[QUOTE="pianist"]
While armed militias can prove effective at hampering a professional military, they don't have a realistic shot at beating one in this day and age. Technology plays a much greater role than it did in earlier times, and infantry training for professional armies tends to be much better as well. Like others have said, small arms aren't going to stop a tank. And nor will they deter the political objectives of a powerful enemy nation - one which is strong enough to mount a trans-ocean invasion in the first place, which is no small feat.
America hasn't been invaded because of its geographical location. It's as simple as that.
espoac
I agree. Throughout history one would be hard pressed to find examples of militia being used as a first-resort primary force. Rather they're usually used to wear down or divert professional armies or are even pitted against professional armies in last ditch resistance attempts (Franco-Prussian War). To me, it seems that the factor which contributes the most to the ill-likelihood of the American mainland being invaded is our overwhelming naval superiority. We have something like 11 nuclear aircraft carriers which allows us to project power over massive areas and control pretty much any sea lane. The country with the next largest number of nuclear carriers, I believe, is France with 1. Obviously, this makes moving armies to American shores nearly impossible. Also invading through neighboring countries (which are our allies anyways) most likely entails getting bogged down in a costly land campaign thousands of miles away from a home base before they even reach our borders.I agree with all of the above. America is in an enviably strong defensive position. Transporting troops across the Atlantic or Pacific in large enough numbers to mount an invasion would be extremely difficult, just look at the US's troubles with U-Boat attacks on transport vessels in WW2. It wouldn't be impossible though, for a nation with sufficient economic, military, and ideological power. THe main reason the USA has never been invaded is that nobody has any reason to invade. It's pretty much the number one economic superpower, so nobody would gain anything from wiping it out/taking it over.
For the same reason, nobody wants to go to war with China, despite their increasingly standoffish international position. If they decided to go to war however, I think that many people would be unpleasantly surprised at the technological advancement of their weaponry. Once upon a time they used aging Soviet-era munitions, but in recent years they've been acquiring a lot of bleeding-edge tech, simply because they have more money to pay the weapons developers than pretty much anyone else. Which is why their tacit support of North Korea and hostile approach to Russia is increasingly troubling.
Also, the USA is by no means the only country that has not been invaded in recent memory. The UK is one, Russia also (depending on your definition, seeing as they repelled the Nazi invasion along the Eastern Front, so no force ever made it into the heartland), I'm pretty sure many Nordic Eurpoean countries haven't been invaded, but I could be wrong....I'm sure there are plenty of other examples too.
I don't think it has anything to do with 2nd Amendment rights. No matter how many guns the populace may have, it's impossible for them to repel an onslaught with sophisticated weaponry in the hands of well-trained troops. Just look at how insurgents are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ie, badly.
And lastly, I think the UK has the second largest waterborne nuclear weapon system, with the Trident subs. But we have no nuclear carriers to my knowledge :(
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