Why the US is almost always at war | DW Documentary
DW Documentary
812,136 views Nov 22, 2025 #dwdocumentary #usa #dwdocs
Throughout its 250-year existence, the United States has almost always been at war. From its beginnings right through to the present day, the country's armed forces have shaped both American identity and the political decisions of its leaders.
The United States of America has been at war throughout most of its 250-year existence. From the War of Independence right through to contemporary armed conflicts, the nation's armed forces have not only shaped American identity but also influenced the political decisions of its leaders.
The documentary takes a deep dive into this complex history and analyzes the "hot" and "cold" wars that have shaped US history in order to draw important lessons for the future.
The film explores how successive generations of US Americans viewed and experienced each conflict. It also examines the enduring impact of these wars on American society and reveals how military engagement was utilized to hone the image and the role of the US on the global stage.
Around 30 high-profile experts, military personnel and politicians examine the military history of the United States, explaining its successes and failures, as well as its impact on the world and the everyday lives of Americans.
The film looks to the past to gain a keener understanding of how today's military decisions will affect tomorrow's world — as well as their far-reaching impact on democracy and society. And with US President Donald Trump now in office for a second term, it asks what role the army plays in Trump's world view.
===
Transcript
[Music] This is one of the most famous buildings
in the world and it's shrouded in secrecy. [Music]
The Pentagon, the center of US military power, lies on the banks of the Ptoic
River with a view of the most important centers of the nation's political power in Washington DC.
In early September 2025, US President Donald Trump renamed the
former Department of Defense the Department of War. The US military showcases its power in
videos featuring hundreds of thousands of US troops on continuous deployment
across all continents of the world. A global military presence that no other
army in the world can muster. Americans
like to tell themselves that we're a peaceful nation. We're a peaceful
people. But the reality is the United States has been almost constantly at war
since we became an independent nation.
Since its foundation, the US military has been involved in hundreds of wars and military conflicts. For the United
States, war is not an exceptional situation. For more than 250 years, war has played
a central role in shaping the political course of this world power. [Music]
Worldwide, there seems to be a heightened risk of military confrontations between nations or peoples, as in Ukraine, the Middle East,
and perhaps soon in Asia.
What will the future course of the US look like? Will the country aggressively defend its interests or will it commit
to upholding its historical moral values? Uh we are the only remaining global
superpower at this point and we have interest everywhere. We're not out in the world seeking imperial expansion nor
are we out in the world doing favors for people. We're just looking out for our own interest which happened to be
worldwide [Music]
when terrorists attacked the US on September the 11th, 2001.
They both attacked its economic power by targeting the World Trade Center and its
military power with the Pentagon, two symbols of US identity.
[Applause] [Music]
Construction work on the Pentagon began on the exact same day 60 years previously on September 11th, 1941.
It wasn't to be a skyscraper as steel supplies were needed to build planes and ships. World War II was in full swing.
The US was viewed by many as a global police force and the Pentagon came to
symbolize this role.
[Music]
Every year in Massachusetts in the northern United States, hundreds of
American volunteers reenact one of the battles that decided the war in favor of the United States.
It took place in the Pacific on the Mariana Islands. [Music]
[Applause] By defeating the Japanese stationed
there, US troops gained access to the Japanese archipelago.
Amid the ongoing war, the Pentagon decided to establish its first base in
the Pacific on Guam. To this day, strategic bombers can still
reach anywhere on the Asian continent from the island.
A great many battle reenactments like these take place across the country every year.
They play a part in making war a key pillar of national identity as do the
various memorials, museums, and uniformed ceremonies.
[Music]
But in its bid to anchor its military might in the hearts and heads of the population, the United States has an
even more effective method in its arsenal.
The War Movie. A Hollywood invention. Military blockbusters that flaunt US
dominance to the nation's people, but also to the rest of the world. You will not like me.
But the more you hate me, the more you will learn. The river is wide and that the current
is strong. Hey Mary, take cover. During the Second World War, there were
dedicated motion picture units attached to different branches of the military. And in that sense, the military and the
Hollywood community were enmeshed and and collaborating in bringing films into
the world. and some of some of America's best directors left their work in
Hollywood to go and literally sign up, join the American military and
participate in making films in collaboration with the military that were shown to the American public and
internationally. [Music] First, let's examine a typical Japanese
soldier. He has been trained to be a soldier almost from birth and into his tough little mind has been drilled and
hammered the fanatic belief that Japanese are descendants of gods. And those filmmakers included um George
Stevens, uh William Wiler, John Ford, um John Houston, um all of whom at the time
were at the top of the profession.
Hollywood and the US military developed a special connection that endures to this day.
[Music] Come on, you luck. The Second World War is a recurrent
central theme. Move fast and clear those murder holes.
Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan was filmed in the 1990s, shortly after the first Gulf War.
But it was World War II that provided a more effective canvas for constructing a legend telling of a US fight for the
greater good. Captain gave you an order. Yeah, take the money to take this machine gun.
