Quote:
Originally Posted by Dylflon
I think war is somewhat less civilized than it used to be. Back before world war I, war was about tactics, the goal being to rout the enemy to attain victory (at least in warfare of the European kind) rather than kill everybody.
Since world war I though, war has been about attrition, and the increase in weapons technology just increases the horrible slaughter.
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Well, war by attrition is an inevitability when you are fighting over ideals, and not just boundaries, lands and money. Old world european battle was for the most part rarely about freedom vs. servitude, capitalism vs communism, etc. It was about wanting to have a valuable scrap of land or a political concession. Hell, even Japan just wanted us to open up more trade with them. Little did they know we get REAL pissed off when you bomb us, and take it personally. Japan thought it was business. Whoops.
Also keep in mind that until WW2, wars were rarely about the subjugation/destruction of a state body (aka. statehood life and death). They are very much about that in todays day and age.
Our wars since WW2 are as much about clash of cultures as they are about political disputes. The greatest example of this was the Japanese conflict in WW2. Even though they started out just to get concessions, when they took a whooping they just would not give up, and the West could not fathom it because they had obviously lost. But they would rather die than admit defeat. This lends itself to much more vicious fighting, IMO.
And lets not kid each other, either. European warfare was often times brutal and awful, including the targeted slaughter of women and children and not just meat shields walking strait into musket fire. The English took attrition tactics with the Irish and Scottish for years, knowing that if there were no young ones to take the place of the old ones, there would be no one left to fight. That is the ultimate war of attrition.
You make a good point, though, as war of attrition does seem to be the norm in today's world. But keep in mind, the advent of the smart weapon has greatly decreased civilian deaths by formal nation armies since WW2. Perhaps technology, while intially creating much more death in war, will eventually turn the corner and help prevent it.
Wow, that was a lot more thinking in this thread that I had originally planned when I saw a cool gun. Good stuff.