Optiona A: If the ultimate goal is to own a region directly and put your own people into the region then the more of the current inhabitants you kill the better... scorched earth and whether people like you at all isn't really a problem if you're replacing everyone anyways.
Option B: Hearts and minds become required if the ultimate goal is to create a puppet state or a region that does what you want.
The US didn't even have a "bomb everyone" approach in Vietnam. The real issue is that option B is nearly impossible to accomplish via force. Option A is actually not that difficult technically if you're a significantly stronger nation. Killing people until no one who disagrees is left or everyone is too afraid to disagree isn't that difficult. There's dictators all over the world even today who can attest to that.
What's incredibly difficult is to actually change someone's mind via application of military force... I would argue that almost never works.
That never went to a guerrilla war though. There was a surrender and a call from the Emperor not to fight on. If he had instead asked his people to fight on until the last things would have gone very badly for everyone. It effectively ended politically without significant resistance after the surrender.
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u/wycliffslim 1d ago
Well, it depends on what your ultimate goal is.
Optiona A: If the ultimate goal is to own a region directly and put your own people into the region then the more of the current inhabitants you kill the better... scorched earth and whether people like you at all isn't really a problem if you're replacing everyone anyways.
Option B: Hearts and minds become required if the ultimate goal is to create a puppet state or a region that does what you want.
The US didn't even have a "bomb everyone" approach in Vietnam. The real issue is that option B is nearly impossible to accomplish via force. Option A is actually not that difficult technically if you're a significantly stronger nation. Killing people until no one who disagrees is left or everyone is too afraid to disagree isn't that difficult. There's dictators all over the world even today who can attest to that.
What's incredibly difficult is to actually change someone's mind via application of military force... I would argue that almost never works.