History and were doomed to repeat it

[Minimalist]

so i love history and well... i noticed something like the Roman empire they expanded they expanded pretty much and i compared
and contrasted it to the US were heading down that same road the roman empire did and eventually we will end up like them eventually.

The Western Roman Empire fell because of pilot error.  With our current "pilot" that seems to be a certain fate for us, too.

[dyresand]

so i love history and well... i noticed something like the Roman empire they expanded they expanded pretty much and i compared
and contrasted it to the US were heading down that same road the roman empire did and eventually we will end up like them eventually.

The Western Roman Empire fell because of pilot error.  With our current "pilot" that seems to be a certain fate for us, too.

Que the second sacking of the white house by Canada? 
War of 1812 v2?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The Western Roman Empire fell because of pilot error.  With our current "pilot" that seems to be a certain fate for us, too.

Que the second sacking of the white house by Canada? 
War of 1812 v2?

That's a great example of what happens when government tries to save money on the military.

[Anomalocaris]

Que the second sacking of the white house by Canada? 
War of 1812 v2?

That's a great example of what happens when government tries to save money on the military.

The reason why saving money hurt the military is because the military was intellectually mediocre to start with, and can think of no way to improve its fighting power than to stupidly do more of what it has always done in a mediocre. Anger.

If the military really consisted of elite, problem solving men operating in a framework that encourage independent professionalism, Forcing the military to be smaller and restrict its access to excessive funding in times of no existential threat usually encourage the military to become even more forward looking, clear thinking, and sharply focus on maximizing its own cost effectiveness, and thus makes it more effective when the world actually moves towards truly unavoidable crisis.

A good example is the interwar German army that was forced to remain at a tiny fraction of the sizes of its potential adversaries.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

That's a great example of what happens when government tries to save money on the military.

Actually, a good example of why one should restrict one's military in peacetime in order to force it to focus its mind on how to plan and forge doctrine that look ahead, maximize the quality of its personnel, and relies on  efficiency and effectiveness rather than mass and gold plating, is the interwar German army that was forced to remain at a tiny fraction of the sizes of its potential adversaries.

Uh, crap. The government wanted the locals to form militias and respond to emergencies like they were trained professionals based on a few training sessions each year. The plan was idiotic and proven as such.

[Minimalist]

Que the second sacking of the white house by Canada? 
War of 1812 v2?

That's a great example of what happens when government tries to save money on the military.

It's actually a better example of what happens when a pipsqueak nation forgets itself and declares war on a superpower.  Lucky for us that Napoleon escaped from Elba.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

That's a great example of what happens when government tries to save money on the military.

It's actually a better example of what happens when a pipsqueak nation forgets itself and declares war on a superpower.  Lucky for us that Napoleon escaped from Elba.

Opinions do vary about that war.

[Anomalocaris]

Actually, a good example of why one should restrict one's military in peacetime in order to force it to focus its mind on how to plan and forge doctrine that look ahead, maximize the quality of its personnel, and relies on  efficiency and effectiveness rather than mass and gold plating, is the interwar German army that was forced to remain at a tiny fraction of the sizes of its potential adversaries.

Uh, crap. The government wanted the locals to form militias and respond to emergencies like they were trained professionals based on a few training sessions each year. The plan was idiotic and proven as such.

And the military didn't have any thinkers who could have organized, trained and strategize better.
As I said, mediocre military asks for more money first.  Excellent military improves its effectiveness within the given budget first.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Uh, crap. The government wanted the locals to form militias and respond to emergencies like they were trained professionals based on a few training sessions each year. The plan was idiotic and proven as such.

Yes, as I said, mediocre military asks for more money first.  Excellent military improves its effectiveness within the given budget first.

If one restricts one's military in peacetime they're not ready in an emergency. We were 16th in the world, behind Bulgaria, when WWII started. Saved a bunch of money. 

[Anomalocaris]

So the best solution is obvious to increase one's military budget because spending more on the military than the next 20 countries put together is shockingly insufficient.