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Will there be another World War in our lifetimes?

I was born in 2001, so am currently 16. It seems that opinions are split on whether anything will happen, but I start panicking every time that someone thinks it is a possibility.
Do you think anything will ever happen?

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I was born in 2002, so I'm currently 15, and this scares me too. It's difficult to say whether anything will happen in our lifetime - after all, most of us young people (if we live into our 80s or 90s) will have many many years where something could (or could not) happen. A lot can change in a short time so it's incredibly difficult to say really.
Reply 2
No.
I personally think not, but it does get me distressed.
Cold war, maybe
World war, no
Sure why not
Original post by Betelgeuse-
Sure why not


Why not? Are you for real?
Original post by Joe2001
I was born in 2001, so am currently 16. It seems that opinions are split on whether anything will happen, but I start panicking every time that someone thinks it is a possibility.
Do you think anything will ever happen?


No or if it did, then its likely to be so catastrophic everyone gets destroyed anyway.
You'd have been worrying a lot more during the 80's. Ask your parents.
WHy do people keep asking this?
WHY WOULD THER EbE WORLD WAR£???!11
Original post by justanotherchica
WHy do people keep asking this?
WHY WOULD THER EbE WORLD WAR£???!11


Trump, Russia, North Korea, Syria, nuclear weapons.
Original post by Joe2001
Trump, Russia, North Korea, Syria, nuclear weapons.


okay
Original post by Joe2001
Why not? Are you for real?


Nah im for fake
Original post by Betelgeuse-
Sure why not


The most nonchalant reply ever :biggrin:
I literally swear, like...



Can I just finish my degree like A-levels were damn hard and if i die after going through all that...imma be p*ssed
We're in a post-Industrial War phase of history. There is no country that can sustain multi-theatre conventional war.

The US doesn't have the manpower.

China, North Korea, India lack the experience.

France, UK, most of NATO have far too few troops and home populations who are rabidly anti-War, hence would not be able to call on conscripts.

Iran is almost entirely para-military with no ability to project force beyond the very close region.

Russia has not been capable of war since the 1950s. This became clear in the aftermath of the Cold War.


So sure - there are plenty of belligerents, but no-one who can actually fight in a World War.

Let's assume the most obvious scenario - Iran starts it by attacking Israel via Syria. Israel beats a Syrian/Iranian army easily and turns Tehran into a smoking ruin. A bunch of fake attacks Gulf of Tonkin style bring Egypt and Jordan into it. The US goes straight to the aid of Israel.

North Korea kicks off and attacks Korea - because they know the US is busy in the middle east.

As long as Russia stays out of it, there's no role for NATO and the UN would obviously be useless. Britain and France would have to decide between Korea and Israel - they certainly can't do both.

Like I said, we're in a post-Industrial War phase. More than a few casualties will turn public opinion, and the Lefties won't countenance any support for Israel no matter what the cause. Without conscription, we don't have anything like the manpower to carry on a conventional war.

In short - it won't happen.
Original post by Joe2001
Trump, Russia, North Korea, Syria, nuclear weapons.


Trump no. Russia maybe. North Korea quite possibly. Syria (Iran) yes. Nuclear weapons - almost certainly not.

Why would Trump have anything to do with it? He's probably the least likely to start a war. If you want war - just bring back Obama and Clinton. They've effectively pre-cursored any problems in the Middle East by making Iran a regional power.
No, the world is completely different to when it was during the first two world wars. It's not about controlling the most land and forging empires in order to create an autarky economic system and establishing dominance through invading other nations. The world is ran by corporations and money today. People believe that the US and China would go to war, but it just doesn't make sense. Why would either country go to war, when it's pretty much complete suicide and would absolutely ruin their economic successes. Plus both China and the US heavily rely on each other for importing and exporting. This is why the only countries go to war are insignificant and undeveloped, because they have no major influence on a global scale neither a military force that threatens global powers. Also NUKES, they act as a war deterrence as no country would ever want to fire one because it's complete suicide. World War would only occur if the an economic crisis occurred which was so bad it would destroy the economy's of the strongest nations, also no nukes - but that is very unlikely :bhangra:
No. Not gonna happen no matter what sabre rattling and macho name calling some leaders engage in.

If the five permanent member states of the UN Security Council did not possess a significant nuclear weapon deterrent, then yes, a conventionally armed WWIII may be possible. But it would be fairly short lived and will be fought on the Eurasian land mass (Eastern Europe) South China seas or the Middle East. Think Gulf Wars scale and WWII Pacific navy battles. I don't agree with Trinculo on the point of conscription. There would be plenty of people willing to volunteer and no-one that were not forced to, would contemplate surrender.

Modern warfare relies on state-of-the-art weaponry, which is neither easy to produce nor is it cheap. (Missile destroyer or attack submarine circa £1bn+ each, Fighter aircraft circa £100m each etc.) It requires an extremely highly skilled engineering workforce and highly trained operational personnel which takes years to hone. They cannot be mass produced anywhere near a very small fraction of the scale of WWII. They require the combined production resources of many countries around the globe.

In a war, if supply capability gets cut off, the production chain collapses, no more high-tech weapons produced. Cruise missiles would go after key production and storage facilities, as demonstrated last Saturday in Syria. Transport on the high seas is by enormous and slow container ships. These would be ridiculously easy targets for modern nuclear powered hunter-killer submarines. Deplete weapon stocks and cut ability to transport them - no more war.

Of course, once the high technology weapons are depleted, a conventionally armed military from a country with a huge quantity of legacy assets and sufficient conscript manpower, may prevail. However, unless said country or alliance has a significant expeditionary capability to execute sustained campaigns thousands of miles from their home bases, then they cannot project power and will fail.

The only country capable of doing that at present is the U.S.
The U.K. can project limited regional power in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and North Sea areas. This is because the U.K has global bases in these areas and has a potent navy to support operations.
Even China and Russia does not really have the same capability to sustain power projection far outside of their immediate land borders.
Budding powers like India are geared for local defence only.

But those nuclear deterrents are the weapons that have stopped a regional conventionally armed war from escalating to WWIII. That would require one nuclear armed state with long range ballistic missile delivery systems, to launch a pre-emptive first strike against another or against an ally of a nuclear armed state. Even before those missiles hit their targets, retaliatory missiles would already be on their way.

Only then it would be sayonara and thanks for the fish.
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by Joe2001
Trump, Russia, North Korea, Syria, nuclear weapons.


Relax, they're nowhere near as trigger happy as the media makes them out to be.

Firing nukes would obv be a last resort for any country and they would have to be in the mindset of literally having nothing to lose to fire them since using them will guarantee their own destruction.
I place it at 20% odds. Mostly because of overpopulation.

£100 anyone?
(edited 5 years ago)

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