this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2026
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Actually this reminded me of a documentary or something I've read a while back.
The leading cause of death in armies has long been infectious diseases, not combat injuries.
Poor sanitation, overcrowded camps, contaminated water, malnutrition - this all lead to massive outbreaks of disentery, typhoid, pneumonia, malaria, etc etc, that caused more casualties than actual combat, depending on campaign conditions.
Logistics has always been the main factor in winning wars.
Yeah it took advancements in logistics and civics in order to field larger armies. The concept of total war didn’t really exist until WWI. Maybe the Mongolia.