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Lancer
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Oregon Coast, USA! or Bohol, Philippines!
Apr 1999
time: 05:37
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When are the Chinese going to take Mongolia back UR? Historicly there's more of a Mongolian connection to China than Russia certainly.
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Commy
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St. Louis, MO, USA
Mar 2004
time: 05:37
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After doing some reading on nuclear weapons, it appears that the nuclear bomb might be responsible for the fall of the USSR...not a gun was shot, not a bomb was dropped, rather, it was the cost of building a bomb that killed the Soviets...
The Manhattan project started with a $6000 research grant, but eventually the total cost reached over 5.8 trillion dollars...this is more than any other single project done by the US government except for Social Security...
In fact, the current GDP of the US is around 11.7 trillion dollars...the Manhattan Project cost about half that...add on the fact that 60 years ago the US GDP wasn't even close to this, and 5.8 trillion dollars is quite a lot...in fact, with the exception of china, that is more than the GDP of any other country in the world...in the end, 2 bombs (or rather 3, technically) cost more than most countries...
While I don't know the exact economy of the former USSR, it would seem that the US and NATO had a larger economy and better combined industry...
The cost of the "Manhattan Project" that the Soviets undertook at Arzamas 16 is not exactly known, but given how much the Americans spent, it is very likely the Soviets spent a comparable amount...
Add on the fact that the Soviets had a much larger nuclear complex and larger nuclear production, more than likely, the Soviets spent much more than the Americans did on a nuclear arsenal...
Obviously, other factors contributed to the fall of the USSR and Russia, but a costly nuclear program could very easily have been a major factor, tipping the scales towards total political and economic breakdown...
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Commy
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St. Louis, MO, USA
Mar 2004
time: 05:37
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As far as WWII with Japan...
The Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, created by Truman, estimated that around 200,000 died from both the atomic bombs...estimates vary, as local records of populations were destroyed by the bombs, but all the same, most estimates, including cancer victims, all fall in the 6-digit range...
No one knows for sure, and no one will ever know, but there are some estimates that, had a land invasion on Japan occured, as many as 2 million could have died, some American marines, but mostly Japanese civilians...in fact, most of the Japanese were issued pistols, swords, spears, and knifes to fight off such an invasion...
http://www.doug-long.com/
This site has much information on the topic...although I will admit some of the information is probably one sided...
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shawnmmcc
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I had not considered Commie's comment before, but historically expensive military technolgy has bankrupted many great and not-so-great countries through history. Whether it's armor for the nobility in the late middle ages (either the armor or a horse could consume one year's income for a noble) or dreadnaughts prior and during WW1, these costs have always come at the expense of the economy. Then again, the damage WW2 and the Cold War did to the US Economy may have set the seeds for our own econmic decline, much like WW1 and WW2 did to the Brits.
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27-06-2005 19:25
teh clulezz
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