Trebuchet v. Catapult
If you already know the difference between a trebuchet and a catapult and can explain how, at the Battle of Pelennor Fields, the Gondorians used trebuchets while the orcs used catapults, congratulations. If you DM me, I will explain to you what a female is and how to safely approach one in the wild.
But this nerd knowledge is suddenly valuable again because siege warfare is back, baby!
It is what the Russian war against Ukraine has turned into and what the U.S. is doing to Iran.
As I have written about at length, this is yet another aspect of the neo-medieval world we find ourselves in. It is, literally, a return to the 1500s.
The Economics of Medieval Modern Warfare
Land wars are wildly expensive. Let me put some numbers to this. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars cost the U.S. roughly $2 trillion in direct spending, but the total cost is expected to be around $6.5 trillion by 2050 after you include all the veterans’ benefits and interest expenses.
These numbers don’t even make sense. Two trillion dollars is the equivalent of 44.4 million years’ worth of U.S. primary school teachers’ salaries (in 2003 dollars).
But there is a better way… the siege. Don’t send in any troops, just cut your enemy off from their supplies and trading partners. You can run a low-level harassment campaign that slowly depletes your enemy’s resources and then wait for them to surrender.
Yes, it may take some time, but it’s a lot less expensive.
This also fits nicely into the post-structuralist war theory that I have written about. War is now mostly spectacle and has been since the original Gulf War.
Look at the U.S.-Iran War. Lots of contextless video footage of missiles firing from ships in the dead of night and jittery cell phone camera footage of impacts somewhere in Iran (or so we are intended to believe). The U.S. dominated, obliterated, dog-walked, pounded, and generally administered a World Star-style beating to Iran…
… but now, 10 weeks in, Iran still has half its offensive capabilities intact, the U.S. has only 13 KIA and no ships were harmed in the making of this war.
There are creative differences now about how this season’s war should conclude, but don’t worry, Trump has sent the script out for a rewrite. (Spoiler alert: Iran keeps the Strait of Hormuz.)
Hegseth got up in front of Congress and lied about the cost of this production, claiming that it had cost only $25 billion. However, we all know it is way over budget.
Most estimates are around the $70 billion mark, but some are 10x that. It was costing $1 billion per day when we were doing all the special effects, and the Pentagon said it cost $11.3 billion in the first six days.
Guys, we have three carrier groups involved in this shoot. That’s a lot of extras.
At least the trailers have been excellent.
