PrefaceIntroduction The Withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Continuing Use of American ForceIntroducing the IF FactorVietnam, Afghanistan, and BeyondThe New Way of Fighting: Asymmetrical WarfareThe IF ContributionConclusion: The Legacy of Vietnam, Afghanistan, and UkraineBibliographyChapter 1 The United States in Vietnam and BeyondThe Context: Why Students Need to Know about WarThe Post–World War II Evolution of WarfareThe Post–WWII TransitionThe Effects on Thinking about WarfareThe Impact of VietnamThe Longer-Term Effects of VietnamVietnam and the Future of WarThe End of the Draft and Americans’ Connection to Military ActivityConclusionBibliographyChapter 2 The Twentieth-Century Legacy: The European Model of Warfare, the Impact of Nuclear Weapons, and the Transformation of the Uses of ForceThe European Style of WarThe Impact of Nuclear WeaponsEvolution of the Nuclear Impact on WarThe Nuclear Weapons Age: China and AmericaThe Nuclear Age and Traditional WarConclusionBibliographyChapter 3 The Systemic Shock of 9/11: Afghanistan, Iraq, and BeyondAmerica in IraqThe Gulf War and BeyondInvasion and ConquestJustification of the IF CriteriaThe War in AfghanistanThe Original Motive: Avenging 9/11Conclusion: The Past in the Future?BibliographyChapter 4 Russia and Ukraine in 2022: The Face of Modern Mayhem?Defining Parameters in 2022: The Ukrainian CaseThe Incendiary Potential of the 2022 Crisis: A Presage to a Larger War?And Then There is PutinThe War Worthiness of the Ukrainian Crisis: Before and After the Impact of Nuclear WeaponsResolving the Ukrainian CrisisConclusion: The Nuclear Prophylactic?BibliographyChapter 5 Contemporary Warfare and American Force: Conventional and Asymmetrical Warfare in the WorldFighting in the Developing World: The IF Factor in ApplicationContemplating Involvements: The Challenges of Asymmetrical WarfareAssessing the Prospects: The Middle East Quagmire as RejoinderThe United States and Potential Deployments beyond the Traditional Middle East ConflictAsymmetrical Warfare 101Asymmetry and the IF FactorAsymmetrical Warfare Is Not EasyThe Dynamics of Defeating InterventionConclusionsBibliographyChapter 6 The Briar Patch of Intervention in a Complex Environment: The Developed WorldDealing with the Modal ThreatsThe Russian Invasion of UkraineThe Return of Major Power Conflict: Why Did Putin Do It?The American Response: Aggression and Nuclear WeaponsIs Ukraine Russia’s Vietnam—Or a Reprise of Afghanistan and Iraq?Ukraine and the IF FactorConclusion: The Legacy of Ukraine?BibliographyChapter 7 Coping with Asymmetrical and Conventional Forms of War: The Challenge for American Expeditionary Forces“Traditional” War: Russia and UkraineAsymmetrical Pasts and Futures?Asymmetrical Warfare in Europe?The Ukraine War in PerspectiveThe Ukraine War, the American Response, and When America Should FightThe IF Factor and the Ukrainian WarThe Ukrainian PrecedentBibliographyChapter 8 Conclusion: Where Will and Should the United States Fight: The Road AheadThe Recent Past as Prologue?The Past as the Model of the Future?The Ukrainian WarAsymmetrical War in the Developing WorldBack to the Future: Where Should America Fight?Peering into the FutureProjecting ForwardBibliography