Yes, sir. That was one. Saving Private Ryan is really an expression and articulation of America
uh coming into the world and uh putting lives at risk to to do something good.
Um often times at great cost to itself. I if you look at the wars America was
fighting in Iraq in particular um uh
it's really not so clear that that is what America is doing abroad or how it's being perceived.
I think it's not great because we're actually spreading misinformation that way. But yeah, pop culture is is
probably I would say number one in terms of how we maintain hegemony
because of the perception and perception becomes reality.
These war films encourage viewers to internalize a certain patriotism.
And did you know this tradition of singing the American national anthem on almost every occasion, especially at
sporting events? didn't exist before World War II.
[Music] It was only during World War II that the
national anthem was sung before team sports, be it baseball or American football, in order to generate a sense
of national pride, out of patriotism, as though two armies were fighting against each other. It wasn't like that before
World War II. We watched were so gallently
streaming for the land of the free
and the
I think that World War two absolutely is the one that Americans can still get
behind and understand why World War II can be an easier story to
tell about why the United States went into a war. It's not about ideals. It's
about a direct attack on the United States. For most Americans, World War II
remains the war that's uh uh that's most present in their minds when they think
of uh how to win effectively. Uh but in 1939
uh at that time the American military ranked 19th in the world in terms of
total size 19th. Uh so this huge country with a huge industrial capability was a
military pygmy. The World Wars, which of course we came out on the winning side in, uh, transformed the United States
from a minor regional power into a global superpower and transformed the
average American's understanding of the purpose of the country in which they lived.
2 million New Yorkers jammed Time Square. It's official. It's all over. It's total victory.
[Music] [Applause] The United States was still relatively
new on the world stage in 1945, but thanks to its military might, it now
dictated the new world order, a role it has largely retained to this day.
Across the country, World War II was celebrated as the birth of the new America. [Applause]
The largest naval base on the US West Coast is in San Diego, California.
Here, the last US aircraft carrier built during World War II, the Midway, has
been converted into a museum where visitors can marvel at the military power of the United States.
[Music]
In Washington DC, the imposing World War II memorial almost directly opposite the
White House occupies a large section of the National Mall at the heart of this
center of power. [Applause]
[Music] World War I is remembered at this memorial here in Kansas City, far off
the beaten track. It was during this conflict that America became more aware of its power and
emerging role in the global order. But for a long time, the US was reluctant to
enter the fry. It didn't want to get mixed up in this war between European nations, many of
whom colonized large parts of North America. The United States had not been socialized to a global role.
Americans had not previously thought of themselves as a world power. You know, there had been a heavy
ideology in the United States of avoiding foreign entanglements and it's a very powerful force in
American politics. We have a presidential election in 1916 and the
peace movement pacifists are are very instrumental in helping reelect Woodro Wilson who did after all run on a
platform of he kept us out of war.
In 1916, the US was still strictly isolationist. The future giant wasn't yet aware of its
power. [Music]
But Germany started interrupting its trade with the Anton of World War I. In particular, hampering Atlantic shipping
with its submarines. After a while, sections of the American
public began demanding entry into the war.
But it wasn't until 1917 that President Wilson took that decision. In doing so,
he didn't just break his own promise. He also issued a new foreign policy
doctrine that justifies US military interventionism. To this day,
the US saw itself as entrusted with a sacred mission to stand up for perceived
American values everywhere in the world.
So when the United States does eventually enter the war in April of 1917, Woodro Wilson gives a really
important war address in which he really outlines what's both at stake for the United States and also the role that the
United States can play in this conflict. And he really does propose a sort of new role for United States in the in the
world. World War I was really the gestation of a lot of what we would call
now propaganda techniques uh to convince people one way or the other. And in
fact, our federal government created a whole department of of war information
to do exactly that, to send people out to presentations and events to convince
people. They created a whole series of posters to you know invoke emotional
responses and I think that was a big ingredient. What is so significant about this moment
is that those Wilsonian principles that are meant to dictate what the first
world war means have animated American foreign policy ever since.
[Music] The US sent two million men to fight in
the World War on the European continent. The country introduced conscription,
built up a huge arms industry, and learned to coordinate troop deployments overseas.
It was a huge logistical and human undertaking that changed the US military
forever. World War I is the beginning of the
modern United States military. It is the beginning of
America of the 20th century. It is the beginning of what some historians call
right the era of America as as a superpower. So much of who we became,
who we have become is so deeply influenced not only by the military actions but by the social, economic,
cultural uh consequences both positive and negative of the first world war. A
big part of American kind of self-identification, self-identity comes out of wars that we were successful in.
World War I and World War II, Americans think the United States saved the world, rescued uh the rescued civilization
uh from terrible scourges. And I I I think that has played an outsized role
uh in American sense of what is America about? What makes America different?
What makes America unique? And boy, home here, swing it.
