Re: [SG2] weapons

On 25 Nov 2003 at 9:39, Imre A. Szabo wrote:

> The German military in the 1920's and early thirties effectively
> plowed through as many men as possible to create as large a trained
> reserve as possible.	Without this, the Wermacht would have been much
> smaller at the beginning of WWII.  Also note that Germany in this time
> period encouraged civillian hobbies with military applications, such
> as gliders, etc.  There is no reason why goverments can't do the same
> now or in the future.

Germany "plowed through" all those men on an unsupportable economic 
model. Hitler made the trains run on time and revived the economy, 
but he did so with huge amounts of public money. Germany's tax model 
couldn't support it. Hitler financed his build up with a lot of money 
borrowed by foreigners. This would have devastated the country if it 
wasn't for the fact that Hitler had no intention of paying it all 
back.

So, it's not impossible for a nation now, or in the future, to do the 
kind of build up Germany did in the 30s. It's just very hard to 
manage without an imminent war. The Soviet Union tried to do 
something similar throughout the Cold War, but with a different 
economic base -- where more of the country's GDP went into the 
government -- and with a less efficient infrastructure. The end 
result was bankruptcy.

-- 

Allan Goodall		     agoodall@hyperbear.com
http://www.hyperbear.com

"I'm ashamed of you, dodging that way. They couldn't hit an elephant
at this distance." - final words of Major General John Sedgwick,
   Battle of Spotslyvania, May 8, 1864