“After years of waiting, Game of Thrones fans finally got to watch Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons go to war last night and it was beautiful.”
“For years, military experts, such as George Washington University’s Timothy Westmyer, have speculated that the fire-breathing monsters were the nuclear weapons of the fantasy world. “Dragons are the nuclear deterrent, and only Dany has them, which in some ways makes her the most powerful person in the world,” series creator George RR Martin told Vulture in 2011.”
“Even The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists—a nonprofit founded by former Manhattan Project scientists—thinks Dragons are a fitting metaphor for nuclear power.”
“Last night’s episode, “The Spoils of War,” offers the chance for us to interpret Dany’s dragon’s differently. Game of Thrones’ dragons are a conventional air force, not a nuclear weapon.”
“At best, Dany’s secret weapons are the military equivalent of an A-10 Warthog—a heavily equipped close air support fighter plane. She’s the only person in this fantasy world with an air force and that gives her an advantage, but no one ever won a war on air power alone.”
“Nukes were the ultimate disruptive military technology.”
“Dany’s dragons are a boon but they aren’t a deterrent. One of the great advantages of nukes is is that your enemies don’t mess with you. It’s very hard to shoot an intercontinental ballistic missile out of the sky, but Dany’s enemies put at least one hefty spear into the shoulder of her dragon last night.”
“That’s because her dragons operate like a conventional air force.”
“Dany and her troops assault the convoy and her dragon provides close air support. It’s a strategy of air power as old as World War II. Ground troops assault the front and the air power swoops in to destroy and disrupt.”
“But in reality, strategic air campaigns never win wars. In fact, air campaigns without sustained ground action tend to prolong conflicts.”
“After the invention of the airplane and strategic bombing, Italian military aircraft pioneer Giulo Douhet theorized that you could win a war by destroying civilian centers and forcing the populace to rise up against its government and demand peace.”
“Both the Axis and Allied powers put Douhet’s theory to the test during World War II. It didn’t work.”
“The US attempted to bomb Japan into submission and it didn’t work. Not until those bombs were powerful enough to destroy an entire city in a single blow. Dany’s dragons are powerful, but they can’t wipe out an entire city in the blink of an eye. They’re an air force, not a super weapon.”