The US may not have wanted to enter both world wars initially, but each time it
emerged victorious and changed. In 1952, the United Nations new base of
operations opened in New York City. The choice to build there was an indication
of the world's new political center. The United States financed the
reconstruction of Europe with the help of the Marshall Plan. It asserted its values and made the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights the cornerstone of the UN. In Washington, it founded the World Bank
and the International Monetary Fund. It forged a new world order.
The massive industrial mobilization that the war created took an economy in a
state of depression supercharged it and created the basis for massive prosperity
after the war. It it was this transformative experience in World War II that put the
United States first of all in a material position of uh radical power and
secondly impressed Americans with the need for engagement globally.
Today, this international commitment is evident in the fact that more than 200,000 US military personnel are
permanently stationed abroad at hundreds of bases around the globe, enabling
intervention anywhere in the world within a matter of hours.
Some 60,000 soldiers are enlisted every year to keep the United States military functioning.
It has 11 aircraft carriers, more than any other nation in the world.
It maintains around 14,000 military aircraft, also more than any other country.
It owns some 5,000 nuclear warheads, which can also be launched from its
submarines or by strategic bombers.
[Music] On the 16th of July 1945, in a desert
close to the Mexican border, the United States became the first country to detonate an atomic bomb.
3 weeks later, President Truman decided to deploy this new bomb in Japan.
[Music] A short time ago, an American airplane
dropped one bomb on Hiroshima.
The shock over the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki marked the end of the Pacific theater of World War II.
The US possessed the ultimate weapon that would secure its superiority moving forwards.
With this bomb, we have now added a new and revolutionary increase in
destruction to supplement the growing power of our armed forces.
In their present form, these bombs are now in production and even more powerful
bombs are in development. It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing
of the basic power of the universe. Let there be no mistake. We shall
completely destroy Japan's power to make war.
To this day, there are still question marks over the US decision to drop atomic bombs on our country.
I understand that some Americans believe the outcome of this bombing was largely positive, but that doesn't end the
debate. [Music]
For my part, I don't think nuclear weapons should exist. However, if they were to disappear, this could lead to
even more violent wars fought with conventional weapons.
This could cause even more suffering for people all over the world. In other words, the deterrent effect provided by
nuclear weapons helps to prevent wars from breaking out.
On August 6th, 1945, the B29 bomber took off with its deadly payload from the new
US base on the Mariana Islands. For much of humanity, this aircraft became a symbol of the horror of nuclear
weapons. For the US, the Anola Gay is a reminder of one of the country's greatest military victories.
[Music]
The aircraft is now on display in a museum in a suburb of Washington DC despite regular protests from Japan.
[Music] After Hiroshima, a second bomb was
dropped on Nagasaki. This forced Tokyo, which had long put up fierce resistance,
to surrender unconditionally.
World War I ended with an armistice. In World War II, the conflict was
brought to a close by an uncompromising, sweeping demonstration of power by the US against its enemies.
It was an unconditional surrender. There was nothing to negotiate. According to Washington, the justification for this
hardline approach was that no compromises could be made with Japan's political system. Just like with the
Nazi regime, Japanese militarism had led to Pearl Harbor and had to be totally
eradicated. That's why the US army decided to use nuclear weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
80 years after Hiroshima and the emperor's capitulation, the US Army is
still stationed in Japan. In Yokosuka, a small coastal town at the
entrance to Tokyo Bay. Tourist boats offer daily trips to one of the largest US naval bases outside the United
States. 10 US ships, including an aircraft carrier, are mored here in the
harbor.
On the opposite key, the Japanese Navy demonstrates its growing power. The once
former enemy has become a close ally.
The US armed forces are unique in the world. They station troops in outposts around
the globe which play a central role in maintaining international order
in the Asia- Pacific region. For example, Japan is home to the largest US naval base.
The headquarters of the US 7th Fleet is located here in Yokosuka near Tokyo.
In addition, the largest US air base in Asia is in Kadina on the island of Okinawa. Around 50,000 members of the US
armed forces are currently stationed there. And in the event of a crisis in Asia, these Japanese bases would be
crucial for US intervention.
size up. [Music]
In Europe and Asia, the US has opted to counter threats by relying on its former
enemies. In Germany, the US army has a particularly strong presence with regard
to Russia. Japan, another defeated country, facilitates a response to the
growing threat from China. This is a global deterrent strategy.
[Music]
By stationing troops with its former enemies and arming itself with nuclear weapons, US supremacy seemed assured
after World War II.
But on June 25th, 1950, something happened to tip that balance.
This was the day North Korea invaded its neighbor, South Korea. After
[Music]
Japan's surrender in 1945, a liberated Korea had been divided into two occupation zones.
A Soviet sphere of influence in the north led by Kim Ilsung and in the south an area under US control. The move
represented the first attack on the new global police force. To initiate counter
measures, 2 days later in New York, the US put the first international military
intervention to a vote at the United Nations. [Music]
At late success, the United Nations Security Council met to deal with this act of unprovoked aggression. The Soviet
Union chose to be absent. The council voted for United Nations military action against the aggressor and provided for a
unified command of United Nations forces.
