The US Can’t Outsource Warfighting | The Diplomat.
America has hung out a shingle: HELP WANTED. Offshore powers — powers beset by few if any overland threats — habitually do. But good help doesn’t come cheap, in world politics as in private industry. One hopes Washington gets this as it tries to accomplish big things while slashing the resources needed to fulfill its purposes. Simply appealing to mutual interests is not enough to marshal and sustain multinational enterprises. Deeds — and resources devoted to the common cause — speak louder than words.
Look back to look ahead. In its imperial heyday, not-yet-weary titan Great Britain was constantly on the lookout for a “continental sword” to project force onto faraway shores. Finding capable land allies would spare London the need to raise and maintain large standing armies. Prussia’s King Frederick the Great, for instance, acted as Britain’s continental sword during the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763), known in these parts as the French and Indian War.
The theory underlying such arrangements was simple: Britannia ruled the waves, so British industries and merchantmen could carry on overseas commerce with little fear of interference. Commerce sluiced tariff revenue into the imperial treasury, providing kings and prime ministers the wherewithal to finance continental allies’ martial efforts. Everyone’s happy, right?
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