[Brother]

Heat is only part of the equation with a nuke. The pressure blast is what we really look for.

This can then be used to make clean nuclear weapons. The dirty parts of the use usually occur from the debris and dust that gets stirred up. This stuff "falls out" of the sky and coats everything. Since it is now radioactive, it eventually kills lots of people.

So, you can see that not detonating a bomb on the ground might possibly cause less fallout but still crush a target.

Also, fill up the bathtub with water. Drop something small in the center of the tub and watch the ripples. Now drop it by the edge. If the target is hypothetically on the edge of the tub, the ripples from the object dropped in the center of the tub will contact the edge of the tub over a greater surface area.

Good stuff from the Art of War. Especially the prolonged engagement segment. Nations benefit from the peace after wars. Militaries and warfare are a pure waste of resources, talent, money, and lives... as is pretty much all government.