0:02 hello and welcome to business lessons from the military I'm your host Kevin bemel and we're here every Tuesday at 10: a. Pacific time to talk about military history do military Doctrine and the practices of great military leaders and turn them into lessons that we can use in our business and professional lives so today um for those of you who saw the social media posts um the um Today's show was was titled um
0:37 uh achieving success with requires a well-defined mission right and and this may sound you know completely pedestrian well of well of course but I think for most of us we don't give enough time to thinking about really what is it we're seeking to achieve and formulating that into a into formulating it in a way that we can actually tell whether we've
1:12 achieved it or not so so for example um you know someone might have a a YouTube channel like mine okay and their goal may be to become the most influential YouTube channel in the world let's make that a lofty goal okay but what does that mean how do how do we measure that right and so this is the Crux of it so what I'm going to be talking about today are the wars that have been lost and won
1:50 by the United States under over our 200 what 50 roughly 250 year history okay 240 year history and showing you how this this issue really impacted whether we could claim the war was was one or lost so um over the last roughly 250 years the United States has been involved in 12 Wars now you know some of you may count them differently um you
2:25 know there have been conflicts that we've been been involved with that perhaps don't um rise to the level of of of an actual War there are conflicts included in this list that technically are not a war because war was not declared by Congress and it's only Congress can declare war um yet for example we talk about the Korean War as a war even though it was actually a police action under the opes of the United Nation nonetheless I'm going to talk about these 12
3:01 and and show you how having a a a well-defined mission for that war really was how we were a is is how we're able to determine whether the war was successful or not so the first war in which America as a nation was involved was of course the the American Revolution or the war for independence now I prefer the name name the war for independence because it states in the name of the war what the goal for that
3:38 military action was okay the Revolutionary War I mean okay it was a revolution from you know from this situation to that situation or whatever it really doesn't describe what what it was all about but the war for independence was essentially the war we fought in order to achieve our independence from Great Britain that was the goal of the war to set up an independent country right and and we know that because at the at the
4:15 Continental Congress the uh the delegates put together the Declaration of Independence right which those of you who joined me on this past Fourth of July um I read and it actually out led the wise and the wherefores of the United States it created the United States um and and and its its reason for for fighting this war and becoming an independent country and in fact at the end of the when the war ended in
4:51 1783 the United States was an independent separate country it was no longer part of the British Empire or for that matter what even what became the com the Commonwealth of of uh Great Britain whereas Canada which which is also a an independent country remains part of the British Commonwealth the United States does not we we became a fully independent country in 1983 I'm sorry in in 1783 um excuse me now the next War we
5:28 fought is what's known as the War of 1812 because it started in 1812 and on some level just the name of the war tells you that the goal was what was the goal of this war so the war really started over issues of the British impressment of American Seaman U which means they would stop um an American vessel they would take Sailors off of that vessel and force them to work on on British vessels that's what
6:05 they we call the impressment of American sailor there was also the Great Britain was was interfering in our um trade our international trade and also um in order to harass um the United States um Great Britain was supporting attacks by Native Americans especially on American settlers on kind of the West Wern borders of of the colonies and and so the the War of 1812 was essentially fought in order
6:41 to address these issues of British interference in American Affairs now it's it's typically marked as as as a win for the United States but the reality is that it didn't I mean it didn't it didn't really stop these things so Great Britain continued to Fu um uh unrest among Native Americans and and violence between Americans and Native between Americans and Native Americans continued um you know Great Britain still sought to have an
7:16 influence on our trade there was no way they were not going to right we were two seaf fairing Nations competing um to carry trade and to move Goods around and so in the end the war ended up in a treaty but but it it didn't really change much in terms of how things worked going forward and and I would argue that because there was no clear goal like uh you know defeating the British
7:51 and colonizing them or something not of course we weren't going to do that but but you know the idea of stopping British influence in American Affairs it's a what does that even mean right to this day Great Britain has influence in American Affairs and we have influence in British Affairs that is the nature of countries interacting right so there's no clear well-defined mission that we sought through fighting that war and as a result there wasn't
8:26 really a clear win in that war okay so the next war is the Mexican-American War from 1846 to 1848 now this is this is kind of an interesting War because it it it grew out of this idea of manifest destiny this this was the the philosophy that the United States was bound to control the land from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean that was our
