General Domestic Effects of Wars

I've been thinking about winners and losers in wars. Specifically, war accelerates some things and retards others. And I'm thinking specifically of examples from the US from its three major 20th century wars: World Wars I and II and Vietnam. (I'm excluding Korea bc it was so short and not as wide reaching.)

For example, you can argue that World War II, roughly speaking accelerated scientific advances, but retarded developments in consumer goods and fashion trends.

Do you find this too be true? What is the impact of a major war? Who wins and who loses? What gets accelerated and what gets retarded?
 
Wars shift priorities around.

There is probably an "optimal" level of warring where the intensity is low enough that the demography and economy of the country isn't hurt in the long term, while high enough that a lot of scientific work with military applications gets prioritized in the budget.
 
While war had an effect of accelerating development in some areas, it remains that killing millions of people and bombing the shit out of many places is overall bad for anyone who gets the above.
 
While war had an effect of accelerating development in some areas, it remains that killing millions of people and bombing the shit out of many places is overall bad for anyone who gets the above.

That's why I was thinking about the US as a good baseline: little to no domestic destruction, less loss of life than other countries.
 
There's an argument war doesn't actually accelerate tech: it freezes it into what works & squeezes that dry, but slows introduction of anything really new or innovative.
 
^agreed. Note how most of the domestic developments built upon military technology, such as microwaves, weren't invented until after the war had ended.

Additionally, cost actually means that in war, you often don't utilise the best equipment. IMO, development of small arms (guns are a mature technology) is somewhat stagnating. With lots of military obligations, America needs a large standing army. Whilst small armies can equip themselves with the latest gear, the immense cost in moving away from AR-15 derivatives as the standard assault rifle of the US military actually stops them from fielding more technically advanced small arms.
 
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