When you look at the costs of wars throughout American history as shown [here](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/06/13/cost-of-war-13-most-expensive-wars-in-us-history/39556983/), you see that for example, the revolutionary war only costed $2.75 billion in 2019 money. For reference, the Iraq war, according to the article costed the US $1.01 trillion in 2019 money. This disparity also holds true for other wars, as seen on the link. Can someone connect the dots for me please?
A big portion of it boils down to cost and logistics. Both which of increase overtime as a conflict goes on.
Now for most of America’s early history, the military was fairly small in size and largely operated in a form of proto-counter-insurgency during the Indian Wars or smaller-scale military expeditions i.e the Marines invading Haiti. Back in the day, equipment didn’t cost as much to develop, manufacture and procure as it does now. A pair of NODs or the ACOG on a modern rifle are more expensive and complex to make then say a Model 1871 Peacemaker.
A conflict like Desert Storm for example cost about 36 billion dollars as opposed to upwards of 2 trillion spent on Iraq. However, Desert Storm was largely a gigantic punitive expedition. After the end of the conventional fighting in Iraq, we saw a nation building effort that lasted the better part of two decades and the same for Afghanistan.
At the same time, supporting these kinds of efforts costs money. Money to pay troops, money for parts to build bases, money for parts, money for supplies and money for fuel. Then money to pay the people who move all that from point A to point B.
Finally, as weapons systems get older they either need to upgraded or replaced. Again, both of those courses of action cost money, not just to replace or upgrade them, but the train personnel in their use.
In summary, the logistical burden and corresponding increased cost of modern weapons and the price of overseas force projection aren’t exactly cheap.
Hope that helps.