They used apathy to kill resistance. At first it seemed as if the battles would rage forever. But some of their research suggested that the opposition only fought so hard
because they cared too much.
So they started a campaign to de-emphasized the importance of the entire issue. Whether
things went down one way or another, began to be painted as something not worth spending much time on, something silly to care about.
And when the opposition stopped paying attention, they were able to easily steamroll their way to victory. There was
no thrill of victory though, since nobody cared whether they won or lost.
Some of
those on their own side dropped out of the fight because it also stopped being of interest to them.