August 05, 2004
"The fortress [of Liege]
was believed to be one of the most formidable position in Europe among military analysts... This fortress was built by Henri Brialmont, fortress engineer of the days in 1884.
The German infantry assault of August 1914 struggled before the valiant Belgian defence, but eventually the Germans came within firing range of the ring of forts. The Germans brought a new weapon, a 420mm gun created by Krupps known as Big Bertha which had to be pulled by 28 horses and "took its 200-man crew, over six hours to re-assemble it on the site"
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Far from expert on military weapons, but it has seemed evident for some time that stationary defenses/targets such as walls, cities, or castles are simply and ultimately indefensible given modern weaponry. From the standpoint of reducing civilian casualties, (as if anyone really devotes any serious attention whatsoever to such a prospect), even having mobile cities (should these in some hard-to-imagine future become feasible) would not help much, since then an opponent would simply place obstacles in its path, curtailing its movement. I can, however, imagine a dark future where weapons and other military manufactories would be designed to be mobile and would perhaps accompany attacking forces. A no-win situation, really. If target holds still, it is going to get zonked. Sad but inevitable. A world of refugees seems the most probable future outcome, assuming anyone survives if a no-holds-barred contention arises. The USA has taken the world a lot closer to this grim prospect in the last while, in my admittedly limited opinion.