Unlike the revolutionary wars of the past, modern warfare has nothing positive about it. Instead of fighting for the liberation of nations from the ancien regime, warfare in the twentieth century has put millions into the field in the interests of Great Power rivalry and the domination of weaker nations. In the first half of the twentieth century, international competition between the major economic powers laid the basis for a cycle of world wars, colonial domination, and almost continual slaughter. But the appeal of the modern theory of war as something beyond rationality is that it excuses the policy-makers and generals who make the decisions. Without a rational guiding principle, war can be presented as an unstoppable technological vortex of violence and mass destruction.
Machines appear to govern men in combat.
During the Cold War, the Bomb was seen to dominate issues of war and peace. The unstoppable-technology theories have the practical effect of denigrating politics, and absolving those responsible from blame. These theories also have the effect of displacing aggression away from the aggressors and on to pieces of machinery. This is especially true since the end of the political divide of East and West that used to suggest at least a semblance of ideological differences. Today, wars are invariably seen in anthropological terms.