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BTW on explodign shells I meant the type of artillery we see today - the older versions were honestly still either solid shot or the canister type shot a'la the American Civil War. As in not really exploding in terms of creating huge craters because honestly they didn't - more like a long ranged shotgun.
Also I'll disagree on there being a post-WW2 style war - the style of war post-WW2 is basically the style seen in World War 2.
-The large armored war - the one most people know in WW2. This style of war is the type seen in movies, documentaries and in the gulf war. Mass movements of armor and troops, the style of wars that would probably be used in large nation vs. large nation fights.
-The air war - WW2 saw the use of mass (and i mean mass, i still am awed just trying to imagine fleets of 1000+ bombers heading to Germany) air war - the art of air combat was refined, the strategic bomber was born, and the type of air war today is pretty much the same just with differnet weapons - striking strategic targets as well as tactical targets often standoff before the ground war.
-Guerilla wars - seen mainly in SouthEast Asia such as in burma, and all throughout the pacfici theatre. The Vietnam style of fighting (and Russian war in Afghanistan) was pretty much seen in WW2 already.
-Special operations war - WW2 was most well known for its legendary raids - the stuff of legends and damn well deserved. The commandos are legends - jesus the special forces today still honor those men - the modern SAS and other forces all pretty much come from this. The use of the Resistance and the war in teh shadows was basically the stuff in WW2 that really helped win wars.
There were so many 'different type of wars' in WW2 that today's wars are really just evolutions. THe only type of wars I can say after WW2 taht came about was the Nuclear War - and evne that was already seen in WW2.
Don't say urban warfare because WW2 was the first where street to street fighting acutally occured on large scales (as in cities w/ millions of citizens were entire battlegrounds).
WW2 was so devastating that people realized that large scale wars weren't going to do any good other than basically destroy the entire world. It wasn't just nuclear wars - had the Warsaw Pact and NATO faced off in Europe, Europe would have basically become another big fat battleground. Massive tank divisions vs. tank divisions, a war in the air between sides that had comparable equipment, technology, and a war in teh seas with teh submarine fleets. Not to mention special forces and what not. it would've been like WW2 but with weapons hella more destructive.
The reason today there are relatively few wars between major nations is that they learned from WW2 and realize its folly.
China and the U.S. may be at odds over differnet issues but both countries realized (hopefully lol) that a large war between two powers would only leave countries in deep shit.
The U.S. also realizes now that if it faced a real power, its cities would no longer be safe. WW2 had the benefit to the U.S. of having two large oceans and so it went through the war with almost no casualties at home (the exact number is controversial but the # killed ranges from 1 to 20 lol)
Anyways I'd say the country should be glad its latest wars are relatively puny - I'm not saying they're not as harrowing, war is always harrowing.
But my father always told me (he is Vietnam vet) to realize that the last few wars have really tricked the populace into thinking wars w/ these great 'smart' weapons are saving lives and blah blah blah. He always metnions the "great illusion that no one will get killed" and so on - "it's sad today that many forget how many people died in wars of the past on both sides and think war is a video game."
And he's right - people think it is a reality show now. Until of course they are thrust into a war where 30 people die a day at the least. Then people really shutup and reality hits - sometimes too late.
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