9:02 destiny our Manifest Destiny right to essentially take over this the middle swath of the North American continent and the foreign power that was in our way was Mexico right Mexico had recently become independent from Spain and and Mexico really held a great deal of the territory that is now um Texas and the and the American uh Southwest and so if we were going to achieve this
9:39 Manifest Destiny we had to get rid of Mexico that's really what it came down to and so some would say the United States legitimately fought others would say that they created you know conflict in order to start the war but in any event this this war between the United States and Mexico that ended in 1848 under the Treaty of guadalupi adalo okay that treaty among other things
10:14 seeded to the United States most of the most of the Southwest uh portion of the country including California Arizona New Mexico I think it included parts of Nevada and color colado as well so that whole sort of Southwest quarter of the United States was gained through the United States winning the Mexican-American War okay other things happened as a result of the Treaty of guadalupi AD Dalgo um but but they were ancillary to
10:49 these territorial gains right and and as well the we didn't really get Texas through the Mexican-American War Texas um declared itself independent from Mexico and then fought a war of its own in order to um sustain that independence from Mexico that's the the famous um battle at at at the Alo and and and other battles within Texas and then Texas voluntarily became part of the United States and in
11:25 fact because of that excuse me me Texas Remains the only country that on some level uh the only state I mean that on some level can legitimately seced from the United States because it was an actual independent country before it became part of the United States whereas none of the other states were independent countries they were States but they weren't nations in in the in the meaning of that word okay so the Mexican-American war was a win for the the United States because we gained what
12:02 what our objective was which was our Manifest Destiny at the end of of 1848 the United States now spanned from coast to coast okay all right the next war was the American Civil War which was fought from 1861 to 1865 now the two parties obviously were separate parts of the United States the North and the South and they had um diverging goals so the Confederacy sought to secede from the union and
12:39 become its own country okay and the north the original goal as as stated by President Lincoln was to maintain the Union in other words maintain the United States um as as an overall whole country and and and that eventually came to include the abolition of slavery and indeed the north of course won that war and the union was sustained so while you know if either side had won I guess you could claim that you know America won that war but
13:16 America as the country it was pre Civil War is won the Civil War the Union was maintained and uh in the uh what was it the 19th amendment I believe slavery was abolished and the southern states that had rebelled in order to become part of the Union had to pass the the the 19th Amendment um and so so both of the stated objectives of that war were met so that was a war one so then things
13:51 were pretty calm for about almost 50 year well for 50 years or thereabouts um because for well for about 45 years because the next war was the Spanish American war of 1898 it was a short war and it again it was a war with really not a well-defined mission we wanted to support Cuban Independence we wanted to respond to the explosion that sunk the USS Main in Havana Harbor um which you
14:28 know his Ians I think still debate to this day whether that was you know the SP Spanish government in Havana who caused it which is what the newspapers reported especially the Hurst newspapers or whether it was an accident caused by people on the ship or whether it was something that was done on purpose by the United States in order to build up you know a war fervor right but in any event in the end while the United States States um ended up getting control over some former Spanish territories that
15:05 that we actually we still have control over two of them today those that is of pu Puerto Rico and Guang um we also gain control over the Philippines um we eventually um uh essentially gave the Philippines their freedom they became an in a country independent from both the United States and Spain but that wasn't the objective of the war so while people talk about the Spanish-American War as being a a war of colonialism it it it really wasn't I mean it was just this
15:40 sort of jingoistic undefined military action that the United States got involved with um of course there was you know the famous write up sand Juan Hill that helped make Theodore Roosevelt so famous and and and things like that but in but in the and while I guess we won right but what what is what is it that we won who who who knows I mean gaining you know territory you know Guam you know Puerto Rico you know what do these really do
16:15 for us I mean I know we have a we have a military base in Guam of course but at the time there was no there was no need for that it wasn't really um anything that um was was of use to the United States and so and so so again because there was no and by the way it didn't stop really conflict in these areas um even today there's conflict in in Puerto Rico because some Puerto Ricans they want to become a state others want Puerto Rico to be an independent country
16:52 um you have something similar going on in Guam so nothing really was was was said whereas if you look at um the United the continental United States um you really don't see any any significant um action to try and make um uh you know Arizona an independent country or something like that it's a Well settled issue all right so then next up on the you know War Hit Parade is World War I now this is kind of an interesting conflict because