General Douglas MacArthur was appointed commanderin-chief and accepted the first United Nations battle flag.
The port of Busousan on the South Korean coast lies close to Japan and in Japan
were the only readily available United Nations forces. United States troops were landed at Busousan to carry out the
instructions of the Security Council. MacArthur then launched a counter
offensive from US bases in Japan with his soldiers under the flag of the United Nations. This marked the start of
the first war to defend the principles of international law. It was a brutal war that killed millions, among them
tens of thousands of US soldiers. A price paid by MacArthur, who managed to push back North Korean forces. His aim,
the complete surrender of Pyongyang and its communist, Soviet, and Chinese allies, even if that meant deploying
nuclear weapons to limit US loss of life. But the world had changed in the meantime, and US supremacy was being
called into question. In 1949, the Soviet Union had also
detonated its first atomic bomb. Moscow thought the operation had been
conducted in the utmost secrecy. But Washington discovered radioactive traces
of the explosion in the atmosphere. The nuclear arms race had begun.
In South Korea, MacArthur had to give up on his plan of total victory.
[Music]
As the war dragged on, domestic resistance in the US grew. Forcing North
Korea to surrender became too costly for the US.
This led to the idea of a ceasefire. Now that the Soviet Union was a nuclear
power, Washington also feared that the conflict could escalate into a nuclear war with Moscow.
The US therefore abandoned its goal of complete reunification of Korea and allowed both camps to remain in place.
As a result of this renunciation, the division of the Korean peninsula became permanent. This is the reason for the
ongoing confrontation between South and North Korea. It is a tragedy for East
Asia.
In Pyongyang, the man in charge today is Kim Jong-un. He is the grandson of Kim
Sunung, instigator of the Korean War. Kim Jong-un has nuclear weapons at his
disposal and has made his hereditary dictatorship untouchable.
The atomic bomb helped the US force Japanese surrender in 1945.
But the idea of nuclear deterrence turned against the US itself and it
settles for a compromise in Korea.
It represents a failure of 25 years of American policy. A as does Iran's
progress toward nuclear weapons by not confronting the problem earlier enough and dealing with it effectively. This is
what Winston Churchill once called the confirmed unteability of mankind.
[Music] The proliferation of nuclear weapons rapidly challenged US supremacy.
In 1949, it was the Soviet Union. In 1952, the United Kingdom in 1960,
France. In 1964, China and then shortly after in Israel, although not officially
admitted by the Middle Eastern state. Then India, Pakistan, and finally North
Korea. All of our deterrence theory rested on a
bipolar nuclear world. So it was us against the Soviet Union. And clearly the American nuclear arsenal has got to
expand dramatically because it's one thing to believe you have an adequate deterrent capability in a bipolar world.
It's very different in a tripolar world. Japan faces two threats today. On the
one hand, the rise of China on a military level in particular, and on the other hand, the provocations of North
Korea. Both countries have nuclear weapons. We must be realistic. Even with
US support, we'll never be able to defeat these two countries. Washington won't risk its own destruction. In the
event of a conflict, we must find a compromise with our enemies. We have no choice.
The United States of America no longer has the means to defeat all its enemies.
If US dominance is to be maintained, other methods must be considered.
Movies and television help the United States achieve its legendary military status.
Guys, that's the Secretary of Defense.
They also helped in the global dissemination of American values.
Cars, big houses, shopping malls, individual freedom. Hollywood became a
factory producing the American dream.
[Music]
I remember reading that said to Kennedy, "You don't need propaganda. You've got cinema. Everyone wants your swimming
pools, bathrooms, and kitchens.
Everyone wants to live like the people in American movies do. Who wants to live in Soviet kitchens or living rooms?
There's an ideological conflict, which is why the US can't avoid assuming its role as leader of the free world. This
is both a response to the calling that the US feels to this North American universalism and a necessity of power.
[Music] This is the pale deio in Paris,
headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. To this building come ministers from 15 nations of the
Atlantic community. American soft power developed thanks to a broad network of
diplomatic and military alliances aimed at counteracting the transnational communist movement.
On April the 4th, 1949, representatives of 12 countries met in Washington DC to
form NATO. The founding members were 10 Western European nations plus the United States
and Canada. Officially, NATO was opening a US protective shield over Europe, but it
also put Europe on the same side as the US. America was spinning a global web,
primarily to protect its own interests. [Applause]
Well, the United States has interest around the world more than any other country. And uh if anybody thinks
somebody else is going to protect our interest other than us uh they need to rethink their understanding of the
world.
From the American perspective, the foundation of NATO and the American leadership role within NATO was
something completely new. Starting with the foundation of the US, the principle
had been no entangling alliances. no entangling alliances
and that changed after World War II. One factor was based on a prevailing view
that the United States withdrawal from security policy after World War I had
been a mistake, at least according to the popular opinion at the time. A decision that had favored the rise of
aggressor states. [Music]
This alliance logic also led to the division of Europe into two ideological blocks which culminated in the
construction of a wall through the middle of Berlin in 1961. The cold war front cut through Germany
with each block convinced of its moral superiority. [Music]
For Western Europeans during the Cold War era, the Pax Americana was
definitely a blessing because it provided security against the Soviet Union
for created the conditions for freedom,
democracy, and prosperity.
