Why are Europeans pussies?

Europe has been a major battlefield since Roman times. But especially since Napoleon starting using million-man armies and the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, European civilan populations and national economies have been badly impacted by major continental wars. (1866, 1870, 1914, and 1939). They witnessed the worst genocide in history, which was also perpetrated by themselves. They just had a close scare in the Cold War where they were going to be the main battleground between two superpowers in a nuclear/biological/chemical world war.

The Europeans are very anti-war because a big one rolls through town every few decades and ruins everybody's life. The last one was so horrible that even the militaristic Germans scared themselves into pacifists. It is hard for Americans to understand when we haven't had an enemy army in our streets since 1865 and 1781 . . . and even then the enemy was us.

European businesses prefer reinforced concrete construction instead of cinder blocks and timber framing. Such buildings survive world wars. All European dwellings have substantial basements, not just for utilities and storage, but for shelter during artillery bombardments or bombings. The real costs of war are deeply engrained in these people.

And it should not be forgotten that the Euros maintain substantial militaries and can fight very well when they have to. The Brits and the Krauts are extremely professional and even the froggy French have a skilled military when they actually commit them to a fight. But they have been fighting each other for centuries and they have grown very cautious.

To an American war is football . . . to an European war is chess. Americans will vigorously defend our territory and aggressively assault the enemy. We will stage a deceptive plan to combine a frontal ground assault with an aerial attack. The object is to defeat the enemy and take his base.

Europeans will plan for long periods then make moves designed to control the center. They will make feints and deceptions designed to confuse and will make great sacrifices to gain an advantage. They will wait patiently for the enemy to commit to an attack and then take advantages of his weaknesses. The object is to convince the enemy that he must surrender.

Perhaps, this is why the Europeans are effective allies. The combination of American audacity and European prudence was very successful in World War II and the Cold War. But when we ain't actually engaged side-by-side in a big fight, it is often difficult for Americans and Europeans to understand each other.

But together we represent The West to the Third World and The Asian Hordes. We have more shared values and heritage with the Europeans than with anybody. They are important allies and collectively have more military forces than we do. We can call them pussies, but we won't let the Asians or Africans treat them so. It's our job to be the belligerent, aggressive pacesetter, it's the Europeans job to be the clever, devious pussies.

It's the good cop/bad cop approach to the advance of Western Civilization. :grin: