America Needs a Strong Military Industrial Complex
By mid-1942, World War II was looking bleak for the Allied powers. The German Wehrmacht was blitzing through Soviet Russia, the Luftwaffe had laid waste to much of London, Rommel was about to take Africa, and the Japanese nearly had control of the Pacific. Fortunately, as the Axis started running low on materiel, America was increasing the Allied supply dramatically. This enormous production capacity displayed by the U.S. was the product of their new military-industrial complex, as plants across the country geared up production of weapons and combat vehicles and the government began pumping resources into the creation of new military-oriented production facilities. The American industrial surge turned out to be not only the deciding factor in World War II, but also the greatest protection against the Soviet threat during the Cold War that followed.
In the wake of his defeat at El Alamein, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel declared, “The bravest men can do nothing without guns, the guns nothing without plenty of ammunition, and neither guns nor ammunition are of much use in mobile warfare unless there are vehicles with sufficient petrol to haul them around”. While Germany and Japan struggled to reproduce materiel at the speed at which it was being lost—leading to shortages for the Afrika Korps in the African desert and the Wehrmacht during Operation Barbarossa—the U.S. began producing it almost as quickly as it could be shipped out. There was virtually no military-industrial complex to speak of before 1940, and America went woefully under prepared into conflict after its losses at Pearl Harbor. However, by 1944 America was turning out 8 aircraft carriers a month, 50 merchant ships a day, one fighter plane every five minutes, and 150 tons of steel every sixty seconds (Walton 540).
While other factors certainly aided in the momentum switch that occurred in late 1942 and 1943 and accelerated to the cessation of hostilities, historian Francis Walton writes that,
For the reduction in bloodshed much credit must go to the miraculous tools of war, most of which, in the hands of the victors, were ‘Made in the U.S.A.’ It is the considered judgment of the military experts that in World War II ‘our victories were the product of massed materiel rather than the highest military skill’(4).
Walton i...
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... the United States is the undisputed military, economic, cultural, and political leader of the world, a title it earned for the most part with relatively little bloodshed. The military-industrial complex formed in the early stages of World War II can be thanked for this, as its extraordinary capacity for churning out weapons almost single-handedly preserved the Allied cause, and its ability to do so without exorbitant burden on the U.S. economy eventually won it the Cold War. Those who today consistently advocate cutting the defense budget in accordance with a policy of isolationism and pacifism and decry the profits made by military contractors would do well to remember the roots of America’s current superiority before making too rash a decision.
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The U.S. Navy nurtured into a challenging power in the years previous to World War II, with battleship construction being revived in 1937, commencing with the USS North Carolina . It was able to add to its fleets throughout the early years of the war when the US was still not involved, growing production of vessels both large and small. In a conflict that had a number of amphibious landings, naval superiority was important in both Europe and the Pacific. The mutual resource...
In the summer of 1940, World War II had been in progress for nearly a year. Adolf Hitler was victorious and planning an invasion of England to seal Europe’s fate. Everyone in the United States of America knew it. The Germans were too powerful. Hitler's Luftwaffe had too many planes, too many pilots and too many bombs and since Hitler was Europe's problem, the United States claimed to be a neutral country (Neutrality Act of 1939). Seven Americans, however, did not remain neutral and that’s what this book is about. They joined Britain's Royal Air Force to help save Britain in its darkest hour to fight off the skilled pilots of Germany's Luftwaffe in the blue skies over England, the English Channel, and North Europe. By October 1940, they had helped England succeed in one of the greatest air battles in the history of aviation, the Battle of Britain. This book helps to show the impact of the few Americans who joined the Battle of Britain to fight off an evil that the United States didn’t acknowledge at the time. The name of Kershaw’s book was inspired from the quote, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to sow few,” which was said by British Officer and Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
In 1942, World War II had been raging for three years. The United States of America have declared war upon the Axis powers following the devastating Japanese attack upon Pearl Harbor. At this point in the war the Allies are in a grave situation. German forces have pushed the British off mainland Europe, and the Japanese have conquered much of the Pacific region, coming increasingly nearer to the American mainland. In order to combat this rising threat, the American military headship began to search for viable alternatives to replace widely used established tactics. The motive for this search for irregular methods the fact that the Allied forces were not strong enough to meet the Axis powers on a conventional
Murray, Williamson R. (1998-08-13). Military Innovation in the Interwar Period (p. 242). Cambridge University Press
From 1939 to 1945 the majority of the world’s nations were part of a long deadly six-year war, World War II. These included two strong powerhouses, Great Britain and The United States. Millions died world wide, declaring World War II to be the most expansive war to date. The Holocaust, and the use nuclear weapons resulted in such a high death toll. Nations were in a state of “total war,” involving not just the military but also the entire nation. Civilians were aggressively aiding in supporting their military, creating a home front, making a significant impression on the result of the war. Rationing, defense and manpower were concerns for governments; and they made any economic and industrial change to support their efforts in aiding their nation and military.
