this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2025
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Fun fact (maybe just a fact):
From Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
Relevant Oglaf:
And after industrialization most deaths in war are due to artillery strikes. Not being shot by a riflemen like most people would think.
I remember reading that only 20% of US soldiers fired their rifle in ww2 the figure is kind of controversial. But I think there's some true to it that not that many soldiers even got within firing range of the enemy.
You may want to sign in to YouTube because it is age restricted, but have you seen the video footage from France24 reporter getting into the midst of a firefight with the FARC in Colombia? You can't actually see where the bullets are from. You hear the general direction of where the shot is from, but not specifically where. Fortunately, the crew survived after being taken hostage and then later freed.
Unlike in movies where they could pinpoint where the shooter is, in the footage no one can see where the shots are coming from. Real life combat is precisely like that. No wonder you'd call in artillery to smoke out enemies and drones to simply remotely do the killing.
Sorry, have most people not seen the fucking size of artillery? This is why Verdun, Tannenberg and Isonzo are such immersive WW1 games. So many people dying of artillery and gas.
I remember hearing from a blacksmith doing medieval reenactment that it would be quite rare to be killed by an arrow on the battlefield, most of the death would come from the infection that comes after being shot by the arrow.
Yeah, you raise an army of 100,000 so you have 10,000 to fight with and about 20 make it back home alive. Then they all die of something they picked up on the way.