Next step

There are military historians who can list for you battles in recorded time in which one of the contending parties knew ahead that his side was doomed. In such cases it was sometimes necessary to fight on because there was no alternative. Genghis Khan offered zero inducements to surrender. Whether the opponent would die from the enemy's sword or his own was worth reflection, but none of it was given over to life or death: There would be death in any case.

In ensuing centuries, wars became less than final events for many soldiers, and terms of engagement changed. Robert E. Lee did not reasonably expect to be executed if he surrendered. Nor did General Lee expect, after General Sherman's march, that the South would win the war. But he fought on.

William F. Buckley

This is the follow-on from Buckley's article last week.