04-08-2020, 02:51 PM
(04-08-2020, 08:57 AM)freivolk Wrote: Partly for that, mostly because the time, where you could win a war by mobilising milions of cheap rifle-men, are gone. Modern armies are capiital-intensive, even rag-tag guerilla groups (Syriia!) seems to have an upper limit. Second, the potential gains are mostly not worth the risks and costs (Example Iraq or Eastern Ukraine). And third, over a ccertain level, there iis stiil a chance, that nukes will fly.
War was capital intensive in the late medieval cycle, though, and the Wars of the Roses still occurred. I grant it would include fewer people. I don't know if it would result in fewer casualties.
Potential gains not being worth the costs, maybe, though Russia didn't see that as a problem for seizing Crimea. There's definitely a chance that nukes will fly, and that would affect the approach to war. I'm not sure if it would prevent it. John Xenakis considers nuclear war a certainty.
I think it might be great if the necessary destruction could happen without war, but I'd like to get a better handle on the mechanism.