Innovation’s effect on war outcomes has been under-examined. Kenneth Waltz has noted that successful methods of warfare are soon widely imitated on the international stage, while William McNeill has demonstrated that innovation leads quickly evaporate. Scholars such as Barry Posen and Richard Overy have analyzed the degree to which innovation has contributed to winning and losing wars, but their focus was not on the relationship between innovation and war outcomes. This project uses select case studies to analyze the success of wartime innovation through the ability of military organizations to adapt to those innovations. This ability manifests itself in the “organizational capacity to adapt,” which consists of sufficient resources and well-positioned organization. Adequate resources are necessary, but the sufficient condition for timely adaptation is effective, and often flexible, organization. The chances of an innovator’s success increase as the adapter’s organizational capacity decreases.