The US was prepared to cooperate with dictators as long as they were anti-communist.
In this respect, it can certainly be agreed that the Pax Americana was a
mixed blessing. Blessing.
But what would the alternative have looked like? Would a world order dominated by the Soviet Union have been
more desirable?
[Music] [Applause] [Music]
I can assure you that as long as there are any who join
with us, who wish this common effort to continue,
the United States will help bear its fair share of the burden in a great half
circle stretching from Berlin to Saigon. We will keep this free world free until
the day comes as Thomas Jefferson predicted it would that the disease of
liberty which is catching spreads throughout the world. [Music]
There was always this very strong sense of manifest destiny. We like to call things not wars but crusades.
Dwight D. Eisenhower entitled his history of World War II, the Great Crusade. President George W. Bush talked
about um going to war in Iraq as a crusade. And we have a very
uncomplicated sense of that historically because we believe we're going we're
fighting on the on the the right side, the good side.
[Music] In the name of these moral democratic
principles, the US granted itself the right to use force, but others weren't allowed. America's conviction of its
moral and thus military supremacy wasn't an outcome of the Cold War.
The belief has its roots in the early days of the US nation.
Every year in spring, thousands of volunteers gather in Virginia to reenact the beginning hours of the United
States. It's one of many such events taking place throughout the northeast of the country.
In 1775, New England was still a colony ruled by the British King George III.
He wanted to levy higher taxes on his subjects without granting them political rights. American revolutionaries took up
arms and fought against the British red coats to establish the American Republic.
The Declaration of Independence in 1776 stated that all were born equal, not
just Americans. This moral stance claimed universal validity.
The independence fighters were led by General George Washington, a former officer in the British Army. 2 years
after the start of hostilities, he received crucial support from the French army under General Lafayette.
In 1783, peace was finally concluded in Paris. Britain had to give up some of
its colonies in North America. I think the military has always played
an important I wouldn't say central but an important role in American identity because starting with the birth of this
nation it took a revolution and George
Washington our first commander who then becomes our first president to make that
happen and so I think you know birthed in conflict birthed in war we have
taken that principle of, you know, an a
an armed and ready republic uh to the current days.
[Music]
General Washington became the first president of the nent American republic. He decided to found a capital on the
Ptoic River, not far from his family plantations in Virginia where he'd grown up.
The capital took his name after his death and a huge obelisk, the Washington
Monument, was erected close to the White House.
Since then, 30 of the 45 presidents of the US have previously been officers in
the US military. However, the newly emerging republic distrusted its own soldiers.
Certainly, Congress in the waning years of the revolution and in the early years
of the republic uh was definitely opposed to having a standing army. Um
Washington would have preferred to have had some kind of standing army. One of the
reasons that the the Continental Army is so crippled during the revolution is the reluctance of the Continental Congress
to uh to fund it or to provide for enlistments that last for very long because of that fear of the political uh
the possible uh political fallout if a politically ambitious general, you know,
were able to use an army as a tool as a political tool. The tradition in the
United States was or American republicanism that there should be no standing army because then the state
could use it. Whoever's in power could use it against their own population. And they had seen old world monarchies,
especially the British Empire do that. So they said instead we will have armed citizens. So all able-bodied adult male
citizens should bear arms in defense in an emergency. whether it was fighting
against Native Americans or a foreign power, we would just call this militia, this armed militia, and they would
defend the country. That's what the Second Amendment is for. It's not for everyone to own a semi-automatic rifle
today and just shoot up everyone. Today, we have standing army. We have a huge US
military complex. We don't need an armed citizen militia anymore.
Instead of a standing army, the populace should defend itself and bear arms. The
result? Today, there are more firearms than people in the US.
On the 6th of January 2021, a mob of demonstrators, some of them armed,
stormed the capital parliament building in Washington.
[Applause]
The demonstrators were Donald Trump supporters who refused to recognize the election he'd lost against Joe Biden. On
this day, the US came dangerously close to civil war. [Applause]
If history happens the first time as tragedy and the next time is fast, we
already had that fast with the January 6th insurrection when for the first time a Confederate flag flew inside the
capital. Did not happen during the Civil War. It's the first time and that was shocking to me as a historian of the
Civil War. Um, I don't think we are on the verge of a civil war, but I do think that Trump's rhetoric uh and those of
his followers has really incited domestic political violence, right-wing
extremist domestic political violence, and that's not good for a democracy.
Mention of the American Civil War brings back memories of a very specific event.
Every year in early July, one of the country's largest military reenactments takes place in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Thousands of costumed volunteers recreate the Battle of Gettysburg from July 1st to 3rd, 1863.
It was the turning point of the Civil War when northern states gained the upper hand over southern states.
