It might help to explain that whomever actually came out ahead was of very little consequence to me; the victory itself, for either side, had no part in my goals.

If humanity managed to defeat the threat to their existence, then they would actually deserve the right to continue that existence, and whatever complacency they'd manage to develop after that would have been earned. If this new race of higher beings managed to destroy them, however, they would have likewise earned their right to inherit the world and do as they saw fit with it. Either way, the world would change.

The victory wasn't the point; the war itself was.