“Those victories were not as decisive as we remember: It took another 100 years, after the civil rights acts of the 1960s, before the North truly won the Civil War, while the peace
that ended the First World War begat the Second World War, and the peace that ended the Second World War begat the Cold War and its many constituent conflicts,” Mr. Exum said.
Even so, the proposed Pentagon increase has been greeted with criticism from military spending hawks, in part because White House officials say Mr. Trump will call for a significant cut in foreign aid, including programs
that military officials say contribute to global stability and are seen as important in helping avoid future conflicts.
“The wars today don’t deliver battlefield victories along the lines of what we saw in World War II, with the surrender on the deck of the battleship Missouri,” said David W. Barno, a retired Army lieutenant general
and former commander of American forces in Afghanistan.
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s proposal to add $54 billion to the Pentagon budget next year sounds huge at first — a 10 percent increase for a department
that already receives more of taxpayers’ money than any other part of government.
“So often, the far less expensive ‘soft power’ tools — humanitarian relief, medical diplomacy, foreign aid, strategic communications — are under sister agencies such as state
and A. I.D.,” said Mr. Stavridis, a former NATO commander who now serves as the dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, referring to the State Department and the Agency for International Development.