Role Of The Military Today Essay Research

Role Of The Military Today Essay, Research Paper

N.Schmidt-WN Government

The Role of Today.s Military in Today.s Post-Cold war

era.

The role of the United States military has been a

question of the government in this modern post-cold war era.

The fall of communism has put away any external threats to

national security and made America the worlds last

superpower. The government must decide what to do with the

worlds strongest military. Several questions have arisen

since the end of the cold war. Should the U.S continue

build its military to keep our worldwide strength. Should

we downsize the military to better aid people in our own

country. What should be the role of the current military.

Should we be a worldwide police force, or just respond to

eminent threats to ourselves. The U.S government faces

these choices as we are the last remaining superpower.

To understand the current worldwide scenario was must

understand its history. The cold war started during the

second World War. Mutual suspicion had long existed between

the West and the USSR, and friction was sometimes seen in

the Grand Alliance during World War II. After the war the

West felt threatened by the continues expansionists policy

of the Soviet Union, and the traditional Russian fear of the

spread of Western influence continued. Communist then

seized Russia, and sealed off their controlled areas of

Eastern Germany and Austria. This sparked intense conflicts

within the United Nations. This now formed the Iron Curtain

between the East and the West.

During the cold war the general policy of the West

toward the communist states was to contain them, with hope

that internal disputes would eventually fade communism out.

The Soviet Union began to directly challenge the West by

creating a blockade of the western sectors of Berlin, but

the United States airlifted supplies into the city until the

blockade was lifted. This action against the United States

caused the formation of NATO. After NATO was formed the

Russian counterbalance it by forming the Warsaw Treaty

Organization with the communist bloc.

Communist then began to spread to Asia. Communist

leader Mao Zeodong gained control of the mainland of China

in 1949. The U.S then came to support the Nationalist

movement in China with its headquarters in Taiwan. This

lead to the creation of the four point program in fear of

communism spreading to Asia, Africa and Latin America. The

four point program was created to help underdeveloped areas.

The cold war split up many areas of the world as communist

gained a country nationalism would gain a country right

beside it. The two sides would try to gain the power in as

many countries as possible. They would gain a countries

support by military force or by supplying that country with

arms and economic aid. The newly emerging nations of Asia

and Africa became the scene of these cold-war skirmishes.

In Europe the East German Government erected the Berlin

Wall in 1961 to check the embarrassing flow of East Germans

to the West. Then in 1962 an extremely tense confrontation

between the U.S and Soviet occurred after the U.S found

Soviet missile installations in Cuba. Direct conflict was

narrowly avoided putting the fate of the world in jeopardy.

This made obvious that neither side wanted the risk of a

nuclear war.

Then in the late 1950s and early 60s both sides in the

European alliance began to weaken somewhat. Individual

countries on each side began to explore closer relations.

In the 1980s U.S President Ronald Reagan revived

cold-war polices as referring to the Soviet Union as the

..evil empire.. and escalating the nuclear arms race and

buildup of military might. This poured millions of dollars

into the pockets of the military trying to strengthen each

sides military in the event of possible confrontation.

From 1989 to 1991 the cold war came to an end with the

opening if the Berlin Wall and the complete collapse of the

communist party dictatorship in Eastern Europe, the

reunification of Germany, and the disintegration of the

Soviet Union.

The cold war basically brought complete dependence on

the military. During the cold war the majority of the

Budget was shoved into the advancement and buildup of the

U.S military. This caused many technological advances and

an increase in the economy but left little money for other

government programs. The federal Deficit had sky rocketed

as a result of the Cold War. The United States military was

huge and left standing as the strongest military in the

world. The fall of communism completely ruined the Soviets

military power and economy. The United States had come out

on top in the end of the cold war.

The United States has become the controlling control in