In Warren F. Kimball's novel, Forged in War- Roosevelt, Churchill, and the Second World War, the unique relationship between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. The two created a friendship to lead the Allied powers out of the shadow of the Third Reich. Although the two were not fond of each other in the beginning, the respect that they had for each other was the bond that held them together. Kimball argues the main points on why the world went to war in the 1930's. He proves the theory that an American-Anglo alliance during World War II to be wrong and that it is a false conclusion.…
Kluge, P. F. "Talking To Saipan: American Lit In A Pacific Outpost." Humanities 31.3 (2010): 20-23. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 25 Sept. 2013.…
While many scholars attempted to theorize war in human history, only few were credited for constructing consistent theories on which people could base and further their understanding of war and warfare. Those include Greek Thucydides, Chinese Sun Tzu, and Indian Kautilya all three from 3-4th century BC; Prussian Carl von Clausewitz and Swiss Antoine-Henry Jomini both from 19th century. All of those prominent theorist had a lot to offer and therefore had great influence on our thinking in war, warfare, and strategy. However, Clausewitz’s theory offers more insight if one carefully and purposely studied the “paradoxical trinity” identified in his…
Soldiers returning from duty who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have the highest rate of suicide among veterans in our nation’s history. The rates post 2001, the real beginning of the USA’s involvement in these conflicts, have increased significantly more for the 2 branches of military that get more up close and personal with the conflicts (Army and Marines) versus those who fight from afar (Air-Force and Navy. In 2009 the US Army suicide rate was almost double that of regular civilians. While there are programs in place to help returning veterans, the Veterans Association (VA) is unorganized, outdated, and doesn’t do nearly enough to protect the mental health of those veterans. We need a new,…
Have you ever thought that war and peace had to be together? This novel take place in New Hampshire and is about a boarding school for boys where they become ready for the war ahead. The school Devon, was a separate peace for the boys, keeping them safe from the war. In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the author demonstrates how war and peace transform people and time periods through the use of internal conflict, external conflict, and tragedy.…
Military theory spans centuries of conflict all across the world. As such, military theorists have written in a variety of military climates, varying from the absence of gun powder to the presence of nuclear weapons. However, some military theories are transcendent. Some elements of Sun Tzu and Clausewitz are eternally wise. While their similarities may become universal truths, their differences are equally worthy of study because, it is in the differences where choices are made. Sun Tzu and Clausewitz agreed that war is chaos, military action is a tool for diplomatic goals and, as such, the results of warfare are not final. Their differences lie in how they advocate for waging war. The style and preparations for war contrast. This is where…
The Vietnam War last from 1964-1975 for America and was it longest war. Throughout those eleven years many stories and letters were written and many more would come long after the wars end. While officially the conflict was considered to be a police action, many consider it be just rough and brutal as any other war fought in modern history. The majority of soldiers who did return home came back to an America far different than the one they left behind and were subject to the hatred of anti-war protestors and many came back changed and haunted by the things they had seen and done in Vietnam. Some, like Tim O’Brien, found solace several years later by writing of their own accounts of what they witnessed while overseas.…
To conclude, there is no doubt that the conflict of war is a useless encounter that affects many innocent people’s lives, the economic stability and physiological wellbeing of soldiers. It is evident that in some circumstances society makes war to ensure peace, and on the surface this seems rational, even plausible. However, in reality throughout the journey there is a great human and economic cost…
Many novels have been written about the great wars, but few are as absorbing, captivating and still capable of showing all the horrors of the battle as Timothy Findley's "The Wars"1. After reading the novel, critics and readers have been quick to point out the vast examples of symbolism shown throughout the novel. Even the author himself commented at the vast examples of symbolism throughout the novel, "Everything in that book has a life of its own. It's a carrier too -- all the objects are carriers of someone else's spirit"2. Although the novel is very symbolic, the most bare-faced and self explicit symbols are the natural elements that are inscribed on Robert's gravestone, "Earth and Air and Fire and Water"3. The symbolism of the natural elements begins a whole framework of ideas as their meanings continuously change throughout the novel. They begin as life supporting and domestic symbols which completely change on the battlefields of Europe. For Findley, this is what war does: it perverts and changes the natural elements from supporting life to the bringers of doom and destruction.…
In this unstable environment, warfare flourished, as did books like Sun Tzu 's The Art of War.…
Many harmful ideologies plague our society, distorting our perception of reality and fostering intense hate. These mindsets, like racism, extremism, or sexism, often lead to destructive, disturbing actions, like hate crimes. These concepts attempt to distinguish the “other,” to create sense of superiority by degrading fellow humans. They create enemies where there should be unity in our common humanity, similar to how the true essence of patriotism disrupts the common effort for peace by functioning as a vessel for human pride, forging mortal enemies out of foreigners, and using idealized concepts to galvanize innocent people to atrocious acts. Outwardly, nationalism, pride for one’s fatherland, seems harmless, but a deeper analysis verifies that it can harm society’s well-being as profoundly as any of the aforementioned mindsets when it is used to vindicate and augment the progression of…
War Years: Nipples and Breasts As a kid at the age of thirteen, the narrator of “War Years” by Viet Thanh Nguyen remarkably pays attention a lot on noticing and describing breasts and nipples of women in the story. It can be inferred that in the age of adolescence, which means he is curious about the opposite sex and especially genitals, his behavior sounds sensible. At the same time, the narrator’s insertion helps explain physical appearances of women characters in the story, which seems significantly related to their family backgrounds as well.…
In the book The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh, he tells the reader about his experiences in the Vietnam War. First, Ninh shows how the Vietnam War impacted the Vietnamese soldiers and the traumatic experiences and emotion hardships they had to go through. Secondly, the Americans also had traumatic experiences like the Vietnamese soldiers but the American soldiers had different traumatic events that messed with there emotions. Finally, the Vietnamese soldiers and the American soldiers had something in common and to deal with the post traumatic stress by writing them out. The Vietnamese and American soldiers both had different traumatic experiences, but they shared a common way to cope with…
Herman Wouk’s The Winds of War is based on a mixture of fictional and non-fictional characters in which are connected to Victor “Pug” Henry. Pug is a middle aged, United States Navy Commander with a wife, Rhoda, and three grown kids, Warren, Madeline, and Byron. His dream is to command an American battleship in the United States Navy. As the story starts, Pug is being assigned to naval diplomacy in Berlin, Germany six months before the invasion of Poland (1). While working as the attaché, Pug notices the plans for Germany to invade. It comes to his concern that this would immediately cause war with the Soviet Union. If Germany is to successfully invade Poland, they must make an agreement with the Soviets to not go to war even though they are obvious enemies. He submits a report predicting the Nazi-Soviet nonaggression pact. On August 23rd, 1939, the pact was written and signed by Germany and the Soviet Union (2). Once the pact was made public, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt sees his report and is asked to be the unofficial eyes and ears in Europe. This is not necessarily the job he wants, but it gives him the upper hand in the political world. With this job, he travels to London, Rome, and Moscow. He meets very important people such as Winston Churchill, Benito Mussolini, and Joseph Stalin.…
According to Clausewitz, “war is nothing but a duel on a larger scale… immediate aim is to throw his opponent in order to make him incapable of further resistance” (Clausewitz, P75). As a result, one of the most important ways to win a war is to know the kind of conflict you’re fighting. It must also include a good understanding of the enemy at hand. For all the compelling reasons, that awareness will allow the development of effective strategy encompassing all elements of national power.…