Is War a Waste of Men - Essay Example

?Is war a waste of men? The American Civil War and World War II (WWII) are remembered as two highly important historical battles with enormous ramifications and which made world history take dramatic turns. While the civil war has its roots entrenched in the highly sensitive issue of slavery and was fought between US (the Union) and several slave states (the Confederacy), WWII was a global war that involved all the great powers of the world and which eventually separated in two opposing groups namely the Allies and the Axis. WWII was such a widespread war that the distinction between civilian and military resources was eventually totally eradicated because as the war reached its peak, the participant nations invested their entire financial, economic, scientific, and military resources in it. General consensus among world historians is that WWII by far is the most bloodiest and atrocious battle fought ever which is marked by disastrous, blood-curdling, and inhumane tragedies like the Holocaust and atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While WWII continued for six long deadly years and consumed the lives of several million people, the civil war in contrast continued for four years, resulted in abolishment of slavery, and marked the beginning of the Reconstruction phase to restore the rights and status of the freed slaves who were guaranteed no kind of representation before. Horrors of war are repeatedly portrayed by the media and entertainment industry through documentaries and movies which popularly claim that war is a waste of men and potentially detrimental in nature. However, this essay attempts at arguing against the established claim that war is a waste of men by presenting and contemplating important evidence and ramifications associated with these two historical battles. Historical evidence suggests that prior to the civil war, the American South used to be considerably wealthy and a capitalist economic system ensured a broad range of competitive benefits like productions of prodigious amounts of crops which were highly demanded on international level. The Southern states’ ability to grow highly desirable crops on a large scale depended largely on the coercive labor advantage of slavery. Human trafficking was so abundant and such a booming business in those days that African blacks in a staggering number were smuggled all the way from Africa to America where they were later forced by their white masters to act in an involuntary and undesirable manner by performing arduous and laborious tasks under harsh conditions for no wages or monetary benefits of any kind. These people were made slaves and worked cruelly by the white people. They were forced to cultivate crops in bug-invested areas of many Southern states like Mississippi and Georgia. Without slavery and forced labor, the American South which later participated in the civil war as the Confederacy could not have become economically wealthy. “About three million soldiers served throughout the Civil war” (Blanton & Cook, 2002, p. 205). Though the civil war is claimed to be one of the deadliest wars in that it resulted in the gigantic loss of almost 750 thousand lives among other civilian casualties, truth is that this war cannot be considered a waste of men because the men who sacrificed their lives to win this battle against the Confederates willed to participate in the battle for a noble cause and their sacrifices did not go wasted because the civil war marked the end of slavery and the beginning of the Reconstruction era. The soldiers who fought on the Union side and lost their lives in the process helped immensely in putting an end to societal practices indicative of abominable shame. Though the number of fatalities and casualties in the American civil war is shocking and gruesome, it is also an indisputable fact that this war was still not a waste of men because their efforts did not go in vain. Instead the soldiers willed to fight and lose their lives for a very productive and useful cause. The service of men who participated in the American civil war to fight against slavery clearly affected the outcome of this battle and these outcomes prove that war is not always a waste of men. It is claimed by people that never before the American civil war so many soldiers lost their lives during the course of four years. This is right but if that loss if compared with the outcomes of the battle, it is realized that the noble services provided by the soldiers helped in abolishing slavery which makes up a very dark era in the American history. If the loss is conscientiously compared with the war benefits, this much becomes clear that the civil war was not a waste but a collective effort made by millions of Americans at closing the door to slavery forever. Slavery of Africans was a highly vibrant issue prior to the civil war but after the war ended, the men who lost their lives individually contributed towards the beginning of the Reconstruction era with which America began to truly grow in context of power and solidarity. The racial animosity was kept alive in the South prior to war broke out by sustained poverty of the blacks. The coercive practices of the cruel masters were especially directed at drawing the economic and class lines between the rich white and poor black community. The ramifications of the civil war became especially apparent in the economic revolution which started after the war ended because the societal structure itself changed entirely for the better. Thanks to millions of soldiers who fought fearlessly in the civil war, the overall atmosphere and aura of the American society went through a revolutionary change for the good because not only slavery ended but the states which broke off prior to the war were readmitted as a result of which the national American government became stronger and more powerful than ever. This union brought with itself strength which is highly important for the security and progress of any nation which is the civil war which was fought for a highly noble cause cannot be considered a mere waste of men associated with no benefits or rewards. The biography of Abner Doubleday, who contributed in national defense for 35 years as an