This battle saw the highest number of casualties in the entire war, claiming the lives of more than 7,000 soldiers.
People forget that that's how the civil war started because a group of southern
slaveholders, extremists, secessionists from the deep south states refused to
abide by the results of the elections of 1860, the presidential elections. So,
does this sound familiar to you today? The Civil War was the first industrial
war on earth, not only in the United States, but on earth. The use of the railroads, the first uh introduction of
ironclad or iron ships, all of this took place during the CI during the Civil
War. Um the focus on um on denying your your adversary industry and access to
resources. All of these things took place during the Civil War. So from a military perspective, it was absolutely
a defining moment. Uh the civil war in fact resulted in the death of 750,000
is the latest count around that much uh Americans in this war which is more
American fatalities than the first world war, the second world war, the Vietnam
and the Korean wars combined. And we are talking about America in the 19th
century when the population was much less. [Music]
It was a fratricidal war with Americans fighting Americans. After scoring
several victories, the southern states were forced to admit defeat after four years of fighting.
It was a war that changed America.
[Music] So this was like a catastrophe. Uh this
enormous raging civil war for 4 years that resulted in the death of so many
Americans. At the same time, as Lincoln put it in Gettysburg, the war also
consecrated American ideals. uh ideals of human equality, of natural rights, um
ideas of representative government, uh meaning you just if you don't like the
results of an election, you can't just take up and leave or uh take up arms
against the government, which is what the Confederacy did when Lincoln was elected president in 1860. There are
still um lingering uh legacies of the civil conflict in this country, the
civil war in this country. Um but I would say they've come a long way. And I would tell you the fact that we're
having this conversation right here and you reached out to me as a retired United States Army general is evidence
of the fact that while it hasn't always been a positive road, um we follow the
better angels of our nature and a lot of wonderful things have happened.
The US in the 19th century was a violent place. Although the Civil War claimed
the most victims, many other conflicts centered on the fledgling nation's chief goal, expansion.
In the early 19th century, the US controlled only a small portion of its current territory.
Settlers faced resistance from Native American tribes. Some areas of the North American
continent were French and Spanish colonies, while the British still controlled much of the North.
[Music]
The United States first war of expansion broke out at this border in 1812.
The American Navy achieved remarkable success against its British counterpart, but it also suffered crushing defeats on
the St. Lawrence River in particular.
The United States, among other reasons, wanted to drive the British away from its border and increase its territory
through the annexation of Canada. Britain, on the other hand, wanted to
protect its lucrative maritime interests at any cost.
In 1814, the British military raised Washington, the symbol of American independence, to the ground. A peace
treaty was signed that same year in which the waring parties agreed to restore the pre-war status quo.
At the beginning, the US was kind of fighting for its own survival. I mean, you think about the War of 1812. The US
is really fighting to remain a country, fighting to remain safe. Um, and I think
we've always sort of carried that idea with us that we're we're the good guys
that we're fighting these for the for the right reasons. This becomes the new story US starts telling about itself,
which is that we are now not just a nation in the United States, in America,
but a nation that is global, that is powerful, uh, that is a rival to all of
the other great empires. The Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence
River marked the border between America and the British Empire. Canada didn't gain full sovereignty until 1982.
But the founding fathers of the US dreamed that one day the territory would come into their fold. The first US
Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, even included an invitation to Canada to join the Union
and become the 15th state. As the northern boundary ruled out
expansion in this direction, border war shifted to the west and south. Some territorial gains were made through
negotiations with other colonial powers in which indigenous Americans did not take part. With the Louisiana purchased
from France, the US doubled in size. Florida was next, acquired in talks with the Spanish. Then there was the Treaty
for the Oregon territory, where a compromise was found with the British. But the entire southwest was under the
control of Mexico which had declared its independence from Spain in 1821.
[Music] [Applause] [Music]
The conquest of the west underwent one of its most famous phases here in Texas in San Antonio.
Yeah. So I am This is the location of the Alamo,
one of the key military tourism destinations in the United States.
Several Hollywood films depict the heroism of Texan settlers as they clashed with the Mexican army here.
Around 200 Texan rebels battled Mexican troops for 10 days before they were all killed.
Among them, the famous trapper Davy Crockett.
This battle still resonate today when you think about the battle of the Alamo. Why is it important in world history?
Other than the fact that nations are born, nations are defeated. Well, every
country has their own Alamo. They have their own battle in which a group of men
will stand and fight for overwhelming odds.
The legend fails to mention that the settlers primary aim was to reintroduce slavery which had been abolished in
Mexico. Their defeat at the Alamo also led to a large-scale mobilization and swift ensuing battles that ended Mexican
control of the province of Texas which officially became a US state around a
decade later. You know, it is a tragedy how popular culture and myths uh about
American exceptionalism that we don't do bad things that the United States always does the good thing. And what's worse
about the Mexican War, it came after the annexation of Texas. Uh and that also
was motivated by very bad aims. It was not to spread liberty, but actually to
spread slavery. So it was a real land grab by a a powerful country against a
smaller country going against international uh rules and international law you could say. Um there were also
warfare against Indian nations against native nations um that in the middle of
the 19th century became really brutal. You would understand them as wars of
imperialism because they did not respect any rules of warfare.
