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 Technology vs Tactics
 
kb7iuj
61 posts
Joined
4/5/2006

Technology vs Tactics
Posted: 28 May 06 10:16 PM Modified By kb7iuj  on 5/28/2006 10:18:44 PM)
Okay, I'll be the very first person to admit I don't know jack about tactics - I read "The Art of War" once or twice without really understanding it. I've been watching this show, "FutureWeapons", on The Discovery Channel (I love that channel), and the way they talk, those with the best guns will win.

Is that generally true? Or do strategy and tactics lend a bigger advantage? Here in the USA, it's generally accepted that we have the best of both. (I'm not even going to ask about the old axiom of "quantity has a quality all its own".)

Forgive me for asking a question that's not Starfist-specific. :)
mclark
187 posts
5th
Joined
1/27/2006

Re: Technology vs Tactics
Posted: 28 May 06 11:27 PM
You could get a lot of different arguments on this topic, that's for sure.  With respect to "Quantity has a quality all its own" there are the following examples:

During World War 2 the Germans built the very best and most advanced tanks and aircraft. 

On the Western Front, a Sherman going up against a Tiger needed to pack a lunch (it was going to be a reeeaally long day), and tank to tank the Tiger was going to win.  More armor, better gun.  But as outclassed as it was, Nathan Bedford Forrest's dictum "the firstest with the mostest" held true in the end. 

On the Eastern Front the Soviets fielded enormous numbers of the venerable T-34, which was inferior to the best German tanks, but again, quantity trumped quality. 

The German Me-262 was the first combat jet airplane and could outfly everything the Allies had, but they couldn't produce anywhere near enough of them.

And so on.

In the case of the American Civil War, the South had the quality: the most motivated troops and the best general officers, but ultimately they were defeated by the factories and the larger population of the North.

But a smaller force of inspired, well-led, well-trained, and well-equipped troops can easily beat the crap out of a much larger force that has few of these qualities. 

But history is full of examples of all kinds, including ones that seem quite contradictory.
barcelonablom
140 posts
www.4mardiv.com/index.html
5th
Joined
4/19/2006

Re: Technology vs Tactics
Posted: 29 May 06 9:51 AM
It seems the Marines have always been doing more with less.... Since the early 20th century and probably before that.... it was just more apparent in the early 1900's.
shadowghost1
100 posts
5th
Joined
2/4/2006

Re: Technology vs Tactics
Posted: 29 May 06 3:42 PM

Another example of quantity beating quality is the whole of the Vietnam War (American War to the Vietnamese).

The NVA and Viet Cong had very few advanced weapons (mostly AK-47s, WWII era machine guns, and some arty pieces).  Yet, they had the numbers and the motivation.  They beat the Americans who had all the advanced weapons (M60 machine guns, gatling guns, helicopters, fighter planes, etc).   America expected to go in there and beat the NVA/VC easily with the technological advantage.  Another thing that did the American war effort in was the politicians that felt that there needed to be rules of engagement and that the war should be run from DC.  Rules of engagement are not necessarily bad but the number of rules and the kinds of rules emplaced were poorly thought out, especially those dictating what special forces could and could not do.

The Americans made the same exact mistake that the French made 10 years earlier.  There were a few good programs that got cut by the politicians (i.e. CAPs and special forces having pretty much autonomy).

kb7iuj
61 posts
Joined
4/5/2006

Re: Technology vs Tactics
Posted: 29 May 06 7:53 PM
Guys, I already know numbers can win wars.

It's tech vs tactics that I want to know the general rule of thumb for.
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