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All Time Historical Existential Threats to US Power Rankings
YellowSnow
Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 37,342 
1 – Kingdom of Great Britain 1775- 1781
2- USSR 1949- 1991
3- Confederate State of America 1861- 1865
4- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 1812- 15
5- NAZI Germany 1941- 45
6- Empire of Japan 1941- 45
7- Russian Federation at Present
8- People’s Republic of China at Present
9- Revolutionary France/French Empire 1792- 1803
10- 4 way tie between Iran, Islamic Terrorism, N. Korea, Injuns
2- USSR 1949- 1991
3- Confederate State of America 1861- 1865
4- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 1812- 15
5- NAZI Germany 1941- 45
6- Empire of Japan 1941- 45
7- Russian Federation at Present
8- People’s Republic of China at Present
9- Revolutionary France/French Empire 1792- 1803
10- 4 way tie between Iran, Islamic Terrorism, N. Korea, Injuns
Comments
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Cal too high
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Fixed.GrundleStiltzkin said:Cal-exit too high
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Great Britain too high. They could have won but they would have faced the same kind of price at home that we would face today if we killed all our cousins if we had cousins in a country giving us shit and dumping our tea.
1 Soviets - they had nukes
2. Nazis - they had desire
3. Japan - fuckers were crazy
4. China today
5. Iran today
Fuck the rest -
Going to side with David McCullough on this one. King George III in the summer of 1776 through Washington sneak attacking drunk Germans came the closest anyone's ever come to ending the "existence" of the US. You are correct in the sense that the costs became higher than Great Britain was willing to pay, and that's why they gave up, and the French, of course, deserve a lion's share of the credit too. But none of this changes how damn close to got to getting a win in 1776.RaceBannon said:Great Britain too high. They could have won but they would have faced the same kind of price at home that we would face today if we killed all our cousins if we had cousins in a country giving us shit and dumping our tea.
1 Soviets - they had nukes
2. Nazis - they had desire
3. Japan - fuckers were crazy
4. China today
5. Iran today
Fuck the rest
Soviets - Clear number 2 I think because they got the bomb and built enough of them to be able to "end" the US by the mid to late 50's or so. Same holds true today with Russia with just less of a stockpile. But MAD always seemed to make it so that cooler heads would prevail excepting a few close calls. Also they were never going to get the bomb first, because they were reliant on western brainpower to figure it out first.
Nazis - Too high here. No doubt that man for man, the Whermacht was probably the best fighting force in WWII (no offense to the Greatest Generation). But they were never going to have the air power or navy to invade threaten the US. U-boats weren't going to stave us out or deprive us of raw materials. Now if Hitler wasn't such a dumb fuck, he could have probably knocked out Britain first- i.e., wait on Russia and take the Suez Canal and all the Middle East's oil. U-boats would have starved out Great Britain and forced them to give up (Churchill would have moved the Royal Navy to Canada, however). If the Germans had knocked out Britain and then found a way to defeat Russia, then we're talking some Man in the High Castle level of existential threat.
Japan - GDP was 10% of the USA's in 1941. They just weren't going to be able to out produce us no matter how tuff they were. We whipped them in 3.5 years with 80% of the war effort going to the European Theater.
Iran - If they manage to build a few bombs or more, they move up the list a lot. But they still wouldn't have an H-Bomb which is a lot more complicated to make than a fission type bomb. And they still have to figure out a way to get it here. That said, they are some apocalyptic mother fuckers facing a major demographic disaster. Fastest falling birthrate in human history. -
1. Gigantopithecus vs the dinosaurs.
Everything else.
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SMOD
Everything else -
Like dinosaur killing shit?Swaye said:SMOD
Everything else -
TRUMP
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Swaye vs whitey
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Whitey had too much Guns, Germs and Steel. Some burnt wagons and cabins but no existential threat.Pitchfork51 said:Swaye vs whitey
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Big PIA for the early Republic but no existential threat either. Good historical footnote, however, in that this ain't our first rodeo with Muslims.Doog_de_Jour said:No love for the Barbary states?
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Indeed. It is one of my favorite lesser known wars of US military history though - I mean, come on, there were PIRATES! and our biggest ally was Sweden.YellowSnow said:
Big PIA for the early Republic but no existential threat either. Good historical footnote, however, in that this ain't our first rodeo with Muslims.Doog_de_Jour said:No love for the Barbary states?
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The largest empire in human history too high?RaceBannon said:Great Britain too high. They could have won but they would have faced the same kind of price at home that we would face today if we killed all our cousins if we had cousins in a country giving us shit and dumping our tea.
1 Soviets - they had nukes
2. Nazis - they had desire
3. Japan - fuckers were crazy
4. China today
5. Iran today
Fuck the rest
*sigh* -
I'm gonna go ahead and rank Canada as #1 threat.