American army officer, makes it clear that at the time the civil war broke out, he served as a captain in the 1st US artillery and was a member of the garrison which became the target of the first attack made by the Confederate armies (Longacre, cited in Barthel, 2010, p. 1). Doubleday as a military officer abhorred the Confederacy and the slavery policies and went against the prevailing ideas of many people to free the slaves. He served as the main supporter of Abraham Lincoln and vigorously participated in the civil war to aid the Unions in overpowering the Confederates. While most generals of the Union armies tried to placate the Southern rebels, it was Doubleday who actively voted against this idea and invested every effort to treat both the Confederates and their supported as traitors of the nation and humanity. Doubleday’s timely actions and relentless struggle against slavery played a significant role in contributing towards the Union’s victory of the civil war (Barthel, 2010, pp. 5-6). Doubleday was a member of that garrison which was inside Fort Sumter and the hostilities began when the Confederates began to pound shots on the Fort in 1861 which led Lincoln to create an army to overcome them (Longacre, cited in Barthel, 2010, p. 1). The biography of Doubleday reveals that his ideas and attitudes about war and slavery stood in conflict with the prevailing ideas in those times (Barthel, 2010, p. 84). After he was assigned a position of higher authority by the President Lincoln during the civil war, he realized an opportunity to bring a change in the American culture and societal system in terms of eradication of slavery and restriction of the Confederates. This was because he was exposed to slavery in multiple ways and was not at all lenient towards this shameful practice but “knew it for the evil it was and the evil it caused” (Barthel, 2010, p. 88). The biography further reveals that the civil war was fought to oppose slavery on the grounds that this social practice negatively interfered with the strongly held beliefs of many true Americans like Doubleday himself which were related to social equity and justice. This is why many human lives were not merely wasted in the American civil war but they were sacrificed to attain a noble objective which proves that war is not always a waste of men. Another biography related to Chamberlain shows how men were increasingly called in on to participate in the war once the Confederates started to fire the Fort Sumter. Since the beginning of 1861, Joshual Chamberlain tells how almost hundreds of his students had left to present their services in the army which shows that a great many men participated in the civil war to be on the union side. However, his wife did not want him too to leave for the army due to several reasons. The biography narrates that “it was clear now that the conflict was not a short madness, for the papers were full of the Union’s reverses in the summer campaign in the East” (Chamberlain, cited in Trulock, 2001, p. 9) and such reverses filled the Confederates with new zeal and energy to continue the war and the destruction of resources associated with it. However, it was not long before he realized his internal desire to join the army and was offered by the field superiors to join in as a colonel though he was short of military experience. The biography tells how even the most anti-slavery men tried to pull Chamberlain out of the army and the civil war by telling him that the war was good for nothing and he might come home shattered and lost but all efforts directed at deterring him from a noble cause failed (Trulock, 2001, p. 11). The outcomes proved that the civil war was not just any war good for nothing. The biography makes it very clear that people hoped to be appointed as officers after the war broke out as a response to which “extensive recruiting was done in rousing war meeting around Brunswick in 1861” (Trulock, 2001, p. 12). These men, who sacrificed their lives, were confident that “the destiny of the country depended largely upon their individual efforts” (Col. Ames, cited in Trulock, 2001, p. 16). Colonel Ames who also served in the civil war explains in the biography how it was challenging for him to create a giant mass of regular civilians into an effective fighting force against the Confederates but he did so anyway and disciplined and hardened them to resist the hardships which come along a war (Trulock, 2001, pp. 16-22). This proves that men were not forced by the President Lincoln to present their services in the army rather people who had good hearts aspired to stand up for good cause and the lives lost consequently during the course of the civil war were not wasted in vain but as an effort to abolish slavery in the USA as a way of cutting the roots of this social evil for once and for all. In contrast to the American civil war, WWII culminated in deaths of over 73 million people compared to only 750 thousand deaths in the civil war. Other than the jaw-dropping war statistics of WWII, this war also differs from the other war on myriad other levels. For example, while the Civil war did not accompany any seriously devastating events which ruined the entire life and industrial system of any city in a particularly abominable, deadliest, and devastating manner, WWII is notorious for the Holocaust and atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which not only snatched lives from millions of innocent civilians but also deteriorated the entire working and life systems in Japan. Though this war also has positive ramifications, the deadliest influences exerted by it on many nations around the globe far outnumber those few positive outcomes. While the Civil war also took lives of many soldiers but for a noble cause, in WWII many millions of soldiers and civilians’ lives were wasted in vain. When the losses accompanying a war far exceed the positive ramifications it has to offer, it should be considered a waste of men and a shame for the participant countries. This is true as in case of WWII. But, if the positive consequences of a war fought for a highly noble cause outnumber or outbalance the accompanying losses as in case of the American civil war, then such wars cannot be called a waste of men. WWII