America at War: From 1865 to the Present
This paper traces the progression of American warfare from 1865 to the present, demonstrating how successive conflicts—from the Indian Wars and Spanish-American War through two World Wars, the Cold War, and the War on Terror—have shaped and been shaped by American foreign and domestic policy. The survey examines how social, economic, literary, political, and religious changes influenced military strategy and imperial expansion, while analyzing how the "military-industrial complex" evolved from westward expansion through corporate-driven foreign intervention in the modern era.
- The Indian Wars and Westward Expansion: 1865-1876: Civil War aftermath, manifest destiny, tribal resistance, literary critique
- Imperial Ambitions and Global Conflict: 1877-1920: Spanish-American War, yellow journalism, Philippine annexation, anti-imperialism, WWI entry
- Economic Crisis and Total War: 1921-1945: Prohibition, Depression, WASP ideology, FDR's programs, Pearl Harbor
- Cold War, Civil Rights, and Ideological Struggle: 1946-1976: Korea, Vietnam, Kennedy assassination, military desegregation, CIA expansion
- Corporate Warfare and Modern Imperialism: 1977-Present: Economic hit-men, corporatocracy, oil interests, Middle Eastern conflicts
- Conclusion: The Pattern of American Conflict: Recurring pattern: tragedy precedes war; manifest destiny rebranded
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What makes this paper effective
- Synthesizes a broad historical narrative (150+ years) into coherent thematic units tied to major policy shifts and international events, allowing readers to trace cause-and-effect patterns across eras
- Integrates primary sources (O'Sullivan, McKinley's era), literary analysis (Melville, Twain), and historical scholarship to demonstrate that American war-making shaped and reflected cultural values
- Explicitly connects domestic social struggles (Civil Rights, Prohibition, religious conflict) to military policy, showing how internal tensions both justified and resulted from external wars
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper employs thematic periodization rather than simple chronological enumeration. Each unit clusters wars and policies around a central social or economic phenomenon (westward expansion, imperial competition, economic collapse, ideological conflict, corporate dominance), allowing the author to argue that America's wars are not isolated events but symptoms of deeper structural pressures and cultural impulses.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a thesis asserting continuous warfare since 1865, then divides the period into five chronological units, each examining 15–30 years through military events, policy decisions, and cultural responses (literature, political debate, media influence). The final unit shifts from military to economic framing, introducing John Perkins's concept of "economic hit men" to argue that modern warfare serves corporate interests. A brief conclusion restates the pattern of tragedy-provoked entry and persistent claims of noble purpose.
The Indian Wars and Westward Expansion: 1865-1876
Since the Civil War, America has seldom seen a generation of peace. In fact, a nonstop succession of wars has kept what Eisenhower termed "the military-industrial complex" in lucrative business. From the Indian Wars to the World Wars to the Cold War to the War on Terror, America has expanded its foothold as an imperial power every step of the way—even when isolationism appeared to be momentarily in vogue following World War I. This survey examines the history of the progression of war in America from 1865 to present, showing how that history—through social, economic, literary, political, and religious changes—has both shaped and been shaped by American foreign and domestic policy.
The Civil War had just ended on the home front, but that did not mean that America was at peace in 1865. Domestically, the effects of the bloodiest war on American soil were still felt in war-ravaged southern states, now crippled beyond measure. Yet, with the desire to expand its borders westward, the country proceeded to continue to wage war against the Native American tribes that failed to submit to American dominance. These were the Indian Wars, in which several tribes such as the Comanche and the Sioux contended with the American government on the Great Plains; the Navajo and the Apache in the southwest; the Nez Perce in the northwest; and more.
One of the most famous battles of this history is the Battle of Little Bighorn, which was waged by General George S. Custer in 1876, after he and a small number of his men (separated from their much larger unit) came upon the Lakota, who vastly outnumbered them and were led by Crazy Horse. Custer's defeat was popularized by saloons and the legend of "Custer's Last Stand" grew into a vision of American determinism. All the same, the war against the tribes was not embraced by all.
One social issue America faced was how to peacefully deal with the tribes upon whose land the settlers were encroaching. Manifest Destiny had already been coined by John L. O'Sullivan in his 1845 issue of The Democratic Review which assured Americans that it was their fate "to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions" (Westward Expansion, 2011), and the effects of that pronouncement had already been seen in the expansionist wars inspired by Stephen F. Austin who spoke "grandly of colonizing the Mexican province of Texas with 'North American population, enterprise and intelligence'" (Westward Expansion).
Herman Melville, perhaps more than any other American author, sensed the crudity of the massacring of the Indian tribes—and his American classic would ironically set the most famous whaling crew of all time aboard a ship named the Pequod, after the New England Pequot tribe (of the Algonquin family), a group of Native Americans that had been virtually wiped out as a "socio-political entity" in Connecticut. Melville's "in memoriam" was a reminder of the blood upon which the great industry of American civilization had been built—Protestant and violent, its culture was made of a self-righteous ethos that would never cease to clamor for war as its mission expanded, just as Ahab's voyage does, around the globe.
Melville was not the only one to be horrified by the Indian Wars. According to Boyd (2000), "the Sioux war of 1876 'was dishonorable to the nation, and disgraceful to those who originated.' Such is the language of the Commissioners, appointed to negotiate for the surrender of the Black Hills and unceded Indian country, defined in the treaty of 1868, in their report to the President" (p. 129). Society, therefore, was not unaware of the viciousness with which the Native Americans were persecuted; but they were also mindful of the savagery the tribes inflicted on settlers. The power of the United States, however, proved to be mightier in the end. But as Melville indicated, even that ship would sink at some point.
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