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War In 20th Century America
excerpt
While the fighting
in war has changed from hand to hand combat to the faceless targeting
of strategic missiles, the reasons for war and its consequences
remain fundamentally the same.
War is about democracy, duty, patriotism, nationalism, power,
religion, courage, and economics....
The roots of WWI were established at the end of the previous
century in longheld disputes over nationalism, military superiority,
the quest to take land from other countries, and tense alliances
...World War II was truly a "world war."... The conflict
was fought around the globe -- in Europe, Asia, Africa, and islands
of the Pacific ...Cold War tensions and the North Korean invasion
of the South, led to the U.S.'s entrance into Korea with a "police
action."... The Vietnam War was waged between the U.S. supported
government of South Vietnam and Communist North Vietnam when
the North's Vietcong tried to defeat the South Vietnamese government.
In August, 1990, Iraq's army surged into Kuwait ....As America
and the world closed the century, war was being fought in Kosovo.
"The
true goal we seek is far above and beyond the ugly field of battle.
When we resort to force, as now we must, we are determined that
this force should be directed towards ultimate good as well as
against immediate evil. We Americans are not destroyers- we are
builders."
President
Rooselvelt
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