The End of Civilization – Degeneration of Military Science

Until 1945, At the end of the largest conflict in history in terms of destruction, scope, and belligerents involved. War has been one of mans most intimate activities. As a race regardless of nation you currently belong to, we have shown through out the last 5000 years our penchant for warfare and our extreme passion, compassion, and cruelty to our fellow man.

What most people do not know however is that, that war called World War II is only a continuation of World War I. The names would imply such of course, but it is truly a continuation of the 1914 conflict including the main belligerents. However what very few people know is that World War I is only a continuation of the Franco-Prussian War at the turn of the century. That war is only a continuation of the Napoleonic Era wars, and so on and so forth back to when the first cave man hit the first caveman. Each Generation of Man until 1945 fought in a major war that was a precedent and antecedent of another war. Some of those wars are even close enough that several generations have to fight several wars in the course of their lifetimes.

The regenesis of the apocalypse will turn all communities into fledgling tribes similar to the nomadic phase of forgotten history. These tribes however will eventually settle and claim a tract of real estate as their own and dispute over these real estate will eventually arise with another nearby tribe resulting again in generation of warfare until a world wide conflict again settles all disputes.

Current history shown that this will take several thousand years to complete, so societies should forget about fostering world peace and rather prepare for generations of constant warfare with it’s neighbors. Diplomacy for trade and to avoid absolute disaster is an option but eternal vigilance should be the primary course of action. Wars and conflicts eventually lose steam and populations would then sue peace, then the seeds of the next war will be planted and preparations for it should be made almost immediately. A constant state of Total war should be the primary focus for personal and the society survival. Great and Small civilizations fell primarily not by being beaten by a more prepared enemy but by the lack of their own readiness.

Allegiances and factions change constantly, Internal Strife is also the leading cause of warfare for all civilizations, There is no sound advice that can be given to a leader regarding internal strife, Several 20th century socialist leaders were able to outlive the societies they built and a few still live on. The form of government is not a guarantee as democratic societies also experienced civil war. Almost every nation have it’s leader assassinated at one time or another because of internal strife. The best advice that can be given is to use extreme balance of fair judgment to the nations posterity and a heavy hand to rebellious factions.

This post however will not concentrate on the political intrigues and subterfuge which will be discussed in another post but rather on the degeneration of open warfare. As explained In the apocalypse society, War will again be one our most intimate activities for survival and the knowledge of how victorious and superior armies fought is a vital knowledge for the continuation of your society.

Immediately during and in the early years of the apocalypse, Military Tactics and Technology will fall under what we call the communist aggression period. The Vietnam War, Afgan-Russo War, Grenada Invasion, Communist insurgency elsewhere including failed ones in Malaya and successful ones in South America and Asia. Early apocalyptic battles will be fought this way, a small war of attrition through what is now termed as asymmetric warfare escalating to full blown frontal engagements to secure vital strategic locations or straight up annihilation of the opposing force.This war is won by the side with the better resolve to win, technology is a factor on inflicting casualties however technology and tactics can be stolen during the course of the battles itself. Battlefield pick up of enemy arms and munitions are the norm, small unit combat and harassment strategies. Careful use of resources and attempts to acquire more from enemy stores and supply lines. Search and Destroy operations using a far superior force and firepower when enemy strong points are located and weaknesses are found. It is dangerous to simply locate an enemy strong point and attack with everything you have when theoretically the defending force always have the advantage of killing zones. The initiative to attack should only be used when your side is CERTAIN that the firepower you can bring to bear is at LEAST 3:1 in your favor. During this time, weapons that are most important are assault rifles and heavy artillery. Vehicles should be light, if possible easy to maintain and use the least amount of resources to function. In Malaya and Vietnam the most strategic victories of both sides were made by a small number of insertion troops inflicting the maximum amount of damage. In the Afgan-Russo war where open desert gave technology a clear advantage of kill zone but opposing forces were never annihilated and once equipment was provided to counter that advantage it became to economically expensive for the Russian side to fight an open war. Asymmetric warfare has two objectives, To achieve control of the maximum amount of real estate using the minimum amount of force; secondly to build up strength for open warfare by keeping enemy forces off balance and taking his resources. This will only work if neither side has a terminal advantage. This means that one side has more men, more support, firepower, and munitions. If Terminal Advantage has been achieved then feel free to escalate to an open war of attrition.

