War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

The line is a pointed rebuke to the idea that victory in war proves moral or intellectual correctness. It argues that armed conflict is an eliminative process: it decides who survives, not whose cause is just or whose beliefs are true. By separating “right” (ethical legitimacy, truth, justice) from “left” (the remaining living or victorious), the aphorism exposes how outcomes can be driven by force, chance, resources, or brutality rather than merit. Read this way, it functions as an anti-triumphalist warning: even a decisive military win cannot settle questions of justice, and treating it as proof of righteousness confuses power with truth.