A friend once told me that the South could never have won due to the industrial superiority of the North. I said that sounds like wisdom in English, but it’s a joke in Vietnamese.
I mean, they’re right, industrial superiority just also requires the will to keep the war going for as long as necessary, and with whatever casualties necessary. For “Shitty war that violates another country for reasons we ourselves aren’t entirely clear on”, the will is generally lacking; for “A third of our country was just taken by traitors because they decided they only like democracy when they win”, there’s generally plenty of will.
A friend once told me that the South could never have won due to the industrial superiority of the North. I said that sounds like wisdom in English, but it’s a joke in Vietnamese.
Having your industrial might a few hundred miles north of the enemy is a far cry from being on the other side of the planet.
(Still a good joke!)
I mean, they’re right, industrial superiority just also requires the will to keep the war going for as long as necessary, and with whatever casualties necessary. For “Shitty war that violates another country for reasons we ourselves aren’t entirely clear on”, the will is generally lacking; for “A third of our country was just taken by traitors because they decided they only like democracy when they win”, there’s generally plenty of will.
Except there actually wasn’t. People don’t like killing their literal own family. Civil war sucks even worse than normal war.