Originally Posted by
Leon Jabachjabicz
I beg to differ old stick. You can win wars immediately with air power, or latterly sea power, alone. You just need the resolve to make the consequences of continuing seem so bleak that your enemy is forced to make unconditional surrender...
We have not lived in the era of total warfare for the better part of a century. If Korea did not prove that, Vietnam certainly did, and two Gulf Wars have confirmed that. And ISIL/ISIS has unequivocally shown that asymmetric threats are very real threats to modern nations and societies. So the bottom line is that modern warfare is
limited. Limited war means you
must put boots on the ground. Even in the case of Japan which "surrendered unconditionally" under a relentless and devastating air campaign, it took boots on the ground to secure that victory and occupy the nation. There are
still US boots on the ground there. Indeed, nearly three quarters of a century after the last (and arguably
only) total war ended, there are
still US boots on the ground in Germany, Italy, and Japan. The need for boots on the ground has only increased since Japan's unconditional surrender nearly three quarters of a century ago.