Modern air power paradoxically makes ground infantry resemble pre-industrial guerrilla fighters
Evidence
The airplane put the infantry back in an earlier age, reviving the convoy of salt-smugglers, the gay chouannerie of the hedge-wars, the warpath of the Last of the Mohicans. — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 345
Categorization
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 345
- XREF: connects to: Weaponless insurgents compensated with ruses and improvised armor; Counterinsurgency doctrine marginalized airpower for strategic rather than moral reasons. — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 256; Drone dominance of warfare is not an inexorable historical fate (+4 more)
Broader Connections
- Analyzing weapons’ mechanics reveals the political form they impose on action
#expands(0.60) - Drone dominance of warfare is not an inexorable historical fate
#qualifies(0.50) - Extreme asymmetry in vulnerability transforms war into hunting or slaughter
#expands(0.40) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 332 - Weapon evolution and deterrence form a self-accelerating spiral.
#corroborates(0.30) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 390