Long-Peace Readiness Atrophy / 长期和平战备退化

Definition

Long-peace readiness atrophy / 长期和平战备退化 is the loss of usable military capacity and strategic responsiveness when prolonged peace is not paired with preparation, practice, threat reassessment, or credible mobilization.

Current Synthesis

The late-Qi case separates peace’s civilian benefit from its capacity cost. More than forty years without major war protect 齐国’s population, but they also leave its forces without the accumulated experience of Qin’s commanders and soldiers. Because 后胜’s advice treats continued friendship as a reason not to prepare, the state discovers the gap only after its buffers have disappeared. At that point, 即墨大夫（齐末） can articulate an ambitious restoration plan, but rhetorical troop totals cannot substitute for practiced capability.

Key Claims

• Peace does not itself cause weakness; unmaintained readiness during peace does.
• Combat-experienced forces can widen the gap even if the peaceful state retains nominal territory, population, or troop counts.
• Threat misreading turns readiness maintenance from a prudent hedge into something leaders perceive as unnecessary.
• Late emergency plans may confuse theoretical manpower with deployable, coordinated military power.
• Avoided wartime casualties remain a genuine benefit even when readiness has deteriorated.

Evidence

• Asymmetric experience: 《资治通鉴·秦纪》119-4｜史上能称巨婴的君王—齐王建 contrasts nearly a century of Qin warfare and battle-tested troops with Qi’s more than forty years without war.
• Preparation suppressed by reassurance: 《资治通鉴·秦纪》119-4｜史上能称巨婴的君王—齐王建 says Hou Sheng recommends continued Qin friendship and sees no need for stronger war preparation.
• Nominal strength versus usable capacity: 《资治通鉴·秦纪》119-4｜史上能称巨婴的君王—齐王建 presents the late-Qi Jimo Dafu’s enormous territory and troop claims as motivational or textually inflated rather than reliable proof of combat power.

Counterevidence & Qualifications

The source does not quantify Qi’s actual forces, training, logistics, or equipment, and the host’s readiness diagnosis is interpretive. Long peace can preserve wealth, population, and social stability; military activity is not automatically beneficial. By the terminal moment, avoiding battle may still have been more humane than attempting an unrealistic restoration war.

What Changed

• This concept is newly created from the episode’s distinction between nominal resources and practiced military capacity.

Related Concepts

• 远国安抚误读 - threat-perception failure that suppresses preparation.
• 保全生灵式投降 - humanitarian benefit that complicates a readiness-centered judgment.
• 战争成本与速决纪律 - counterpart focused on the costs and timing of active war.
• 战国军事形态转变 - broader military environment in which sustained mobilization and experience matter.
• 屏障国救援失灵 - external-buffer loss that makes latent readiness weakness decisive.