The will to fight: Explaining an army's staying power

Why do the armies of some countries fight harder during war than the armies of other countries? What factors explain an army's will to fight, or its capacity to stay intact and to continue fighting under adverse conditions? Scholars as well as policy-makers remain puzzled as to why some armies fold under the pressure of conflict and why others are able to resist their adversaries until the bitter end.; This dissertation argues an army's will to fight depends on the cohesion of the society that supplies its manpower and the cohesion of the military organization that trains it for war. Cohesion refers to the unity and the degree to which members hold collectivist beliefs, the idea that individuals should identify their personal interests with a group's interests. Because divisions preclude the formation of groups, unity is the precondition for cohesion. Collectivism, in contrast, describes how committed individuals are to pursuing group interests. Highly cohesive groups are unified and collectivist. Less cohesive groups, in contrast, are untied but lack or collectivism, or simply divided.; Societal and military cohesion interact to influence the determination of a country's military in three ways. First, because individual citizens define their personal interests in terms of society's interests, highly cohesive societies produce armies with a capacity to endure wars where victory appears unlikely. Second, less cohesive societies cannot endure long wars where victory looks unlikely because opposition will emerge on the home front to sap the staying power of its army. Lastly, cohesive military organizations train and sustain their units to fight with determination under the adverse conditions that accompany long defensive or losing campaigns.; To demonstrate the plausibility of this argument, the dissertation presents two sets of comparative case studies. The first set traces the fighting determination of the French and German land forces in World War II. The second set of case studies examines the fighting performance of the North Vietnamese and the American armed forces during the Vietnam War. Although the United States won every battle, a highly cohesive North Vietnamese society and military could outlast American forces to win the overall war.