Vietnam War

¶ … World War I, Americans realized their mistake in participating in the war. The country did not wish to repeat the same mistake again. Therefore, during the 1920s and 1930s, America aims to pursue number of approaches intended at preventing war. The first significant players towards this effort were American peace societies, numerous societies belonging to this causes were a part of a bigger set of global movements.

Their efforts saw to the signing of a significant agreement in 1922 between the great powers in order to minimize their quantities of battleships (Karsten, 2006, p. 36). The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese prompted America's participation in WWII. Prior to this, America remained neutral, even with attacks from German torpedoes on USS Reuben (Beard, 1948, p. 148). Although neutral, America still took some offensive tactics when the Kearny incident involved an attack on an unmanned German weather station. Pearl Harbor brought America into the offensive stance.

They made internment camps for the Japanese residing in the United States. They began fingerprinting Hawaiian residents. When the internment camps became overcrowded, they offered freedom to the Japanese-Americans if they served in the army. President Roosevelt withdrew the Executive order and at the end of 1945, the internment camps closed down. America supported Britain and its allies by supplying those munitions. In 1945, America dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two Japanese cities. The bombings killed 129,000 people and performed several firebombing campaigns (Poolos, 2008, p. 14). 2.

In 1950 the Korea Peninsula became divided among a Soviet-supported government in the north, an American-supported government in the south. The end of WWII brought division, due to the end of Japan's control over Korea, which existed since 1910. The Soviet Union invaded Korea in August of 1945. The United States feared the Soviets would seize all of Korea and moved its troops promptly into southern Korea. In the north, Japanese troops yielded to the Russians and then to the Americans in the south (McFarland, 1986, p. 60).

Involvement in the Korean War was justified because if America did not intervene, all of Korea would become communist like North Korea is today. The United States approved a new foreign policy in 1947, to contain communism (Nagai & Iriye, 1977, p. 34). Although the policy mainly focused in Western Europe, it also extended to Asia. When the forces of North Korea invaded the south or the noncommunist government of the south, the U.S. saw this action as a risk of communism increasing. The U.S.

refused to give any more ground to forces supporting communism. To defend South Korea became a defense of democracy. Later in June 1950, North Korean forces traversed the 38th Parallel into the region of South Korea. This prompted the U.S. To go to the United Nations Security Council (Tatum, 2002, p. 111). The council responded with a 9-0 vote supporting adoption of a U.S.-sponsored resolve in declaring the North Korean attack a break of peace. 3. Both presidents Johnson and Nixon faced challenged during the Cold War (Frankel, 2004, p. 24).

They fought to project a strong image of America and reassure the nation's allies that they were on the right side and that the U.S. would protect them from the Communist threat. A major theme of Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1960 became the failure of the Eisenhower administration to protect Third World nations on the American side. Kennedy also trusted the CIA to carry out secret operations against unwanted regimes like Operation Moongoose in the nation of Cuba, and the assassination of Vietnamese puppet President Ngo Dinh Diem.

Following the uncertain Gulf of Tonkin occurrence Johnson succeeded in convincing Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (Karnow, 1983, p. 43). This meant the president received a blank check take and all necessary measures to deter any armed attacks. During Nixon's first months in office, he directed the U.S. military to upsurge its pressure on the battleground, while putting in an order for the secret B -- 52 bombings of base camps set up in Camobia in North Vietnam.

This was a signal of Nixon's readiness to further intensify the war. Kennedy's strategy were less expensive than Johnson's was and more covert than Nixon's. His strategies made for a more decisive outcome during the war that enabled some progression on behalf of the United States (Yancey, 2001, p. 83). Although all three presidents took an offensive stance, Nixon's last-ditch effort and Johnson's blank check did not seem enough to end the war successfully. 4. Many consider Operation Desert Storm to be the first significant international conflict that successfully implemented RMA.

Furthermore, it is considered a model of upcoming military operations because low casualty rate as well as the U.S. military's precision and speed. Although RMA prevented the U.S. To respond well to guerilla tactics, and led to unsuccessful incorporation of advanced weaponries like patriot missiles, RMA helped the mission in terms of tactical strikes and use.