r/PowerScaling • u/Lumpy_Imagination175 • 10h ago
Discussion 2026 Africa beats 1939 Europe and it’s barely even a conversation.
The manufacturing problem:
1930’s Europe’s manufactured capabilities would be crippled within hours. Egyptian bombers which include Tupolev Tu-16 (Badger) and Ilyushin Il-28, alongside various fighter-bombers like the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17, Sukhoi Su-7, Mirage 5, and F-16 Fighting Falcon would not only take out a vast majority of manufacturing infrastructure but likely all administrative infrastructure and naval facilities as well. It’s not up for discussion if 1939 weaponry is capable of shooting down any of those jets let alone be at the same altitude and speeds they operate in.
The “small arms” problem:
Nothing from 1939 compares to high velocity fully automatic rifles packing 30 round magazines. Any WW2 tactic would be rendered obsolete by endless Guerilla tactics with each african soldier having the killing power of 10-15 men per magazine.
The difference in heavy ordnance:
This one’s a bit simpler to understand when looking back to WW1s battle between Germany vs the Belgium city of liége. The “Big Bertha” shot larger rounds in a larger distance that counter artillery couldn’t reach which shattered over 100 years of unbreakable military doctrine in hours. The logic is the same with modern African artillery, the moment European artillery is fired, counter artillery will devastate it at a distance where it can’t fight back. This also applies to tank warfare, even if there are some Cold War era tanks that could theoretically be destroyed by WW2 tanks or artillery, they simply can not operate on the same distance or speed.
The “reverse engineering” rebuttal:
It’s no question that there will be a few outliers of tanks, aircraft, and boat craft that will be destroyed. In Americas decades in Iraq, the most powerful tanks that physics can allow still got destroyed (mostly by friendly fire or bad driving). The simple fact is that Europe wouldn’t know how to build any of it. They wouldn’t have the African colonies for rare earth metal resources nor do they have the manufacturing capability, it would be a multi-year project to make a small handful which is time they don’t have. Also assuming they don’t get blown up in the process.
The “technology gap”:
Even with crippled manufacturing and a blown up navy. There’s still well over 100,000 aircraft at once with an additional 67 million soldiers (including the Asian part of the USSR for pity points) this would be against the 9 largest military powers in Africa equating to 2.7 million soldiers with 3,093 virtually untouchable aircraft, 7,400 untouchable tanks, 6,000 artillery, 1,959 ariel drone craft (UAV’s) with 219 companies supplying endless drones for drone warfare. When you look at each weapons capabilities, 2.7 million soldiers are enough to hold ground and they have enough ammunition to kill well over tens of millions of soldiers while maintaining complete air superiority from South Africa to the Mediterranean
The Reality Check:
All of this is assuming Europe drops all ideology and unites under a single globalist agenda while Africa continues to have its current geopolitical situation while losing its world trade. Historically several European nations lost to Africa in 1939 and lost every liberation civil war that followed before, during and after WW2 To actually believe modern day Africa actually loses to 1939 Europe is mostly based in racist assumptions and lack of knowledge in the capabilities of modern tech vs non modern weaponry
