ABSTRACT
Napoleon, Maxims of War When a nation’s leadership makes the decision to pursue national goals by the use of military force it means, or at least it should mean, that the order the national leaders want to emerge from the chaos of war will be worth the expenditure of both lives and treasure. The potential cost of reaching that desired new order should be a part of the analysis of the situation prior to deciding to resort to to the use of military force. No matter how the war goes, at some point the chaos will end and give way to a new order of some fashion which may or may not be what the national leadership had in mind, so the decision to plunge into the chaos of war should not be open-ended.
