Professional Military Education

Gideon Rose is the editor of Foreign Affairs, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is also the author of the book How Wars End: Why We Always Fight the Last Battle. In this week’s episode, Mr. Rose discusses why, no matter the war, we see the same mistakes occur throughout U.S. history. The truth be told, the end state in war is often too broad. The lack of planning by civilian decision-makers based on these broad and vague terms, leads to a longer-than-necessary war that could have very well been prevented, and had lives spared. However, war is inherently political, and leaving just the violence to military officials, and politics to politicians, is not the realistic balance and conclusion we all crave.   Key Takeaways: [1:55] Who is Carl Van Clausewitzian and why is he relevant to how wars end? [3:30] What is war? Clausewitzian defined it in two different ways. [6:25] The end state, in this case, goes beyond the physical battlefield, and it stretches into the political realm. [6:35] Should m