Ukraine Has Invalidated Centuries Of Conventional Military Wisdom

In 2010 the prominent Yale historian Timothy Snyder wrote a powerful history book about the part of the world where Ukraine sits. A summary is as follows: Snyder's book examines the region between Moscow and Berlin, which he calls "The Bloodlands", and describes the atrocities committed by the Nazi and Soviet regimes, including mass executions, cannibalism, and the murder of children and infants. Snyder argues that the regimes murdered around 14 million people in this region, which stretches from central Poland to western Russia and includes Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic states. He also discusses the regimes' use of demographic profiling to target civilians, and the killing of ethnic minorities, including 110,000 Poles who were shot for suspected espionage. Some say that Bloodlands is a difficult book to read, but an important warning to military leaders about the consequences of unchecked military force. It appears that another bloodbath is taking place in the area of Ukraine. By the end of the year, I project that Russian deaths in Ukraine will exceed one million. Ukraine is very secretive about its military losses. Here is what they report on civilian casualties: Civilian deaths By 24 September 2023, OHCHR had recorded 27,449 civilian casualties in Ukraine since February 24, 2022: 9,701 killed and 17,748 injured. This included 14,231 (4,287 dead and 6,324 injured) in Donetsk and Luhansk. This figure does not take into account some 4,500,000 Ukrainian citizens displaced by the war. I am going to estimate the military deaths at 300,000+, We are headed for another Vietnam where some 3.25 million Vietnamese lost their lives during the 10-year U.S. war there. Despite these appalling and almost unimaginable losses, Ukraine has held up well. They have shown a stunning innovation not seen in warfare for centuries in some cases as follows: Conventional wisdom number one: A nation must have a large blue water navy fleet with many advanced ships, many people operating them, and massive firepower. Ukraine's tiny navy was neutralized on the first day of the Russian invasion. Ukraine got very smart. They learned how to use drones, including undersea drones to decimate the Russian Black Sea fleet including a major heavy cruiser, nuclear submarine, large landing ships, etc. Conventional wisdom#2: A nation must have a large and technologically superior air force with very expensive fighters like the F-35 and very expensive bombers like the B-2. Ukraine's air force consisted of obsolete fighters from the old Soviet Union. This air force fought valiantly but suffered grievous losses. NATO allies sent them some more obsolete Soviet-era jet fighters. F-16s are on their way. The Ukraine air force and defense industry did not let this hold them down. They started using all sorts of drones to carry out very sophisticated bombing missions even deep inside Russia. These drones were up against one of the most sophisticated and deadly air defense systems on earth. They have also shot down or destroyed hundreds of very advanced Russian aircraft including strategic bombers, advanced AWAC platforms, and even an advanced command and control aircraft. Conventional wisdom #3: A nation must have a large standing land army with massive quantities of tanks, other armored vehicles, and artillery to prevail. Ukraine's army is constantly outnumbered and outgunned by the Russian army. They have learned to use drones of all kinds to inflict massive military casualties and destroy massive amounts of military equipment. Here is an example of Ukraine's advanced drone technology at its best. It is a stealth drone submarine: New stealth submarine with James Bond-like features could help Ukraine defeat Russia (newsbreak.com) I am sure that Chinese military planners considering an invasion of Taiwan take note of what is happening in Ukraine.