[Music] The city of San Antonio rested from the
Mexicans at such great human cost now has a population of 1.5 million. It's
also home to military bases with close to 100,000 military personnel.
That military presence is visible everywhere. The best hospital in town is run by the military. So is the best high
school and most certainly the best barber shop, too.
[Music] These days, San Antonio also goes by the name of military city. It exemplifies
the importance of the military in the greater picture of the United States and exists as a monument to the conquest of
the West. Today, the border between Texas and Mexico is fortified with a wall
undergoing continuous expansion.
[Music] To justify their nation's expansion project in the mid-9th century, United
States media and politicians invented the concept of manifest destiny.
Fill the earth and subdue it, says the book of Genesis. The new America, using religion as its
justification, saw itself on a divine mission to conquer the vast tracks of
land towards the Pacific. [Music]
In Montana, railroad lines built during the pioneering era still run through
vast open landscapes. One of the last wars for a unified US
territory took place here. [Music]
In June 1876, Lieutenant Colonel Kuster squared up to a force of Sue Cheyenne
and Arapa warriors led by Sitting Bull, chief of the Lakota Sue. The US had
defeated the Spanish, English, French, and Mexicans, but still faced resistance by several hundred,000 Native Americans.
Kuster took it upon himself to attack the camp because in his mind he couldn't
be defeated. This is a man that's proven himself in battle. So he had them right right in his sights and he wasn't going
to let him slip out. He was a seasoned Indian fighter too. He knew the tactics of natives. Um but he overestimated his
force. [Applause] [Music]
The Native Americans emerged victorious. Kuster and the last remaining troops of the seventh cavalry regiment were killed
in the valley of the little big horn.
Fighting and screaming. Kuster's grave is in a national cemetery now in the middle of a Native American
reservation where people also gather every year to reenact this key chapter in US military history.
the goldenhaired white man became the first I mean
uh military hero out here in the west for dying and losing a battle.
Then he was glorified. Kuster um gave his life for American
expansion. He messed up. But the consequence is
when Kuster gets defeated, the government finally puts all of its
power into this. And just one little battle changed the Indian wars and ended it. They ended it
quickly. I mean, they chased everybody down. And that was the battle actually
kind of set the precedent of how they were going to treat Indians after that. You're not going to embarrass us. There
definitely was intentional genocide
on the part of the US military, especially in the later wars, the later
encounters, but certainly at the beginning as well. If you look at look
at it the the totality of the history when it comes to what is perceived of as
an enemy of the United States, war is always tried first.
[Music]
[Music]
Despite their victory, the indigenous people were forced to live on reservations. And despite his defeat,
Kuster was fitted as an American hero. The US Army had already recognized the
importance of writing a national epic where Native Americans would never play a leading role.
[Music] [Applause] Every movie we watch, there's always
there always has to be a great white hero. And Kuster was it. And that's kind of where that myth grew.
Um I don't know if you've watched Dances with Bols. Yeah. Kevin Cosner.
Who's the hero? Kevin Cosner and his white
wife. White Indian wife that was taken in. Never fixed her hair. looked I mean
just looks silly, you know.
The long and bloody American Indian Wars ended in 1890.
The indigenous people no longer offered any resistance. 90% of their population were dead.
[Music] around the end of the 19th century, we
closed the frontier. The American West is settled. Um, we've conquered the the
continent, and there's a very strong sort of confusion about what to do next.
Now is the moment when we actually start to dominate not only the American continent, but the Western Hemisphere,
um, and even out into the Pacific, uh, and around the world. and we start going
after the nations that stand in the way of that. So, our great rival in the
Caribbean is the Spanish Empire and we go to war with Spain in 1898. Uh, and
then we begin to push out into the Pacific. [Music]
A new chapter of American imperialism had begun. The SpanishAmerican War led to the US
occupation of the Philippines 10,000 km from home.
In the late 19th century, the US controlled a vast part of North America.
It went to war against Spain to conquer the island of Cuba off the coast of Florida. The Philippines was also a
Spanish colony at the time. Vice Admiral George Dwey of the US Navy
struck upon the idea of attacking the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay to cut the supply of reinforcements to Cuba.
The attack was a complete success and sunk the enemy fleet.
This 1898 event gave history an unexpected twist.
Suddenly the then US President William McKinley had achieved a military and
colonial victory on the other side of the world.
So McKinley suddenly finds that he's the owner of an archipelago that he actually
apparently has to look on the globe in the Oval Office to even locate. He
doesn't know where the Philippines is. Um, and so he has to decide what to do
with it. And when he decides that the US is going to enex it, he discovers to his
shock that the Filipinos aren't really going to cooperate with that. They're not excited about being
part of the US being a colony. They want their independence. Um, and so the US gets sort of sucked into a war that it's
it's perfectly willing to fight, but it's not something that they were expecting to do when they started
fighting over Cuba.
