Despite hundreds of fictional works predicting future warfare (particularly before WWI), history shows poor predictive accuracy; however, some predictions proved accurate (Bernardi predicted tanks, H.G. Wells predicted chemical/biological weapons and mass mobilization), demonstrating that informed attempts to forecast warfare remain worthwhile, especially during periods of peace when the next adversary may be unclear.

factualpending

Speaker

General Mick Ryan

Evidence Quote

despite the huge amount of work particularly done before World War I there was something like 400 fictional works the vast majority were unable to predict a lot of what happened...some Works did...Bernardi...predict athletes...HG wells's book The War of the Worlds predicted large scale use of chemical and biological weapons [21:01]

Source

Mick Ryan: This Is What The Next Great Power Conflict Will Look LikeDecoding Geopolitics Podcast with Dominik Presl
Created: 8/11/2026, 7:55:20 AM

My Notes

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