Have you read Philip Bobbitt? esp. "The Shield of Achilles" His theme is something like this, but stressing the coupling between technology (what weapons, and

Have you read Philip Bobbitt? esp. "The Shield of Achilles" His theme is something like this, but stressing the coupling between technology (what weapons, and economies, are possible) and law (what states, and what goals, are thought legitimate) and wars. The 20th-C meat-grinder armies were unique, in that they were both possible to sustain, and useful. And in turn the countries which survived were ones that could support them (i.e. not the Ottomans, the Austrians, etc) for which he reserves the term nation-state -- they had, and needed, a much higher degree of cohesion than had been common before. He lays out a number of distinct eras before this, with their own notions of what states were, and should do, and could do, and how this all interacted. Highly recommended if you can stomach 1000-page tomes & skip a lot. I wish there was a great more-popular presentation but I don't know of one.