A military campaign is judged successful if the desired state of affairs were brought about through combat and noncombat operations. This is usually determined when one of the belligerent entities defeats the opposing entity. The manner in which a force terminates its operations, though, influences the perception of the campaign's success. The end of a campaign is mostly followed by the transition of military authority to a civil authority and the redeployment of forces. "What about logistics? Supply? Reinforcements? Organization?"

Ongoing military campaigns, inside and outside of individual wars, are sometimes metaphorically characterized as quagmires, because of various factors (such as a small hope of victory, poorly-defined objectives and/or no clear exit strategy). It is usually used pejoratively to describe, in the user's opinion, ill-fated operations. Its use in political debates emerged during the Vietnam War. Activists, commentators, and pundits that use the term may choose it specifically to allude to the Vietnam conflict and the Iraq War.