In
the article linked below, Professor Thomas Sowell remarks that today’s feckless
policies mirror similarly feckless policies of the 1930’s. The Isolationism in the US and the appeasement
of Hitler in Europe lead to World War II.
He then notes that during the war, the Allies took a long time to make
up for the position their feckless policies left them in. He commented that in a modern nuclear war we
may not get the chance to make up for our mistakes. I would like to explain further why that’s
the case.
During
World War II the Allies were able to trade space for the time needed to build
up the armed forces we needed to win. In those days, flying across the Atlantic
or Pacific was done in a B-17 bomber with a cruising speed of 182 miles per
hour. Since the bombers range was only 2,000 miles you needed refueling bases
to get all the way across. The need for airbases was the reason for the island
hopping campaign in the Pacific. Today, a B-2 bomber has a cruising speed of
560 miles per hour and, with air to air refueling, can fly nonstop from its
base in Missouri to anywhere in the world. While the distances are the same,
the time you can get for a given distance is much less. And, as Professor
Sowell says, the destructive power of nuclear weapons also destroys military
forces much more quickly than conventional weapons did in World War II. War
today is a come as you are affair with very little room for second chances.