Those fuckers are undefeated against us all-time. God forbid if they ever get serious about dropping Tim Hortons franchises here. We are fucked against such deliciousness.
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I don't know what Tim Horton's is, but I imagine fighting a bunch of canucks hopped up on maple syrup beating people to death with hockey sticks while riding bears into battle would be a fearsome sight.
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That's pretty much Tim Hortons. Except with donuts.PurpleJ said:I don't know what Tim Horton's is, but I imagine fighting a bunch of canucks hopped up on maple syrup beating people to death with hockey sticks while riding bears into battle would be a fearsome sight.
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I'm guessing the donuts will be meant to reduce our agility and Bryan Adams records will be used to turn our brains into mush ala Mars Attacks. Doomed!PurpleThrobber said:
That's pretty much Tim Hortons. Except with donuts.PurpleJ said:I don't know what Tim Horton's is, but I imagine fighting a bunch of canucks hopped up on maple syrup beating people to death with hockey sticks while riding bears into battle would be a fearsome sight.
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I got a stalker
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Good book, by the wayYellowSnow said:
Whitey had too much Guns, Germs and Steel. Some burnt wagons and cabins but no existential threat.Pitchfork51 said:Swaye vs whitey
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Too soon. Dick.Southerndawg said:
Good book, by the wayYellowSnow said:
Whitey had too much Guns, Germs and Steel. Some burnt wagons and cabins but no existential threat.Pitchfork51 said:Swaye vs whitey
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That's why I love this place, there are people in here who have actually read Guns, Germs, and Steel: The fate of Human Societies .... or maybe simply watched the NG series. Either way, cool beans.Swaye said:
Too soon. Dick.Southerndawg said:
Good book, by the wayYellowSnow said:
Whitey had too much Guns, Germs and Steel. Some burnt wagons and cabins but no existential threat.Pitchfork51 said:Swaye vs whitey
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1. The unchecked power of SCOTUS
2. The two party system
3. The American voter
Everything else -
Actually, Gun, Germs, and Steel sticks up for injuns and points out that it wasn't that the white man was more bad ass, but rather just random accidents of history. In this case, it was mostly the germs part.Swaye said:
Too soon. Dick.Southerndawg said:
Good book, by the wayYellowSnow said:
Whitey had too much Guns, Germs and Steel. Some burnt wagons and cabins but no existential threat.Pitchfork51 said:Swaye vs whitey
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Depends upon which British Empire you're talking about. The one I reference - i.e., that during the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 - was a lot smaller than the "Sun Never Sets Up It" British Empire which didn't really get going until the mid to later 1800's. By that point the only real threat that version of the Empire posed to us was getting the in way of our Manifest Destiny (we should have taken British Columbia) and they were considering recognizing the CSA which would have been bad.ThomasFremont said:
The largest empire in human history too high?RaceBannon said:Great Britain too high. They could have won but they would have faced the same kind of price at home that we would face today if we killed all our cousins if we had cousins in a country giving us shit and dumping our tea.
1 Soviets - they had nukes
2. Nazis - they had desire
3. Japan - fuckers were crazy
4. China today
5. Iran today
Fuck the rest
*sigh* -
Depends on how you define "un-defeated" against "us". We really only have fought the Canucks once and that was in the War of 1812 when they were still part of GB. That one was basically a draw, although we won in overtime- i.e., Andrew Jackson at Battle of New Orleans after the peace treaty had already been signed.PurpleThrobber said:I'm gonna go ahead and rank Canada as #1 threat.
Those fuckers are undefeated against us all-time. God forbid if they ever get serious about dropping Tim Hortons franchises here. We are fucked against such deliciousness. -
The British only slaughtered their colored colonies and even at that they lost them
Worst case we end up a commonwealth. More likely we keep trying until we won.
The wild card is Canada. People forget they are 1 and 0 against us -
Didn't see that @YellowSnow debunked my Canada crack
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Less random acts of history, more luck in geography and associated advantages. More productive agriculture, availability of livestock for herding and as beasts of burden, exposure to germs from livestock that strengthened the population through natural selection and allowed for a deadly disease conduit from Eurasia to the Americas and elsewhere, more free time to develop technology due to advantages in agriculture and livestock, etc, etc. He does essentially dismiss potential cultural influences, which IMO explain why peoples with the same "geographic" advantages advance at different rates and why some started strong and stalled along the way, but all in all a good read.YellowSnow said:
Actually, Gun, Germs, and Steel sticks up for injuns and points out that it wasn't that the white man was more bad ass, but rather just random accidents of history. In this case, it was mostly the germs part.Swaye said:
Too soon. Dick.Southerndawg said:
Good book, by the wayYellowSnow said:
Whitey had too much Guns, Germs and Steel. Some burnt wagons and cabins but no existential threat.Pitchfork51 said:Swaye vs whitey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3r2PKfZdgs