17:30 World War I started in 1914 in Europe and uh I I know when I was growing up and and I you know learned that the United States was involved in World War I I thought we got involved you know pretty much at the beginning but indeed we were actually only involved in World War I for about a year and a half we we got involved around April of 1917 and the war ended in November of 1918 on the 11th day of the 11th month at the 11th Hour of 1918 that's when
18:07 Combat Action stopped in World War I and woodro Wilson who was president at that time he went he kept the United States out of World War I during his first term and then he touted that he had kept us out of the war as part of his run for second term as president and it was only as as things um started uh really heating up in Europe and turning against um the the Allied Powers mostly um uh
18:44 Britain Great Britain France and Russia um that that eventually wood woodro Wilson changed his mind and sent the a the American expeditionary Force headed up by General John persing to EUR Europe to help out the Allied Forces against the Central Powers the Central Powers were Germany Austria Hungary and the Ottoman Empire now I've talked um about different parts of World War I um different battles over the last you know
19:21 couple of months I think um here's the thing the US's goal in World War I was basically to support the Allied powers and and and help them win the war which they sort of did I mean here's the thing about World War I the Allied Powers eventually got Germany and Austria Hungary to admit defeat however for for students of World
19:56 Wars one and two World War I was really World War I and two in a way they were there were one large conflict over a long period of time because really nothing was settled as a result of World War I because again there were no clear goals other than um you know defeat Germany um and and Germany was defeated but it was it was just after that it was just sort of you know turned away from and and and and
20:33 hence the things that happened there were the precursor to the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party and and uh World War II so although again you could make a case that World War I you know we won World War I um in a way that win isn't so clear I would argue you because 20 years later it's basically 20 years later we were back at war in Europe so and I would argue the
21:09 reason that's the case is because we didn't have a clear goal for World War I uh and and and then when I say a clear goal what I mean is both a goal of winning and then what happens okay now contrast that with World War II okay in world world World War II which started in Europe in 1939 okay and the US was not officially involved in that war until December 7th
21:44 1941 with Pearl Harbor um but the US was involved a lot in supplying um military hardware ships in convoying um Merchant ships across the Atlantic sorts of things okay so within about a month and a half of the US declaring war on Germany and Japan Winston Churchill and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt prime minister Winston chural I should say met in Casablanca in Northern Africa and they
22:20 issued a decree that the war would be won when the axis Powers essentially Germany and Japan um uh um were unconditionally they surrendered unconditionally right that was how um the war would be won now the interesting thing about this is while Germany did end up surrendering
22:55 unconditionally in U I believe it was May of 1945 okay the Japanese actually didn't technically unconditionally surrender so the surrender message that the Japanese Imperial Japan issued was we'll surrender as long as the emperor can stay you know at least as the figure head of of our government and and and the United States after you know dropping the two atomic bombs and getting that message the United States
23:31 accepted that that as being an unconditional surrender because power was taken away from the emperor so he he remains a figurehead but he had no no Authority within the government any longer now the thing about World War II that's different and constitutes an actual win was having unconditionally defeated both Japan and Germany the United States in the case of Japan and the United States and her allies Great Britain
24:07 France and Russia in the case of Germany occupied these conquered Nations and they reformed them in a way that they would be functioning Nations okay that would become allies of their respective countries and and and therefore we wouldn't have a repeat of what happened after World War I so again there was a very clear mission for World
24:43 War II okay make uh get unconditional surrender by our enemies and then largely remake these countries in our images and so um until the reunification of Germany in um 199 1989 um when President Reagan was President you had Japan which was e economically and politically to a great deal remade in the image of the United States and you had West Germany that was
25:20 largely remade in the image of the United States France and Great Britain and you had East Germany which was largely remade made in the image of the Soviet Union right and while the Cold War followed on um between the United States and and Russia essentially um there was there was no hot War so from the end of World War II in 1945 until the Soviet Union fell in 1991 there was not a war between the
25:55 United States and and the Soviet Union now what there were were a couple of proxy wars um and and by the way at the at that time during that period unlike now where it's reversed China was kind of a a a a proxy State for the Soviet Union and so in 1950 through 1953 we fought the so-called Korean War to stop the spread of
26:31 Communism okay that was that was the the you know the the goal of that war um did it work not really you know um yes so what what ended up happening was Korea ended up partitioned at the end of the war which is the same situation we were in at the beginning of the war so while I you know many people consider the Korean War to be an American victory we didn't achieve our goal we didn't stop the
