Tom Clancy's EndWar story is ridiculus

[Heraclitus]

How in the world can Russia fight both a European Federation and the US at the same time and manage to conquer all of Europe except Spain and France?

130 million impoverished Russians vs. 800 million rich Euros & USAians.


Also what are China & Japan doing? Scratching their balls?

[Verto]

However, in 2015 it is found that major oil companies have overstated the amount of recoverable oil reserves. Energy security becomes the explicit priority of governments around the world. Russia, being the world's number one supplier of natural gas and crude oil, has its economy skyrocket up with the energy crisis, spending its oil profits on modernizing its armed forces and utilizing its new-found power to influence world events. A nuclear war occurs between Saudi Arabia and Iran in 2016, killing 20 million, further compounding the energy crisis and greatly destabilising the nations of Europe. With crude oil now at 800 dollars a barrel, the alliance of individual countries of the European Union are forced to band together to consolidate political, economic and military power in the face of growing global security, environmental and economic concerns. Morphing to become the new superpower of the "European Federation" (EF) in 2018, most of the wealthy Western Europe is now recognised as an independent state in its own right. Britain and Ireland decline membership while Switzerland remains neutral. Relations between the US and EF are not exactly warm- each regarding the other's power as a threat to their own, the now fractured former allies embark on a costly space arms race with each other.
The militarisation of space reaches its peak in 2018, when the United States reveals plans to launch the "Freedom Star" space station into high orbit by 2020, in an effort to regain its position as the premier world superpower. While partly designed for civilian research purposes, the station will also house three companies of U.S. Marines, who can deploy anywhere on Earth within 90 minutes. International reaction is extremely negative, to say the least. The EF and Russia in particular despise the development, seeing it as a way the US could use to neutralise their portion of anti-ballistic defences and upset the balance of power. They withdraw from the already divided NATO in protest, In 2020, when the final module of the Freedom Star is set to launch from Kennedy Space Center amid international outcry, it comes as little surprise when a group of terrorists attack the launch site. In investigating the source of the attack, the US, the EF, and Russia find themselves at odds, rolling with unstoppable momentum toward full-scale global war. [5] [6]

Not saying the story is perfect, or even very good, but that should (partially) answer some of your questions.

EDIT: Info from wiki

[Kuciwalker]

Who cares about the story? I mean, did you ever wonder why the yellow circle loves dots and why the ghosts are out to get him?

[Heraclitus]

Originally posted by Verto

Not saying the story is perfect, or even very good, but that should (partially) answer some of your questions.

EDIT: Info from wiki

Well yes but this still dosen't explain how Russia, even if it became as rich as Europe and even if America didn't do anything to help Europe or even tried to sabotage her, got to the point of conquering all of Europe except Spain and France and the UK.

I mean 500 million vs. 130 million! It makes no bloody sense!

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Who cares about the story? I mean, did you ever wonder why the yellow circle loves dots and why the ghosts are out to get him?

The dots are energy pellets, which he needs to survive of course, and the ghosts are out to get him because ... they are GHOSTS, which are EVIL and MEAN.

Young kids nowadays

[Sandman]

I mean 500 million vs. 130 million! It makes no bloody sense!

Yeah, that'd be as dumb as the ancient Greeks conquering the Persians.

[Heraclitus]

Originally posted by Sandman


Yeah, that'd be as dumb as the ancient Greeks conquering the Persians.

You have to admit that modern warfare has changed. Its mostly about hardware and who has better quality and who can pump out more of it.


Europe could outproduce Russia by a large margin and could support a much stronger war effort. Unless it was crippled by having next to no oil if that Happened Russia might fare reasonably well.

If North Sea and Eastern Euro oil has run dry in Tom Clancy's story then it may be half coherent. Still doesn't explain the lack of involvement of China or India.

[Sandman]

I suspect the ramp-up time for a modern society to turn itself to modern war would be quite long. Longer than the war, probably.

[Patroklos]

Why exactly is the threat of three companies of Marines anywhere in the world a concern to any major power.

Yeah, they are awesome, but they still only carry so many bullets

[Kataphraktoi]

Mainland europe would probably fall like a ripe fruit to a blitzkrieg coming from a stronger russia.(so would the US if you could teleport an army here, there are no defenses anywhere) The military budgets are pitiful and so is the size. Economic strength is irrelevant for the first year of the war, as is population. In modern wars, only what you have at the beginning of the war counts unless you are lucky enough to be on an island or massively sized enough to lose ground and retain production capabilities

Besides the german army that blitzed france was both smaller and had worse tanks than the french-tactics and momentum are trump cards here. Ditto for invasion of russia-smaller army and the t34 is superior. Note that the french and russians had superior tanks by measuring guns+armour, otherwise germans had higher quality and i dare say, better soldiers.

Reminds me of an AC quote....

Superior training and superior weaponry have, when taken together, a geometric effect on overall military strength. Well-trained, well-equipped troops can stand up to many more times their lesser brethren than linear arithmetic would seem to indicate.

The real question is, could russia hold what they grab with a blitzkrieg against the counterpunch, given the likelyhood of total allied air superiority?

[Heraclitus]

Originally posted by Kataphraktoi
The military budgets are pitiful and so is the size.

sigh

Military spending in 2006, in billions of euros, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and the European Defence Agency.

In USD

European Union 311,920,000,000 2007
Russia 40,000,000,000 2008