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nicboutoday at 1:22 AM0 repliesview on HN

Didn't their war in Afghanistan precipitate their downfall?

So many pivotal decisions in WW2 were economic in nature. Lend lease? Germany's late switch to a war economy? The Allies' much larger manufacturing capabilities?

You could also argue that the cold war stayed cold because of the West's economic might. It set a military and living standard that the USSR bankrupted itself trying to match.