Were Medieval Knights modern Tanks?

[CBR]

This is getting way off topic now..



Thats not the point.

Kosova was a ground objective... air power alone with bombings of both military and economic targets forced Yugoslavia to give up and let UN control Kosova. Yes it would eventually have turned into a ground war, if NATO had the will to do it, if Yugoslavia had the will to resist the bombings.

The Gulf War in 1991 was a conventional war with ground troops but it still had a limited objective, forcing Iraq out of Kuwait. The war that might come soon will be very different as the objective is now Saddam and to change Iraq's government. But it will not be different in what military hardware that US and allies will be using.

Maybe for us its just another war far away but for Saddam Hussein and maybe also the population this will be a very different war..it will be a war of survival..a total war.

A conflict between two states, coalition(s) or UN versus xxxx is on several levels. From diplomatic pressure to sanctions, from threats to military buildup and sabre rattling.. and when it finally turns into acts of war, that can be anything: a few shots fired by a gunboat, taking back a small island with a bloodless invasion, bombing enemy economic and military targets, all the way up to the total war of WW2 with lots of destruction and loss of life ending with unconditional surrender.

Using only airpower is for us an option because of our technological superiority and it doesnt give us many casualties so its a "cheap" option of war for us.

War is about forcing your will upon others when all other options have been tried. You want to break the will of the enemy and depending on circumstances airpower alone can do that.

Ofc you dont want to have only an airforce as that limits your options. But a strong airforce means power projection where you can hurt him but he cant really hurt you:

Israel Air attack destroying nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981.

US air strikes against Libya in 1986

NATO bombing Yugoslavia in 1999


CBR

[Knight_Yellow]

yes in pidly little annoying wars airpower is a big factor but in a big war ie. ww1,ww2 u cant spend millions and millions of pounds/dollars everytime u want to hit a target.

history dictates that in a large scale conflict it would still be two armies meeting on the field. the weapons may have changed but the basic principles have not.

so in short yes tanks are modern heavy cavarly.

[econ21]

I'm with CBR on this one. In Kosovo and Afghanistan, people kept saying "you can't win a war from the air alone", "you need to send in ground troops". On the contrary, it seems to me that what those wars proved, along with the bigger Gulf War, was that you dashed near could win with airpower alone. Kosovo was a clear case in point. Afghanistan was over-run in days by a few thousand irregulars. The land operations in the Gulf War were little more than a gathering in of surrenders.

The whole evolution of warfare over history has been to killing more and more at a distance. Airwarfare is merely the latest version of this. Cruise missiles and predator drones may be the next step - killing from thousands of miles away. I guess at some stage in the future, the infantry will be replaced by minaturised killing machines... kind of like chemical warfare, but mechanised and smarter. That cheery thought makes me glad to be part of the human race...

[BlackWatch McKenna]

When the airplanes can start landing and "occupying" the area they have attacked, then I will believe that a war can be won with airpower alone.

[Longshanks]

Quote[/b] (Knight_Yellow @ Jan. 23 2003,20:17)]ahemm throw all the little punie bazookas u want at a truely modern tank since the thing has got over 4km firing range.... eg.

Actually tanks unsupported by infantry are like rolling coffins.

[Lechev]

I strongly agree with Longshanks. Why? bcos i am in an armoured reserved unit. Tanks may look formidable but it has alot of blind spots and you won't even know if the enemy infantry is sneeking behind you with pyrotecnics.

Once your vehicle is immorbilize, your morale will dropped like a meteor as you will be sitting ducks for the enemy.