the various attributes contributing tonsuccess in the battles—strategy, armaments,ntactics, manpower—^virtue is conspicuouslynabsent. The good guys donnot necessarily win battles, contrary tonthe myriad Hollywood movies on WorldnWar II in which a few nice Americans inevitablyndefeat innumerable nasty nazis.nContrary to the myth of virtue triumphantn(e.g., during the Vietnam War, it wasncommonly maintained that the combatnsuperiority of North Vietnamese andnVietcong soldiers compared to the SouthnVietnamese demonstrated the superioritynof their cause), it would appear that thenside whose leadership is most brutal, indifferentnto the lives of its own troops asnwell as to those of the enemy, fares thenbest in combat. Thus, in the spring ofn1940 the armies of the democratic Alliesncrumbled in the face of the nazi blitzkrieg,nwhile, in contrast, the Russians at Stalingrad,nwho were forced to bear the mostnsevere hardships by their communistnmasters, eventually emerged victorious.nGovernments that care the least aboutnthe condition of their individual citizensnare best able to force them to endurenthe intense suffering inherent to war.nThis generalization—the more brutalnthe government the greater its militarynIn the Mailnprowess—is underscored by the resultsnof the armed conflicts between the Westnand communist countries. The Frenchnwere defeated in Indochina; the UnitednStates was unable to win either there ornin Korea. In these wars the communists’nwillingness to sacrifice countiess numbersnof their own people oflfeet the West’snsubstantial technological superiority. Thencommunists’ indifference to the loss ofnlife did not necessarily mean battlefieldnvictories, but their ability to continuenthis indefinitely eventually wore downnthe West. Middleton emphasizes that thenTet Offensive was completely quashed bynAmerican and South Vietnamesenforces, but the suicidal offensive, despitenits defeat, substantially weakened supportnfor the war on the American homenfront. In the end, it was not that thenWestern araiies were exhausted by thenstruggle, but that Western governmentsnand societies were unable to continuenthe sustained brutality needed to winnprotracted wars.n1 he inherent martial prowess of thenbrutal totalitarian state provides an interestingnmessage regarding the currentnconcern about nuclear weapons. Nuclearnweapons are usually portrayed as thenForeign Assistance: A View from tite Private Sector by Kenneth W. Thompson; UniversitynPress of America; Washington, DC. Argues the morality of aid, which is quite differentnthan the greenbacks-are-an-emerging