27:07 spread of Communism um part of half of Korea basically became communist it is till this day right North Korea is a terribly poor country um the people there are malnourished if if you look at the size of a North Korean versus a South Korean you they North Koreans are much smaller the the quality of life in North Korea is is much worse than it is in South Korea which is a modern democracy and and has a vibrant economy and a vibrant Society so um again although maybe technically the Korean
27:43 war is is considered a victory we didn't because the the goal what what did it what does it mean to stop the spread of Communism to stop it from spreading to South Korea has is that enough of a spread or to stop it spreading to Korea in total well for sure we lost that right to stop it spreading from other places in the world no that didn't happen Cuba became communist after uh after the um Korean war was over so be I mean what is what what what does it mean to stop the spread of Communism right
28:20 and and that's an a very ill defined goal and so because of that there's no way to tell whether we really want or lost the Korean War I would argue we lost it by the way um because communism has spread and and more to the point Marxist ideals have spread even into this country right so um they become much more pronounced in the last few years than they ever were back in the 1960s 70s and and certainly the 80s right and so because we had this IL defined goal um we ended up essentially
28:57 losing um you know losing that war now that's very similar to what happened in the Vietnam War so the Vietnam War also was supposed to stop the spread of Communism in Southeast Asia now that that didn't work for sure the the United States lost the Vietnam War because eventually the United States withdrew from South Vietnam and North Vietnam the the Communist part of of Vietnam took over South Vietnam and the
29:32 whole country became a communist country so again this sort of vague idea of of um of stopping the spread of Communism not a well-defined goal and therefore it resulted in a war lost now it wasn't until 1990 and the What's called the first Gulf War or just the Gulf War that once again we had a very welldefined Mission there so that we could actually
30:07 determine whether we won or lost a war so the Gulf War that lasted from 1990 to 1991 the purpose of that war was to kick the Iraqis out of Kuwait and reverse the annexation of Kuwait by Iraq and reestablish it as an independent country and we did right and so we won the first Gulf War now you know hopefully the United States could win a war against Iraq right um but because we had that
30:43 welldefined objective of essentially freeing Kuwait and reestablishing it as an independent country right we we we can you know claim victory in that war okay now contrast that with the other two well with with the second Gulf War which is you know the the the Iraqi War um which was from 2003 until 2011 and the war in Afghanistan from 2001 until
31:18 2021 so the the goal of the war in in Afghanistan was to topple the Taliban and and create a situation where Afghanistan could no longer be used as a Haven for terrorists to launch attacks against the United States and our allies and where where are we after you know 20 years of warfare the Taliban is in control of Afghanistan so again we we clearly ended up losing that war and and again I mean what does it mean to you
31:55 know dismantle the Taliban which is how it was usually you know versed what does that mean to literally kill every member of the talban well that's not possible right the only way to to defeat a regime so for example in World War II we defeated the Nazis did we kill every na no absolutely we we clearly did not okay what we did is we got the leaders of the Nazi regime to
32:31 unconditionally surrender and then we occupied their country and we completely reformed it in in our own image essentially and in and part of that were the nerenberg trials where former Nazis were put on trial for war crimes many of them were found guilty and executed or imprisoned right so we we essentially completely devastated the country not just militarily and economically but socially as well and then rebuilt it
33:06 from the ground up that's the only way that a war against an essentially an ideology can be one is you have to destroy any ability for that ideology to be recreated in the country and it takes decades right it took from the end of World War II until really into into you know 1989 1990 to rebuild Germany and reunify it
33:43 into one Democratic country so it took what 35 years is that right 35 40 50 80 yeah no 45 years it took 45 years to recreate Germany into a viable Ally of the United States and one that wasn't dominated by an evil um philosophy like Nazism right and and we we didn't do that in Kuwait now you could say we should we should never have gone in those are those are great arguments to have over or discussions to have over bourbon but there there is no arguing
34:20 that for all intents and purposes we lost the war in Afghanistan and similarly the the Iraqi War which started in 2003 initially it the its intention was to topple Saddam Hussein and and and get rid of the weapons of mass destruction the wmd right now A lot has been talked about that there were never any weapons of mass destruction destruction found and and and this was you know President Bush's fault and blah blah blah blah blah the fact of the matter is both the
34:55 Clinton and Bush second Bush admin ations believed that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq um you know we've never sifted through any every single grain of sand in the country we didn't find them um you know after a long search who knows maybe they were there maybe it was bad us intelligence who knows but here's the bottom line what ended up happening was that war morphed into building a democratic government in Iraq but here's here's the here's the problem and and why we lost the Iraqi
