The concept that the public, especially in a democracy, is a critical ingredient to achieving victory in war goes back to at least the First World War. According to the renowned British military historian Michael Howard, it was the home front that made the difference between victory and defeat. To quote from his book War in European History:

“The outcome of the Great War…had made it clear that war was no longer decided by traditional military skills. It had shown that armies in the field could not be defeated so long as they could be kept supplied with manpower and munitions. War…was not as it had been in the past, a conflict between armed forces alone, or even between treasuries. It was one between the will-power and the morale of the belligerent populations. What had ultimately brought the war to an end had been, not military victory in itself, but the disintegration of what had…become known as ‘the Home Front’: the solidarity of the civilian population behind its leaders, their willingness to go on bearing the burdens of deprivation and suffering which ‘the war effort’ demanded.”

This is a reality that American citizens and the citizens of its allies need to take to heart.