tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-386077914312449748.post5715416559785503396..comments2024-03-27T20:37:08.065+01:00Comments on Defence and Freedom: 2-year spending frenzies prior to a great warUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-386077914312449748.post-56977425527361145772012-10-13T11:02:34.841+02:002012-10-13T11:02:34.841+02:00Soviet Socialism committed suicide by allowing its...Soviet Socialism committed suicide by allowing itself to be provoked by the US and failing to demilitarize after the war. Khrushchev, as stupid as he was otherwise, at least tried to do something about it. Brezhnev gave the military industrial complex a free rein. The results are known. Will the US follow the same path?So?noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-386077914312449748.post-6099108784911390732012-10-10T19:05:58.520+02:002012-10-10T19:05:58.520+02:00I wasn't aware of the 1912-1914 surge within a...I wasn't aware of the 1912-1914 surge within a surge.<br /><br />The whole time period had such extremes of technology change, that likely some of it was inevitable.<br /><br />If you look at the mercantile counterpart to the dreadnought, and than submarine, naval power in WW1, most commericial shipping was still under sail until sometime right around the war. The most successful German surface raider was under sail (with auxilary engines).russell1200https://www.blogger.com/profile/16258915475311426433noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-386077914312449748.post-4070994167433501762012-10-09T13:52:25.968+02:002012-10-09T13:52:25.968+02:00Being more or less networked with corresponding ac...Being more or less networked with corresponding access has a lot to do with the ability to sprint production. Sea-powers with good sea lines of communication have a pretty good access to most items for mass production because bulk transport from all over the world is almost exclusively by sea. Some minor problems with precision hardware could be solved via smuggling from Switzerland. Continantal powers with uncertain sea lines of communication access will be part of a much reduced material access network. They do need a longterm build-up for a fast continental decision. In this aspect Germany played well during the early stages. After the defeat of France there were two possible routes, take over the Russian resource treasures or fight for sea lines of communication access to friendly nations in Latin America and other places.<br />The advantage of Germany as a continental power was the know-how accumulation by conquest. Despite the know-how boost and organized war-economy, mass-production on American levels failed. This has been the case in both great wars, the uninterrupted industrial output of the US won the wars. This industrial output seems to have been very focused on artillery, aircrafts and vehicles plus a great quantity and tonnage of ships.<br /><br />Lessons learned would be to develop effective measures to attack sea lines of communication access, in this case of the US. Naval mines with submarines in combined arms seem a promising option. Each on its own will be as limited as a measure as the Second Happy Time.<br />Next lessons learned, "mass has a quality of its own" (Stalin) and you need a good and rapid organization of conquered know-how for improving existing designs. Mass does include to rethink design. I worked at a snack bar at the Oktoberfest and while I was able to produce the better roasted stuff, a competitor more intent on selling anything as fast as possible outperformed my earnings. Switching to a different mode is a whole problem of mentality.<br /><br />Another lesson learned, humans more willingly cooperate for their benefits, including mutual benefits, than they do under coercion. The US as a nation of immigrants had a major soft power advantage and Nazi-ideology or facism were no match as both of them were stabilizers of internal status quo with outside projection of violence in order to destroy the strong socialist movements that threatened this status. The Soviet Socialism from early on started to commit suicide by the routes taken.<br /><br />Preparing for war with these lessons learned means to increase capability for quantity with lowered costs per piece - a mental problem for much of Europe, especially nations such as Germany that would rather overengineer. The second quest is to secure sea lines of communication - a challenge towards which all major European nations, except Germany, provide something (we still discuss some amphibs).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-386077914312449748.post-71443246423391587802012-10-09T13:09:24.516+02:002012-10-09T13:09:24.516+02:00Who controls Western Europe, controls the world. ...Who controls Western Europe, controls the world. After WWI, Britain and France were depleted, so only Germany had to be taken care of. The US achieved this by building up the Soviet Union, which served as a hammer during the war, and as a convenient bogeyman after. French and British quips about their colonial empires being dismantled answered by rattling the bear cage. This worked for 45 years. (Incidentally, that's about how long the Russian "threat" lasted after 1812.) The US has been the "perfidious Albion" since the 1920s, while the propaganda machines spins them as naive freedom-loving cowboys who are dragged into wars by others. Nothing is further from the truth. Iraqi "WMDs" are a perfect example of that.So?noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-386077914312449748.post-76886976855472204952012-10-08T16:45:36.617+02:002012-10-08T16:45:36.617+02:00More importantly, the Italian model was the other ...More importantly, the Italian model was the other way around...their poor performance in WW2 was in great part due to the fact that they had spent a lot on their military for more than a decade, but not participated in the sprint since 1938.S Ohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03359796414832859686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-386077914312449748.post-77729805953709221542012-10-08T14:44:23.661+02:002012-10-08T14:44:23.661+02:00If you check the official history on US war econom...If you check the official history on US war economy you will find that some of the relevant economic decisions were made long before 1941, so a better statement is IMHO that the USA was already economically at war in summer 1941. :-)<br /><br />It's an "unfair" statement, because it redicules prudent strategic decisions of the years 1939-1940, i.e. prepare your economy for the war, then get actually involved. The German model was the other way round. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com