> But as the US proved in world war 2, a mature and functioning republic has a much greater capacity for production because it utilizes the skills of more of it

> But as the US proved in world war 2, a mature and functioning republic has a much greater capacity for production because it utilizes the skills of more of it's citizens. I think in modern times -- say after 1850 or so -- there's a strong element of truth in this and the republican/democratic tradition works better than the monarchial/autocratic one. Having said that, here are some counterexamples in WW2: - Hitler was more effective at quickly re-arming Germany and conquering its enemies in 1933-1940 than a republican leader would have been. - Stalin was more effective at getting his country to produce good quality weapons in the right quantities than any other leader in WW2 was. - Were Britain and America any better than France at coping with the initial Axis onslaught? The French army is often written off because it was quickly beaten by Germany in 1940, but at the time it was at least as good qualitatively, and vastly bigger, than the British ansd American armies. It's at least arguable that Britain and America only won that war because they had good natural defences -- the English channel for Britain, and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans for the USA.