35:31 War same as with the Afghanistan war and that is it takes you know close to it took H close to half a century to rebuild Germany in in our image and and German Society German culture was more similar to the United States than a Middle East culture like Iraq which is a much more tribal culture it has very different cultural norms so the idea that that we would be able to um recreate Iraq in our image in what
36:08 amounted to not even 10 years very very foolish wasn't going to happen and hence IR Iraq now it is really not an ally of the United States um a lot of bad things come out of Iraq and and hence why I would argue that we we lost the Iraqi War as well so in some total we actually out of the 12 Wars we only actually won five of them five of the 12 Wars the United States has been involved with the American Revolution or the war for independence the Mexican American War
36:44 the Civil War World War II and the Gulf War those are the five we won now we might be able to make the case that in fact we did topple the uh s Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq and and if that had been our only goal then perhaps we could have claimed to have won the Iraqi War and you might be able to claim that we won the you know World War I although it was somewhat of a peric victory so we're we're like we're about 5050 maybe and that largely comes down to what our understanding was of Victory so too in
37:23 our businesses we our mission needs to be be concrete okay so for example if if we are let's say we have some kind of product man Manufacturing Company let's say we make uh trucks okay so um here here's Alon musk I'll use that as an example Tesla right Alon musk's goal with Tesla was to be the top selling electric car manufacturer in the world and he met that goal
37:58 right that's why Tesla is so successful now by the way he's being challenged by the Chinese BVD and and and and other companies in China he may or may have already lost that that you know crown of being the number one electric car company in the United States I mean in the world but there's no doubt that Tesla is the number one electric car company in the United States even as the big three Legacy automakers try and build electric car car businesses they're failing badly they they lose tens of thousands of dollars on every
38:33 car they they sell um and and they've they've cut back plans to manufacture electric cars all by way of I think they don't have a Clear Vision for what what what is their mission uh you know as as a car company or as a transportation company right so you see this reflected in what's happened with railroads in the United States railroads for roughly close to a century 75 years
39:09 anyway railroad companies were the dominant Transportation Company companies in the United States but then as the as Trucking Rose and Airlines Rose and and buses Rose the the trains completely collapsed and part of the problem was they saw themselves as being in the train business their mission was to be in the train business not the transportation business right and so they got overtaken by competitors who who saw the future
39:45 differently so for a company as opposed to for a war hopefully we're getting to the point where the war ends right and there's a good conclusion after the war ends for a company where we're an ongoing Enterprise from time to time we probably have to reform our mission right in order to keep it current keep it vital but most especially to keep it specific and achievable okay and that's what really
40:20 counts right so if we if we want to be to go back to the the the case of trains the dominant transportation company in the United States what does that mean that's a very nebulous goal does it mean that at least 50.1% of freight is carried by railroads is that what it means to be the dominant transportation company in in in the country or does it mean that we carry more passengers than any other train company any other
40:55 train Airline know bus company what is what does that mean to to be dominant is is too undefined to really be our mission okay and so as we develop the mission for our companies for our our professional practices even for our lives I encourage you to think about how goals how missions were defined for the various Wars in which the United States has been involved and how we can use that kind of specificity
41:30 in creating our missions for our businesses and professional lives so that's our show for today and I thank you very much for joining me tomorrow at 10: a.m Pacific time is my show people making money my guest is Jason J gerado a fellow veteran and he's going to be talking about the path to purpose Jason is a a coach and he helps people uh en enhance their lives through through understanding I think some of the issues that we've been talking about
42:06 today purpose Mission they they are certainly related con Concepts so I I invite you to join uh Jason and me tomorrow 10: amm Pacific time then on Thursday at 5: PM Pacific time is my show jiggers his place it's a chance for us to get together as the week starts coming to a close have a cocktail and talk about things completely unrelated to our professional lives so this Thursday I'm going to be talking about the maltes Falcon and which is the better version the book or the movie now
42:43 for those of you who have seen the movie you're probably saying oh how could the book possibly be better for those of you who read the book you would say you might be saying oh come on I mean you know books are always better than movies so we're g to hash that out on Thursday afternoon um while we while We Sip a cocktail so I invite you to join me and then next week on Monday at 10: am Pacific time is the next edition of um trust and Estates weekly and then one week from today again at 10: am Pacific time the next edition of people making money and actually next
43:21 Monday nope okay yeah um yeah we're we're good so um I thank you very much for joining me again today and wishing you a wonderful rest of the day signing off as I always do Marie darling you are my bell courage at all times my friends