On April 6, 1917 (exactly 100 years ago today) the United States of America officially entered into the Great War, now known as World War One. President Woodrow Wilson would go on to sell this as a “war to end war”.
That worked out well…
Oh wait, it didn’t.
It dramatically changed the balance of power in Europe, bankrupted Germany through the draconian and impossible “Treaty of Versailles”, which arguably helped facilitate the rise of Nazism and various other European power struggles that culminated in a second world war just 20 years later.
But then again, have any (of the wars) that America has pursued during the last century started, continued, or ended well? Nope.
“But good sir! Harrumph! You must not be talking about World War Two, that was the “good war”! America saved the world from Nazis and Imperial Japan! America was forced into it, they were attacked!
Sadly I used to believe that too. Hear me out on this one.
What were the unintended consequences of Allied victory in WWII?
In Europe, the Third Reich was disposed of, and in it’s place the scope of communism expanded massively.
In Asia (ex-Japan), the Imperial Japanese were replaced by, guess who? Communists.
So yes, it was indeed a great victory for some, but mostly for communists.
For everyone else it left close to 60 million dead. Hundreds of millions impoverished. Countries swimming in war debts. Orphans, widows, cripples (both physically and psychologically scarred), etc.
For nearly 50 years after the conclusion of WWII, the US engaged in a series of hot wars against communist regimes (Korea, Vietnam/Cambodia, Central America) costing millions more lives, in the midst of the Cold War with Russia.
Mao’s “great leap forward” took the lives of 45+ million of his own countrymen in China.
It’s doubtful Mao would have had the power he did (if any) had the US not entered WWII. Of course this is speculation on my part, and I’m not saying that bad things would not have happened, but Mao and the communist rise in China are an unintended consequence (a very extreme one unfortunately) of the US entry into that war.
Since the Cold War ended, the US has been in various middle-eastern and African conflicts and let’s not forget the disaster in Kosovo.
To my own shame, I even allowed myself to be convinced that Bush was right about Iraq (Father and Son).
I was a child when HW invaded, but I was old enough to know better when W invaded. Why was I so blind? I think it is because I had been successfully propagandized.
First, I wanted to be an Air Force pilot when I was a kid. I love the F-16s, then the “stealth” planes came. How cool were those?
Later, I loved watching documentaries on WWII. It was such a fascinating time and such an epic struggle. But was it moral? It seemed like it… good vs. evil right?
I mean, we were the good guys, right?
Propaganda is something those totalitarian regimes would employ, not the good ole’ USA, and even if America did, it was for good purposes, right? Someone had to pay for the war, those war bonds weren’t going to sell themselves, right?
Maybe that’s why propaganda is so much more effective in the US. People expect it from their totalitarian overlords, but this is the land of the free, home of the brave, we have a free press, it doesn’t happen here. Right?
I wish that were true.
No, 100 years ago Wilson lead the charge into a European conflict that America never should have touched, not in a hundred years…
A much more important individual said something of great value nearly 2000 years ago, he said “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”
In fact, everything Jesus taught denoted that we should turn the other cheek, pray for our enemies, and make peace with them whenever an opportunity should present itself.
This has not been US policy for the last century.
Our fore-fathers would be ashamed.
“Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations — entangling alliances with none.” -Thomas Jefferson
“The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible.” -George Washington
Beyond the obviously grisly results of unnecessary war, what are the other consequences?
More importantly, what are the unseen consequences?
What do I mean by unseen? This is where we simply don’t know, but can with very little imagination have some conception.
Think of all the people that were killed during wars this past century. How many of those people would have gone on to do great things? Be great inventors, innovators, teachers, doctors, engineers, etc.?
What would their children, grandchildren, etc. have done? We will never know.
What could have been done with all the capital that was destroyed by bombs? What if all those homes, factories, roads, bridges, etc. had not been destroyed? What if all those tanks, planes, bullets, and bombs never have had to have been designed and manufactured? What great things would have been produced by the minds and hands that were otherwise occupied in simply rebuilding their cities? We’ll never know.
What could have been done by individuals who would have been allowed to keep a much larger portion of their pay, rather than paying down national debts for decades after each war? What would people do if their money had greater purchasing power because the nation was unencumbered by said debts?
This is the unseen.
I regret allowing myself to be conned into supporting unnecessary wars. I vow that I will do my best to avoid this in the future.
Imagine the US bringing home all of it’s military assets from overseas. The US has no natural enemies in this hemisphere, we are on good terms with Canada, and despite recent rhetoric the US is also on reasonable terms with Mexico and most other countries in the Western Hemisphere.
Could the past 100 years have seen relative peace here in the USA absent sending our troops overseas? I think it could have.
Our economy would have been that much mightier and those two huge moats on the east and west would have been solid allies too.
Unfortunately, greed and the desire for power drive the ambitions of those who care little for soldiers, their families, and civilians alike.
The past century has been an Imperial American century, whether we care for that term or not, it is correct. With US assets in MOST countries of the world, and US government influence very prominent in those same countries, the American Imperial empire is perhaps the most powerful in history.
America should not be an empire and should not act as the world police. Otherwise, this next century will likely be more of the same. Only this century will include weapons that are far more deadly and dangerous than before.
Maybe our kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids will see a more peaceful 2117, but if individuals don’t stand against the continuing drumbeat for war and foreign intervention, perhaps there will be unnecessarily far fewer great-grandchildren to enjoy 2117; and perhaps it will be a far less prosperous society, because of a new American century of elective war.
A brief return to elective wars America pursued from the past century, specifically WWII:
While it is true that Japan “fired the first shot”, what you were not taught about in school were all the ultra-aggressive actions taken by FDR’s administration leading up to Pearl Harbor. FDR wanted Japan to fire the first shot.
There were a series of embargos placed on Japan and Japanese assets that were frozen or seized by the US prior to Pearl Harbor. The biggest perhaps was the oil embargo, which effectively brought Japanese industry (and it’s military) to it’s knees.
Japan made the mistake of being taunted into firing this first shot, and while FDR knew Pearl Harbor was imminent, he wanted it.
FDR got his war, he got both of them (Asia and Europe).
Americans paid for it, with blood and treasure.
The world paid for it too. Dearly.
I believe war is only justified when it truly is defensive. It must abide the non-aggression principle. Defending against a foreign invasion. Defending against internal enemies to liberty.
But not electively sending our sons and daughters to foreign theaters of war.
J for Jerretta 