Question
1.What the impact did U.S did presidential decrees and doctrines on military policy have on the structure and mission of the military during the cold war of the 1940s.
2.Summarize the impact of technological advances pertaining modern warfare on the role of U.S military response to the concepts of the new Look and flexible response policies.
AMERICAN MILITARY HISTORY
After the Second World War, the United States and Russia emerged as superpowers who went ahead to dominate the global politics and economics for a decade. However, their similarities end there considering that one country adopted capitalism while the other adopted socialism. The cold war was the most important political issue of the early postwar period that grew out of longstanding disagreements between the Soviet Union and the United States. Different United States president has implemented different rules and military policies that have shaped the American military history over the years (Bellamy, 2015). This assignment will attempt to tackle in details some of the policies that have been adopted over the years and their impacts on the military forces, particularly in the 1640s.
Question 1
What the impact did U.S did presidential decrees and doctrines on military policy have on the structure and mission of the military during the cold war of the 1940s.
When Franklin D. Roosevelt became the president, he turned his attention from international affairs to domestic affairs considering that domestic problems immediate and important to him. One of the foreign policy adopted by President Franklin that effect on the military is the good neighbor policy and pan-Americanism. This policy encouraged cooperation with the Latin Americans countries, and most of these countries were happy by his abandonment of the Theodore Roosevelt’s intervention policy. This led to a period of stagnation pertaining military power and equipment considering that their skills were not put into practice since the country had abandoned its intervention policies. The good neighbor policy led to the withdrawal of American marines from Haiti as well as giving up the right to police the Panama government. This meant that the American military had little or no responsibility when it comes to war and could not gain any experience. On the contrary, President Truman did not believe in good neighbor policy and was ready to intervene in any international affairs just to protect American affairs in the international community. As a result, Truman intervened with American troops in the conflict between North Korea and South Korea and went on to support the creation of the state of Israel in the Middle East. Moreover, he went on to reorganize the nation’s military and security apparatus with the passage of the national security act of 1947 (Manjikian, 2014). The new act helped in unifying the army, the navy and the air force under a national military establishment. President Truman’s intervention policy increased military power as he was ready to protect American interests in all ways. Moreover, this meant that he would equip his military as well as pump more funds for their training to make sure that they are ready whenever called to serve their country.
Question 2
Summarize the impact of technological advances pertaining modern warfare on the role of U.S military response to the concepts of the new Look and flexible response policies.
Over the years, the military has gone through a revolution owing to the ever growing and advancing technology in the globe today. War has a long history that dates back to the dawn of civilization, but armies have come a long way since the spear or the bow and arrow. Advances in technology have led to faster airplanes, laser-guided weapons, and unmanned, bomb-carrying vehicles. Some of the technology and innovations that are likely to shape modern warfare include:
- Drones – combat drones, which are usually referred to as unmanned aerial vehicles enable troops and the military to deploy weapons in war while safely remaining miles away from the front lines of the battlefield.
- Fly-by-wire technology – Fly-by-wire technology is a technology that replaces the manual flight controls width an electronic interface that utilizes signals generated by a computer and transmitted by wires to move control mechanisms.
- Submarines – submarines can be described as underwater vessels that have the capabilities of attacking enemy ships without their knowledge(Bellamy, 2015).
- Tomahawk missiles – Tomahawk missiles are a long-range missile that is designed to fly at extremely low altitudes at subsonic speeds, enabling the weapons to be used to attack various surface targets.
Technology has always been used to produce improved tools of warfare. Some of the notable impacts of advancement in technology in the military include:
- Transition to a new kind of war – historians believe that the gulf war marked the transitional point which contained elements of the past war such as a fleet of U.S fleets and new kind of war that includes the use of bunkers. These new elements of war have negative effects such as mass destruction of people and property considering that it encompasses the use of high-tech weapons and surveillance and target acquisition.
- The volume of fire – with the increased use of automatic gun in warfare, there is an increase in the likelihood that the intensity of the new warfare will increase leading to many casualties. Automatic gun enables a soldier to fire rounds of bullets nonstop who suggests that the new warfare will claim more lives than ever before as well as lead to the destruction of properties (Manjikian, 2014).
- Long range targets – with the continuous use of drowns, the air warfare is likely to intensify and may lead to a reduction in the number of soldiers dying in the battle considering that weapon can be a drop from miles away. However, the purchase and maintenance of such high-tech equipment are likely to increase the financial burden of most countries.
References
Bellamy, C. (. (2015). The Evolution of Modern Land Warfare: Theory and Practice (Vol. 3). . Routledge.
Manjikian, M. (2014). Becoming Unmanned: The Gendering Of Lethal Autonomous Warfare Technology. . International Feminist Journal of Politics, 16(1), , 48-65.
Related:AMERICAN ISOLATIONISM
