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WildSauce t1_j614zc2 wrote

Reply to comment by eetuu in Norway will send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. The goverment is planning a larger contribution that will span several years. by Noxzen

France in early 1914 and Ukraine in early 2022 had effectively the same population, about 40 million people. France suffered 1.4 million dead and 4.2 million wounded in WWI. Ukraine so far has suffered somewhere around 100k total casualties.

It is extremely difficult to break a modern nation through sheer body count. You might be able to break the political will to fight, but it would take a very, very long time for this war to burn itself out through casualties alone.

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paulusmagintie t1_j61895v wrote

Can't really compare to WW1 or 2 since that was an all out total war with pretty much every country going 100% for 6 years.

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torlesse t1_j61vo2a wrote

Umm, Ukraine is in total war. All their major cities are getting bombed, you think some are just relaxing at home like how the Americans were during the 20 year Afghan war?

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paulusmagintie t1_j622qtd wrote

WW1 toral War was 60,000 dead in one battle in a day.

They are just not comparable.

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MetzgerWilli t1_j666hfd wrote

Those battles were the absolute exception though. Even in WW1 few areas and days saw anything close to 60k deaths

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WildSauce t1_j61c7u8 wrote

Ukraine today is in much the same position as France in WWI, being under invasion from a neighbor who poses an existential threat. But I do agree that Russia does not compare, because their people do not have that sort of strong reason to wish for continued war. High casualties very well may lead to the end of the war through political defeat in Russia.

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