began with the invasion of Poland by Germany and aggravated by subsequent declarations of war by France and Great Britain on Germany. The war ended with a series of German defeats in the Eastern European region, invasion of Italy by the Allies, atomic bombing on the Japanese, and the consequent surrenders of German and Japanese empires. Though the Allies which included US among other major powers acquired total and absolute victory over the Axis which included Japan and Germany among others, the ramifications of WWII prove this war to be an amazingly destructive war fought for mostly lost causes. In contrast when a war is fought for a good cause like abolishment of slavery, it is not a waste of men. WWII involved all major economic, industrial, and military powers of the world so it managed to change the entire structure and system of the world seldom for better and mostly for worse. The political alignments of countries changed in addition to the social structures. Many years were spent by countries once the war ended to recover economically. The voices of the WWII participants “help to humanize the events of history” (Rogers & Bartlit, 2005, p. 13) which is why scrutinizing such voices and events holds considerable importance before arguing if war is a waste of men or not. Huey (2010) in his attempt to introduce the hidden voices of WWII and other reality-based stories from the front lines begins by claiming that the second world war started with Hitler and his Nazi party who as they gained power and authority in Germany began to blame the Jews for their problems (Huey, 2010, p. 4). As the war progressed, bloody battles raged everywhere in the world and consumed lives of millions in the process. An important thing to mention here is that the WWII ensued with Germany’s intention to conquer entire European region and rule it. For this purpose, Germany first invaded Poland and subsequently conquered France, Norway, and Denmark also. This shows how WWII stands in stark contrast with the American civil war. This is because while the civil war was fought for a noble purpose so as to benefit the African slaves and grant authority to the poorly represented masses in the USA, WWII in contrast was based on greed and individual benefits. The lust of power, the dream to expand territories and the desire to rule the world collectively played a role in propelling this war among great powers of the world. There was no noble cause in case of WWII, only greed and lust of power and authority which distinguishes this war from the civil war in respect that not only it culminated in deaths of up to 75 million people around the globe, but the deplorable reality is that this war depicted true waste of men that was not only shameful but horrifically futile. In his story of how he managed to escape from the German prison, William Ash (cited in Huey, 2010, pp. 6-8) tells that the first time he managed to run from the captivity of Germans, he got caught. He had been shot down in his plane by the Nazi forces and been held as a prisoner ever since in the German-run prison. During the last weeks of the war, he tried to escape again, succeeded, and got welcomed like a hero having reached the British lines. WWII was a war of vicious vindictiveness, propelled by Germany, and largely fought for personal benefits which is why the lives of millions went down the drain. After analyzing the accounts of many people who served in different armed forces during the WWII, it is claimed that while “all acknowledge the brutality and ugliness of war, few regret their decision to serve” (Quigley, 2006, p. 12). Augustine Smith is the name of one such warrior who participated in the WWII and presented services in Italy and Northwest Europe. She claims that with the outbreak of the second world war, she decided to join the Canadian armed forces and later transferred to Sicily where she cites that General Montgomery came to address the soldiers. After gathering the aspiring soldiers around himself and congratulating them, Smith notes that she will always remember the last words of General’s address which were, “Just remember, the only good German is a dead one” (cited in Quigley, 2006, p. 18). Though that is how he closed his speech that day, Smith claims that she finds the General’s claim about Germans riddled with flaws because it was based on bias and discrimination. Though true at the time, it could not be considered true forever. After just being to Italy to service there as soldiers, Smith notes that so many disastrous casualties were suffered by them in different places that they could not even manage to get back to the safety of the regiment. Smith was in Italy basically to fight against the Hermann Goering Division but the war was so deadly that a three-day truce had to be announced “to clean up the wounded and the dead” (Smith, cited in Quigley, 2006, p. 18). This much becomes clear from the analysis of purposes and outcomes of both American civil war and WWII that while one war was fought for a noble cause to establish equal rights of American citizens in all states and resulted in a great number of fatalities and casualties, the other war was fought for a lost cause and resulted in an unbelievingly large number of deaths around the world along with astoundingly horrible, atrocious, and abominable incidents. This proves that while the civil war was not a waste of men because the sacrifices went on to restore the rights and empowerment of the blacks, WWII in contrast does appear to be a waste of men because its outcomes were exceedingly earth-shattering and shameful. References: Barthel, T. (2010). Abner Doubleday: A Civil War Biography. USA: McFarland. Blanton, D.A., & Cook, L.M. (2002). They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American Civil War. USA: LSU Press. Huey, L.M. (2010). Voices of World War II: Stories from the Front Lines. USA: Capstone. Quigley, G. (2006). Voices of World War Two. Canada: Breakwater Books. Rogers, E.M., & Bartlit, N.R. (2005). Silent Voices of World War II: When Sons Of The Land Of Enchantment Met Sons Of The Land Of The Rising Sun. Sunstone Press. Trulock, A.R. (1992). In the Hands of Providence: Joshua L. Chamberlain and the American Civil War. USA: UNC Press Books. Read More