SUMMARY
Clausewitz analysed wars in their material, social and temporal interchanges (Wechselwirkung). During a war the form of the conflict is transformed from a controllable and planned activity into a form where its gravitation centre is displaced. Over the last 500 years, logistics and financial supplies have become the repeated focus for protracted wars. The forms of taxation, inflation, war debts and credits have been decisive. In fact war strategies can have the financial attrition of the enemy as its culmination point and its gravitation centre. A vast army stationed far away and for a long time imposes enormous financial and human costs. The US in particular has been affected by the protracted wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. The recent wars and a number of complex financial mechanisms accelerated the US fall from unipolarity. This shows that wars contain risks that cannot be controlled by a political system. After the initial decision to go to war, control is only reasserted when the political system accepts to stop the ever increasing supplies.