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It's a lot about resilience to defeat. Some states can suffer tremendous losses and yet they can eventually prevail due to their stronger industrial capability
by ithkuil 1y ago
It's a lot about resilience to defeat.
Some states can suffer tremendous losses and yet they can eventually prevail due to their stronger industrial capability in the long run.
That's what allowed the US to defeat the Japanese in WWII. Japan had a capable military apparatus at the start of the war but they were not able to scale their production at the same rate as the much larger US.
The only way for a smaller state to defeat a bigger one is to go all in and win quickly.
- pmontra 1y agoThat was not the case for Vietnam vs the USA or for Afghanistan vs the Soviet Union. I'm both cases there were internal anti war movements, especially in the USA, and (for the smallest state) the resolve to outwill the largest one, no matter how many years and deaths it would take.
- ithkuil 1y agoWell of course this logic works only if both belligerants go all in. A defender who feels an existential threat can outpace an attacker that is fighting a war far away from home without any strong stakes.