"The future of war" Topic

"IN THE PAST, predictions about future warfare have often put too much emphasis on new technologies and doctrines. In the 19th century the speedy victory of the Prussian army over France in 1870 convinced European general staffs that rapid mobilisation by rail, quick-firing artillery and a focus on attack would make wars short and decisive. Those ideas were put to the test at the beginning of the first world war. The four years of trench warfare on the western front proved them wrong.

In the 1930s it was widely believed that aerial bombardment of cities would prove devastating enough to prompt almost immediate capitulation. That forecast came true only with the invention of nuclear weapons a decade later. When America demonstrated in the first Gulf war in 1990-91 what a combination of its precision-guided munitions, new intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance methods, space-based communications and stealth technology could achieve, many people assumed that in future the West would always be able to rely on swift, painless victories. But after the terrorist attacks on America on September 11th 2001, wars took a different course…"
Main page
link

Amicalement
Armand

A lot more drones & robots to come …

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Of possible interest?

PDF link

Armand

Of huge interest. The preface alone shows how the authors got everything wrong, as does anyone who predicts the waging of the next war. Their reasoning (very common in the 1900s) was that war could never be sustained by any industrialised economy after a few months. Even then, they underestimated the hman capacity for suffering in assuming that advances in defensive weaponry would make the soldier's role impossible.

That is a great find. I have saved it for future reading

Hence the term "fighting the law war" … that has came up in more modern wars.

Thanks!.

Armand

DOH !!!! That should read – "fighting the last war" !!!

It appears they'll be more wars by proxy using irregular forces, contractors, and "civilians" sponsored by the larger players who don't want direct involvement but do want plausible denial. Unfortunately, the "Merchants of Chaos" will continue to prosper.

Wolfhag

Yes, I think that is a really possibility. Some of it goes on now, E.g. Russian's Wagner Group, IIRC …