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The Biggest Difference Between Past Warfare and Current Warfare (And It Is Not Guns)
Equipment has little to do with it
When comparing past warfare to modern warfare, most people focus on the invention of ballistics. Many people think that missiles, bombs, and guns changed war. But that is not the case. In fact, many military tactics from the distant past are still in use today. Pincer maneuvers, flanking, feints, and deception are all largely the same as they ever were, but today, they are supported by planes and artillery. Military institutions still study the writings of Sun Tzu, who lived over 2,000 years ago.
Despite the similarities, warfare has dramatically changed over the past century, but it has little to do with the technology deployed. Warfare has changed because the number of people involved in war has grown dramatically.
As the Earth’s population has grown, so too has the size of militaries. Modern economies are much better equipped to field large armies than Medieval or Ancient economies were. That means that armies today are far larger than they ever were in the past. And that has changed everything.