“However, it seems he ¬¬–Eisenhower, never considered how easily our leaders would turn to borrowing to continue feeding the military-industrial complex war beast. Look at America's financial and social conditions today and consider the validity of Eisenhower's warnings expressed more than five decades ago. One truly unfortunate side effect of the military industry's quest for growth is that wars must be fought to justify and increase demand for its products.”
Johnson, David E. Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers: Innovation in the U.S. Army, 1917-1945. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1998. Print.
This world in arms is not spending money alone; it is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.”The United States spends more money in defense than China, Russia, UK, France, Japan, India, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Brazil, Italy, South Korea, Australia, and Canada put together.
America holds the dream of liberty and freedom and protects the attainment and success of democracy across the world. As President Eisenhower emphasized in his “Farewell Address,” our goal as a nation has always been to “foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity, and integrity among people and among nations” (par. 7). However, since the early fifties, American society has become a nation of self-servers with ulterior motives that surface well after our nation has initiated conflicts with others. The Korean, Vietnam and the Iraq War all exemplify the new era of secretive purpose behind military action taken. These three wars span the majority of the past sixty years. This new era began when our country started our transformation into, what President Eisenhower coined, the “military-industrial complex” (par.16). This complex harbors an unbalanced society that allows for our government’s actions to become easily corrupted by the need to feed the industry that feeds our military in turn. During President Eisenhower’s farewell, he warned our nation of the devastating effects of this type of national compound. In, Why We Fight, by Eugene Jarecki, an award-winning documentary director and producer, the film introduces the audience to the lack of understanding our society has on the actual intent behind our nation’s conflicts. Jarecki conveys throughout his piece that the overall purpose for misleading the American public is to fuel the military-industrial economy by maintaining America’s political supremacy around the world. The director introduces the audience to this new understanding by employing anecdotes from certain citizens as well as expressive imagery that comprised of heart wrenching video clips as w...
The collapse of Soviet Union in 1989 finally put an end to the cold war. The US won the ultimate victory like what Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “...the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.”[ Franklin D. Roosevelt, “War Message,” US(1920-1945): 2, accessed May 21, 2014, DOI: 10.1093/acref/9780199794188.013.0142] However, the cold war legacy had a big influences on variety groups of American. The military spending increases indicates the better condition in the US Army, the Technological advances gave opportunities to many technology innovators and globalization led to economy crisis. This is the extensive power of the cold war legacy.
The GI Offensive in Europe by Peter Mansoor is a fresh examination of the United States’ infantry divisions who served in the European Theatre of Operations during WWII. Mansoor’s approach is aggressive and direct as he challenges the time honored and accepted assertions of S.L.A. Marshall, Martin Van Crevald, Russell Weighley and Trevor Dupuy in that the Allies were victorious merely because of the overwhelmingly vast amount of materials thrust at the Germans by soldiers of inferior training. While his writing is geared towards those with at least basic military knowledge, it is still engaging to the average lay person. He provides a new conclusion on how and why the American combat forces were successful in defeating the Germans in Europe. He accomplishes this through extensive self conducted research backed by his own personal experiences as a military commander.
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The U.S. Military is a proud institution, on which we as a nation rely on, just as it relies on the funding and directing of the United States Congress. However, when compared to the rest of the world, the United States consistently outspends other countries on Military/Defense spending. So much so that the National Priorities Project (NPP) states that in 2013 “America spent 37% of the world’s total military spending.” They go on to say that in 2015 “military spending (was) projected to account for 54% of all federal discretionary spending” which equates to about 600 billion dollars in federal spending towards defense and military. While there are benefits of spending this much on Military, many argue that such spending gives America an element
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... or military transportation advancements the United States would probably not be as strong as they are now.