Trench warfare was used extensively just over a hundred years ago during World War 1 in Europe.
"World War I was a war of trenches. After the early war of movement in the late summer of 1914, artillery and machine guns forced the armies on the Western Front to dig trenches to protect themselves. Fighting ground to a stalemate".
Civilised people in uncivilised behaviour
In World War 1 there was a stalemate on the battle fronts and both sides dug themselves into trenches. Both sides could not move forward. They had to invent a new weapon of war, called the "tank" to break through the enemies trenches.
So the appearance of tanks put an effective end to trench warfare in World War 1. When World War 2 came along in 1939 there was no more trench warfare. It was the war of the tanks.
Today there are about a total of 70,000 tanks in the armies around the world. Russia has the lion's share with over 12,000 tanks. The USA has over 2500 tanks with some in storage.
What about the European / NATO countries? How many tanks do they have? Here is a list:
Germany 236 tanks
France 406 tanks
Finland 139 tanks
Italy 200 tanks
United Kingdom 158 tanks
Russia now manufactures and delivers close to 300 tanks a month - which is more than the entire tank strength of Germany. Or of Canada, Finland, Italy or the United Kingdom.
Russia is not only a military power but it is also a huge manufacturing colossus. Building super modern main battle tanks like the T90 and the Armata is not a backyard industry.
Why trench warfare in Ukraine? In the present Ukraine conflict Russia is also using trench warfare.
The question is why? There is no major threat from Ukrainian tanks because many of the Ukrainian tanks have been eliminated. The Ukrainian tanks are also very largely older model Russian made T-64s, T-72s with some T-90s thrown in.
So why dig trenches? The other purpose of trenches is to make a defensive line. Meaning the Russians are not venturing beyond the trench line. They are not aiming to take anymore territory.
I have said before that this 'military operation' in Ukraine effectively ended sometime in late March or April after the Russians already took the Russian speaking areas in eastern Ukraine. It has been a war of attrition since then because the UK and USA are insisting on prolonging a military catastrophe for Ukraine without negotiating a workable peace. A workable peace is simply the de-militarisation and de-Nazification of Ukraine, Ukraine staying out of NATO and no more ethnic cleansing of Russian speaking people.
The Russians are settling down to wearing and grinding down the Ukrainian militias and the British and American funded mercenaries known as the Mozart group (fighting for Ukraine). The Mozart mercenary battalion is commanded by Andrew Milburn a retired American army colonel.
The Russians have their own mercenary army known as the Wagner Group. What the world does not know is that the Wagner group also has a battalion of British mercenaries (fighting for Russia against Ukraine) and this British battalion is commanded by a former general in the US Marine Corps.
"a British battalion (as part of Wagner PMC), which is commanded by a US citizen, a former general of the Marine Corp".
What can I say? It is a very complicated world.
There is now a meat grinder type action going on in a place called Bakhmut. The 'battle' for Bakhmut has been going on for months now. The Russians have no plans of taking over the already devastated city (formerly with a population of 70,000). After all the people left the artillery duels have flattened most of Bakhmut. There is little strategic value in Bakhmut.
However the Russians are using Bakhmut to pull in large numbers of Ukraine's men and military equipment which are then simply destroyed. Bakhmut provides a set piece battle field where the Russians are well fortified and have established their supply and logistics lines.
Henry Kissinger predicted (in February 2022) that if the war in Ukraine is not resolved quickly (he suggested three months) then the war will change into a larger geo-political power play which Russia will win. That is what is happening now.
Mr Putin will use Ukraine to break up NATO. Or at least cause major fissures in NATO which will then crack up on its own later. He will also use Ukraine to weaken the European Union's economic hegemony in Europe. He will also use Ukraine to break the American and British influence over Europe.
Ukraine is indeed the Mother of all Wars in Europe now. It is not just the trenches and the tanks.
There will be a much longer lasting peace and a more balanced prosperity throughout Europe and maybe the rest of the world after the conclusion of this conflict. If Mr Putin prevails. It appears now that he will.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
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