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Cold War Pros And Cons Tolstoy

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Tolstoy would’ve been horrified at the amount of evidence that the world has provided in the past one hundred years to support his argument against patriotism. Year after year, we Americans celebrate our independence from the British, who are now our close allies. We rally around the “triumphs” of our nation, revel in our superiority to the rest of the world, and forget about the evils our country has committed to ascend to the top of the food chain. We have sold the ideal of “a better world” in exchange for “a stronger nation.” The Cold War standoff between the US and the Soviet Union was a show of patriotism over two equally valid ways of government, where neither side ever directly fought the other, but carried consequences that have …show more content…

We rightfully commemorate those who tragically lost their lives that fateful day, but then the next day we allow our government to conduct drone strikes on innocent civilians in the Arab world. We allow this because it is in the name of democracy, and protecting our freedom as American citizens. We ensure our own freedom by taking the freedom of others. Tolstoy said, “…if one country’s greatness and prosperity can be obtained only at the expense of another…then how can war not be?” (Tolstoy 140). Travelling through history, conquest has always been in the name of something that is perceived by the public as a universal necessity. During the Crusades, it was in the name of Christianity. As the Europeans slaughtered and enslaved the Native Americans, it was in the name of civilization. Now it is democracy. We bullishly believe that because our nation is one of the world’s superpowers, our way of living is superior. We fail to take into account that we may have just been lucky in regards to location, natural resources, and then ruthless when it came to retaining our …show more content…

The Western World had the chance to provide a peaceful and prosperous world for mankind, but failed to do so. Japan and the Korea’s have adopted our fierce patriotic tactics in the past century, and one consequence has been World War II. My grandparents’ lives were shaped to this day by growing up in bomb shelters and living in constant fear. Their only salvation was patriotism; that mighty England would come through in the end. And two young children in Hiroshima were praying that Japan would emerge victories. But they were lost to history as Enola Gay soared overhead. Their death meant my existence, and it is up to me to see to that they did not die in

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1394 Words | 6 Pages

Walker does not just take the reader on a tour of the decision-making process of President Truman and shows what made him to order the use of Atomic bombs on Japan, but he also provide an exploration of the historical situation that prompted the decision. He also examines the viewpoint of the Japanese, not only regarding the impact of the bombings on their ultimate decision to surrender, but also how their Allies called for an unconditional surrender. This call could possibly have led to the Japanese Emperor, Hirohito, being tried on counts of war crimes, which may have possibly made the Japanese to be reluctant on surrendering even in light of a crushing defeat (Huczko). Samuel Walker also provides useful insights into contribution made by the decision to use Atomic weapons on Japanese decision to surrender.

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1270 Words | 6 Pages

The experiences of Louis Zamperini and Jeanne Wakatsuki both do not complicate Mark Weber’s idea of the Good War about the clear-cut morality between the United States and Japan. During World War II, the United States treated the American Japanese harshly opposed to Japan’s treatment. Towards Japanese American civilians, who lived in America and had nothing to do with the war, they were treated unfairly by Americans. Environmentally, it was harsh for American prisoners of war as it was for the Japanese Americans when hate was evident in their captors’ eyes. Involving innocent civilians as the consequence for living in the United States while having no involvement in the war opposed to punishing those involved with the military showed a clear

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609 Words | 3 Pages

In The Winning Weapon? : Rethinking Nuclear Weapons in Light of Hiroshima, author Ward Wilson attempts to make the argument that Japan did not surrender from WWII because of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. But rather that the invasion of the Soviet Union was the deciding factor in their withdraw. He then uses this argument to indicate that our views on nuclear weapons, and how they affected Japan’s military decisions is incorrect. Wilson begins his argument looking at the Japanese’s military and political standing prior to the bombing of Hiroshima.

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127 Words | 1 Pages

In the book, Bomb: The Race to Build -And Steal- The World’s Most Dangerous Weapon (2012), American author, Steve Sheinkin, addresses the topic of power and summarizes that the fight for superiority among the countries continues to destroy our world, by elucidating the mass destruction and brutal fatalities the war has caused. Sheinkin supports his assertion by using disturbing imagery and details while describing the people in the Hiroshima bombing and how burnt, swollen, and blackened their skin was. The author’s overall purpose is to inform readers of historical non-fiction so that they will be aware of the damage that can be caused by war and power. Sheinkin establishes an alarmed tone in order to appeal to his audience’s morals and encourage

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1247 Words | 5 Pages

Both the authors narrate the story with a clarity and perspective that any reader wouldnt be able to resist opening up the book and following along. The book starts its narration from the Battle of the Atlantic in April 1914 and ends it’s narration on the Surrender of Japanese Forces in Tokyo Bay. The book never fails to explain how the conflict was brought upon us and our impact on the successes and/or failures of these

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1425 Words | 6 Pages

War Without Mercy “Ultimately, it brought about a revolution in racial consciousness throughout the world that continues to the present day.” (Dower 4). During World War II, besides morbid deaths, racism was one of the ultimate factors which sparked this tragic period of time. With the use of propaganda such as cartoons, films, and several other media induced strategies, the extreme hatred between the Americans and Japanese was increasing.

