We no longer need to wonder what it would be like to lose a war on our own territory. We just lost one to Russia, and the consequence was the election of Donald Trump. The war followed the new rules of the 21st century, but its goal was the usual one of political change.
The greatest student of war, Carl von Clausewitz, defined war as “an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will.” In his own time, the 19th century, force meant battle: “there is only one means in war: combat.” Combat is not war, but a means to win a war, to impose one’s will.
