[David[_14_]]

no formal agreement was ever made
or hinted at, no more bombs were dropped. All three powers merely continue
to produce atomic bombs and store them up against the decisive opportunity
which they all believe will come sooner or later. And meanwhile the art of
war has remained almost stationary for thirty or forty years. Helicopters
are more used than they were formerly, bombing planes have been largely
superseded by self-propelled projectiles, and the fragile movable
battleship has given way to the almost unsinkable Floating Fortress; but
otherwise there has been little development. The tank, the submarine, the
torpedo, the machine gun, even the rifle and the hand grenade are still in
use. And in spite of the endless slaughters reported in the Press and on
the telescreens, the desperate battles of earlier wars, in which hundreds
of thousands or even millions of men were often killed in a few weeks, have
never been repeated.
None of the three super-states ever attempts any manoeuvre which
involves the risk of serious defeat. When any large operation is
undertaken, it is usually a surprise attack against an ally. The strategy
that all three powers are following, or pretend to themselves that they are
following, is the same. The plan is, by a combination of fighting,
bargaining, and well-timed strokes of treachery, to acquire a ring of bases
completely encircling one or other of the rival states, and then to sign a
pact of friendship with that rival and remain on peaceful terms for so many
year