearby lands and then went out of their way to educate the high-ranking sons of tribal nobility, bringing them into Roman culture as a way to spread Roman culture. The Inca did something similar, [educating the sons of conquered enemies](https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2019/07/26/the-inca-empire-at-its-greatest/). It served a two-fold purpose, as the boys functioned as hostages but also came to identify with and value the conqueror’s culture—making them less likely to rebel. Wars like that are won in hearts and minds; empires fight for _hegemony_. People, though—people fight for the ones they love, and will embrace their own suffering to protect their loved ones, just as the protagonist of _The Offer_ has done. ## See also - [[2021-03-17#^95e512]] - [[The Tyrants of Syracuse by Jeff Champion#wars are won in the hearts of men]] - [[War of 1812]]