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705 Words | 3 Pages

“A Petition to the President” In July of 1945, Leo Szilard and his fifty-nine cosigners created a petition for the President of the United States to ask him to refrain from using atomic bombs to attack the Japanese people in the phase of war. Szilard uses this appeal to help describe his reasoning on why he believes atomic bombs will do more harm than good for not only Japan, but for the entire world. He thought that by using nuclear bombs, a new era of destruction would occur, making the current war inferior. In Szilard’s essay, “A Petition to the President,” pathos, logos, and a positive tone are used to help sway his reader’s, which supports his argument and helps it become successful because it persuades the audience to believe that the use of atomic bombs is not necessary during the war.

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630 Words | 3 Pages

Imagine living in a period in which the realities of war encased the world, and the lethal potential to end all suffering was up to a single being. During World War II, tensions between Japan and the United States increased. Despite pleas from US President, Harry Truman, for Japan to surrender, the Japanese were intent on continuing the fight. As a result, Truman ordered the atomic bomb, a deadly revolution in nuclear science, to be dropped on the towns of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. President Harry Truman, in his speech, “Announcement of the Dropping of the Atomic Bomb,” supports his claim that the dropping of the A-bomb shortened the war, saved lives, and got revenge by appealing to American anger by mentioning traumatic historical events and

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869 Words | 4 Pages

Daniella Gat GlobalA 1 U.S actions during the Cold War were not justified. It has probably happened many times in life when you take actions and someone gets mad or doesn 't agree. Then you must come up with any reason possible to make it justified, but sometimes not everything can be justified. For example, a person murdering a random person they have never met before and do not know, can’t be justified. The actions that the U.S took during the Cold War are similar to this, as they weren’t always justified.

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725 Words | 3 Pages

he first chapter of The Cold War: A New History begins by comparing the United States to the U.S.S.R. and talking about the similarities between the two. It also talks about Communism and how Marx deemed it necessary in order to build up the economy. Lenin tried to implement Communism in Russia. They were not quite ready for that kind of system, so Stalin tried to modernize the economy. The U.S.S.R. had more casualties in World War II, but things were not necessarily looking great in America either.

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804 Words | 4 Pages

“Mary Tsukamoto once said ‘I knew it would leave a scar that would stay with me forever. At that moment my precious freedom was taken from me’” (Martin 54). The Betrayal. The attack on Pearl Harbor.

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166 Words | 1 Pages

It means if I would have been in stalins position I would have ushered in the damn utopia instead of the genocidal massacres because i understand the doctrine of marxism and everything about me is good. Think again sunshine! You dont understand it! And youre not that good! And if the power was in your hands, assuming you had the competence, which you don’t, you wouldn’t have done any better, and even if you had, there would have been someone else waiting right behind you to shoot you the first time you actually tried to do anything good.

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754 Words | 4 Pages

Hersey’s straight, simple narrative technique presents the catastrophe in its raw form, including the voices of those who experienced the bombing firsthand. He does so without showing bias or raising the question of whether or not the United States should have dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. While many citizens of Hiroshima “continued to feel a hatred for Americans which nothing could possibly erase,” (117) some, like Mrs. Nakamura, “remained more or less indifferent about the ethics of using the bomb.” (117). Despite mixed reactions of the people of Hiroshima themselves, never does the author condemn the decision to drop the bomb, nor does he condone

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621 Words | 3 Pages

Churchill first uses an analogy of how nations in history overcame the evil. In the analogy, the author states that the ‘the spirit of resistance’ overwhelmed the evil; the spirit represents Britain and the United States; the evil represents Nazi Germany and its Allies. With the use of the analogy, Churchill strongly urges and shows confidence that if Britain and the United States support each other with military support, the issue can be solved easily-. Churchill highlights his confidence by using black and white contrast. He illustrates the past-when the nations were full of fear- as ‘miseries’, ‘prolonged confusion, which can be seen as black, and depicts the near future as ‘conception of light’.

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1631 Words | 7 Pages

All of this seems harmless. But is it possible for there to be too much patriotism? Is it possible for excessive pride to change the American

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