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PaperclipPerfector  11hr ago (text post)   580 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for October 16, 2026

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The new nerd-sniping question is circulating on Twitter. Who would win in a war: 1939 Europe or 2026 Africa? As usual, both camps are 100% their side would win.

My bet is on 1939 Europe. As the Russo-Ukrainian and the US-Iran wars show, ammunition stockpiles run out in a couple of weeks. Africans won't have missiles for their fighter jets and shells for their MBTs, while Europeans will be cranking out bombs and strategic bombers to turn Cairo into Dresden. When German subs destroy whatever boats Africans have, French and British navies will perform naval landings, their troops armed with reverse-engineered AKs.

to turn Cairo into Dresden

Wouldn't like, 1973-level Egypt be plenty sufficient to thwart any 1939 European attempts at power projection? Let alone 2026.

Not sure about the rest of Africa, though I'm also not sure the rest of Africa would even matter. The air force technological gap seems way too large.

The main argument against the air force being an auto-win condition is that without (mostly American, a little bit of Russian) technical support, they will have a limited useful life span and/or run out of munitions. However "no technical support" isn't really specified in the prompt one way or another.

Air forces by themselves typically don't win wars, though, and I think that Africa would have a hard time invading Europe (and vice versa).

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