by Plix June 1st 2009, 3:50 pm
Times have changed too much for that to even be more than an afterthought.
The American Civil War was in a time of muskets and cannons, when soldiers still charged at each other with their slow loading rifles and bayonetts in the middle of an open field. Nuclear warfare has changed everything, just look at the Cold War. At the end of WWII, only about 1 in 3 Russian soldiers actually had a weapon. If we attacked at the right time, they would have not been able to stop us, as we had a humongous military and tons of resources to keep building ourselves up. Russia had neither of those, at least to the extent we did. But it was because of nuclear weapons that when we were drawn to the brink of war, that it ended in a stalemate.
If North Korea wanted too, they could unleash their nuclear arsenal all at once unexpectedly and wipe the US out in a day. But they know that that would be a deathwish, as numerous nations would spring up to our defense.