Asymmetric warfare will further degrade trade and industry, as raw materials become harder to control and supply lines harder to secure; The society able to establish the largest “Green Zone” for population growth, raw materials, arable land, potable water, and industrial capacity would soon become concerned about other societies who have achieved varying degrees of their own “Green Zones”. Diplomacy and Open Warfare on territorial claim would regress military science back to the War of Attrition Era that lasted for the last 3000 years. World War II being the last major war of Attrition but by no means the latest as it is still going on today in places such as Israel, India, Pakistan, Africa, etc. This next stage of military warfare the “Lebensraum” age of warfare will be full of border clashes, raids, complimented with the occasional decisive battle involving the backbone of the belligerents military. This type of warfare require more conventional firepower and a concentration of a light quick reaction force for interdiction and interception action along the border. Historically the Norsemen, the Hordes of the Steppes, and later the Ottoman Empire used this strategy to keep their borders safe and the borders of their rivals under constant “surveillance and harassment.” In major campaigns these light forces were integrated with the more equipped and trained regular army. The Roman empire built roads all over the world for this very purpose. It gave them the ability to mobilize and deploy legions into “Hot zones” more quickly. This means a larger irregular force with the ability to engage and disengage quickly while doing the maximum amount of damage, by this time after generations of asymmetric warfare this irregular force armed with personal weapons (preferably automatic rifles and sub-machine guns)and fast vehicles or horses. Historically these irregular force is paid only by bounty and no or little authorization is required from the central government (if any) to initiate action. Needless to say this resulted in larger conflicts . This irregular force should be complimented by a heavily armed and armored standing force; preferably with armored vehicles and Light Artillery for heavy conventional engagements. This force will act as imperial guard and Law enforcement during less troubled times. Ensure that the balance of firepower between the smaller regular army and the larger irregular army equal to prevent one force from being too aggressive and cause a civil war. Stalin has been known to keep the KGB and Red Army in check against each other for his own protection. Similarly, the Praetorian Guards are known to assassinate the emperor and auction the throne to the highest bidder.

If the War of Attrition continues to a point where it makes industry impossible and the maintenance of firearms and manufacture of ammunition become a logical impossibility, then it is time to return to formation warfare using shields and melee weapons. There has been recent hype about the superiority of the Greek Phalanx. The truth of the matter is, it is very rigid and works only in very few scenarios including the battle where this hype came about. Normally the Phalanx is too rigid to execute maneuvers especially against flanking moves which is a common move among any general of any age. Depending on the availability of materials available. The Roman, Islamic, or Crusader armies have formation that are well suited for play during this time. Range and Siege weapons may provide additional casualties and psychological victories but ultimately its the infantry formation breaking/routing the other infantry formation that wins the day. In this case, fanatically training pays off big time. Regardless of numbers and superiority in position and equipment, a good general with highly trained personnel normally wins the day, several instances in history has proven that terrain and the strategic initiative of Generals are the more decisive factors during these time. Generals who cannot get their men to hold their ground and follow orders in a timely and suicidal manner will not be able to execute accordingly to provide the winning maneuver. It is Imperative that these sections of warfare be the last type of warfare that your society implement. Tribal war bands though effective for its time will never stand up to a highly trained, standard equipped regular army. Caesars Gallic campaign have proven this concept over and over.

The end of times means a lot of fighting amount survivors, It is also guaranteed there will be a lot of fighting among younger generations. There is one particular movie where I saw young children being protected by the adults during a long standing apocalypse scenario. This is absolutely wrong. We send our children to school today for their future. We send them as early as possible and encourage them to do as well as physically possible, We must trust ourselves to do the same during this scenario for warfare. They will be soldiers of the future as we cannot (as we know today) protect them forever. The earlier they are trained as superb soldiers the harder it would be for others to kill them. These students of war will become the new survivors for the next generation.



Return…