Since the end of World War II there has been no return to full-scale conflict between major, powers, but nor has there been a single day without a war going on somewhere around the globe. Weapons systems of great destructive power and technological sophistication have been developed, a whole category of which- nuclear weapons- has not been used since 1945.
The War that never escalated into War: The Cold war
From the late 1940s to the late 1980s, the two superpowers-= the united States and the Soviet Union (the USSR)- continuously prepared for a Third World War that never happened. From the 1950s they engaged in a nuclear arms race that led within a decade to the era of "mutually assured destruction" (MAD), a strategic deadlock in wich nuclear war was prevented by the certainty that both sides would suffer an unacceptable level of damage if one broke out. When Einstein was asked how would the Third WOrld war be fought he replied "I do not how the Third is going to be waged, but the fourth will be waged with stones and clubs". While the balance of fear prevented a wordl war, an American- led struggle against the spread of communism was instead fought out in a series of local wars. Whereas in the first half of the 20th centruy "total war" had seemed to develop almost naturally, with combatants using as much destructive power as they could muster, the korean War of 1950-54 in contrast set the pattern for "limited war": limited in scope, with US soldiers fighting Chinese troops in Korea but no American attacks on CHina itself, and limited in weaponry, since the Inited States did not use the atom bobms it possessed. many of the wars fought in the nuclear age- for example in Vietnam- were, even so, massively destructive, partly becaseu the limits on the conduct of war made it difficult to achieve a swift, decisive result.
As a Military historian artillery and ballistic missiles made the war a full sclae conflict where the lossess would mount on every side. the noble days of Alexander and Hannibal were long forgotten.
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