If the worst thing that can happen to a military is losing a war, sometimes the second worst thing might be winning one. Previously on this channel we’ve talked about some of the deliberate ways in which leaders might sabotage their own militaries – corruption, falsified reporting or picking political favorites over competent candidates. Sometimes though, a force can be slowly undermined by leaders that don’t even know they’re doing so – in fact, they may actually think they’re doing great. This is the realm of arrogance and overconfidence. In the future, we may dive a little deeper and have a look at examples of how this phenomenon has swung battles and campaigns, but today we’re going to look at it at a higher level – how arrogance can limit the ability of a force to evolve, adapt, and avoid future defeat.