THE END OF TOTAL WAR
Total War is the method of mobilizing whole civilizations against each other, engaging even civilians directly, in a battle to the death and will be a distant memory in the world of 2164. In 2164 a total war will not have been fought for over 200 years. Instead, the major military engagements of the future, conflict will always exist, will be defined by precision warfare techniques.
Advances in precision weapons, along with their great expense, will no longer necessitate the keeping of large armies. Instead, the military powers will be able to strike individual buildings or tanks or mobilized infantry with intelligence from orbit surveillance. Hostilities of the 21st century will reintroduce the idea of separation of warfare from civilians, unseen since the 19th century. Unmanned hypersonic aircraft will engage in pivotal battles lasting only tens of minutes. Infantry of the US and future armies will be heavily augmented by technology, and will be equipped in Power Suits. Great armies will be separated in to two Corps, an expeditionary and an “occupationary”, the latter being more of a policing force, solving the age-old difficulty of occupying conquered territory. Nuclear weapons, aside from their application in the hypothetical engagement with extraterrestrials, will fade away.
The next Global War, as most future Wars will be, will have less than 10 000 Causalities, with less than 5% of those being civilian. Compare this to the Second World War, or the hypothetical “Cold War Gone Hot”. War is a reality of humanity, but it will be more humane.
geoff evamy hill 