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American support didn't start until 1978.

On paper, the Arab states should have won in '48. The best military in the Middle East was Jordan's. They were not only trained and armed by the British, but many British officers served with them during action. Egypt and Iraq were also British trained and armed, while Syria had French support.

These were regular military forces with tanks, heavy weapons, artillery, and even air forces to support them. This is compared with Jewish militias that often had to manufacture weapons in auto parts garages. Some of the militiamen had been in concentration camps just a few years earlier.

Teens, women, and old men had to fight the five invading Arab armies to stem the tide. But therein lies to key to Israeli victory: soldiers facing death fight harder. In Sun Tzu's The Art of War, he recounts positioning his smaller army against a mountain so that they can't retreat. The risky move pays off and his soldiers win.

In 1948, the kings of Jordan and Egypt openly called for genocide. Jewish communities that fell behind Arab lines were killed or expelled. Survival required victory, and the Jewish militias made it happen against the odds.

I’m not just making this up to make you feel bad. What I’m talking about, the personal gratification, the superiority complex, the lack of education in science and history...all of it...it’s studied psychology. It’s a type of thing a human brain typically does under certain specific conditions.

I don’t know how old you are, hopefully young enough to grow up. If you’re older you’re fucked, it’s probably too late. The mindset you have is a liability for you in life. You need to learn how to learn. You need to be better at detecting bullshit. It takes effort but it’s worthwhile for a million reasons, and being smarter and more analytical and intellectually curious never hurt anyone.

There’s a great book by Carl Sagan called The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. He talks about exactly this stuff and I promise if you start reading you won’t want to put it down, it’s good. I’m sure there is an audiobook version too.

You can do better.

All good except for one thing - North Korea can definitely hit most of the US with their ICBMs. The Hwasong-15 has a 8000+ mile range. That puts Washington DC within hitting distance, even if with uncertain accuracy.

Sidenote: Jeffrey Lewis of the Arms Control Wonk website wrote a great contemporary-fiction book called, “THE 2020 COMMISSION REPORT ON THE NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR ATTACKS AGAINST THE UNITED STATES - A SPECULATIVE NOVEL” which describes a hypothetical NoKo first strike on US soil based on their contemporary arsenal which includes the eastern seaboard. It’s a “fun” read.

At least one biographer thinks there wouldn't have been any great difference--other than magnitude of body count--had Trotsky instead of Stalin come to power after mid-20s.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674062256

btw OP, do you happen to know about Space Engine? I figure you might enjoy it if you're already using Universe Sandbox. There's a free version available online but I highly recommend buying the improved Steam version.

I haven't read it myself yet, but I've seen a lot of positive recommendations for The Making of the Atomic Bomb. There's also "The Manhattan Project: The Untold Story of the Atomic Bomb", which from the description looks like it may lean a bit more towards the human anecdotes of the story and a bit further from the engineering.

Tell ya what, I finished Longitude recently (which was a solid read but not exactly a 10/10 for me), I'll give one of these a crack next, I'll let you know what I think! Likewise for me if you read either.