Washington waged a brutal war to gain control of the Philippines and came up against insurgent tactics it would
encounter frequently as time went on. [Music]
But the US military was battleh hardened and triumphed both here and in Cuba where it also drove the Spanish out. Not
forgetting Puerto Rico, an island also brought under American control at this
time. President McKinley now stood at the helm of a new US colonial empire. It
was the beginning of an American golden age. So the whole history of American
imperialism begins there with the colonization of the Philippines, the
annexation of Hawaii uh because of business interests, um the ability to
interfere in Cuban affairs uh on the pretext of protecting national strategic and economic interests. These are all
wars for empire, formal and informal. And you can trace the rise of American
empire and America's rise as a global imperial power to these wars.
For a long time, the imperialistic presidency of William McKinley faded from the forefront of American
discourse. He had waged war for US profit and prosperity, forgetting the ideals of the
founding fathers. Under Barack Obama, Mount McKinley in
Alaska was renamed Denali, its original native designation.
But in early 2025, the ideals of this president and ardent expansionist were
rehabilitated. We will restore the name of a great president, William McKinley,
to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs.
President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent.
He was a natural businessman and gave Teddy Roosevelt the money for many of the great things he did
for around half a century. The Philippines existed as a US colony in Asia.
The US granted Manila independence in 1946 and allowed the Marcos family to
establish a dictatorship. The island nation then became an outpost
for US military operations in the Pacific. The most fascinating part of this story
about the US and the Philippines is how friendly the relationship has been throughout
this period. Uh when the Japanese occupied the Philippines, rather than greeting them with open arms as
liberators, the Filipinos started a massive um violent gorilla campaign of
resistance against the Japanese, waiting for the Americans to come back. Uh and
then in the post-war era, the Philippines has been perhaps the US's
most consistent ally um since the end of World War II.
This Philippine ally now faces daily provocations from China. Clashes between
Chinese and Philippine boats in maritime regions claimed by both nations are
filmed by officers on board and published to send a political message.
It's a situation that could escalate at any time.
It's very difficult for any rational Filipino who loves his country
to tolerate Chinese bullying right in our backyard.
Uh but on the other hand, we know the cost of running to the United States
for for military support. The US will not give us military support with
without anything in exchange. The US has its own
agenda.
[Music] In Subi Bay, people now await the return of the US Navy.
The US military plans to come back here and set up a base across the sea from China.
America has a history with this bay. It was one of the nation's main bases during the Vietnam War.
[Music]
In Washington, DC, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is probably the most inconspicuous war memorial in the US. A
long, dark scar in the ground.
[Music] It bears the names of 58,000 US soldiers
who died in battle in the Vietnamese jungle.
It's thought as many as 3.4 million people died in the Vietnam War on both
sides. from World War II until Vietnam
was a there was a very uncomplicated sense in the United States that we were
doing the right thing, that we were fighting for the right side, that when we went into other countries, we were
welcomed as liberators or saviors from communism.
Vietnam made that much more complicated. Vietnam was so messy and so ugly both in
Southeast Asia and at home in the United States that coming out of it there was a very strong sense in the United States
that wait a minute this is much more ambivalent ambiguous than we thought.
This is we're not necessarily the good guys. By the time we get to the Vietnam
War, the country is divided. And this was a war where people were actually
seeing the events of the conflict in Vietnam on their television at home.
[Music] While World War II is recreated for the
movie screen, Vietnam was the first war to be shown on TV.
It was a nightly guest in American living rooms across the nation. San Antonio reserve. Howard, what's your
job here in Vietnam? I'm the supply of thousands of demonstrators.
This triggered a mass cultural counter movement. For the first time, young people in America refused to be drafted
into the military and wear a uniform representing values they couldn't comprehend. in the dayong disturbance.
My fellow Americans, not long ago, I received a letter from a
woman in the Midwest. She wrote, "Dear Mr. President,
in my humble way, I am writing to you about the crisis in Vietnam.
I have a son who is now in Vietnam. My husband served in World War II.
Our country was at war. But now this time it's just something
that I don't understand why.
This spelled total upheaval for the military. The end of conscription and
the transition to a professional military. Precisely what the country's founding
fathers had feared. The link between the military, politics,
and US society have been broken.
War movie production companies changed their screenplays. The US military often
was no longer the hero. His army no longer exemplary.
Instead, individuals became the focus of the story, even if they opposed military
institutions.
[Music] The evacuation of surviving American troops and their South Vietnamese allies
took place on the 30th of April, 1975.
The first lesson that I learned is you shouldn't get into something without
simultaneously knowing how you're going to get out. The second lesson and in Vietnam to have
American soldiers carrying weapons where Vietnamese could carry weapons was
inappropriate. The US is slow to learn lessons.
Many of our friends learn from the history. We seem to keep repeating it
over and over. [Music]
Richard Armmitage served in Vietnam before holding key positions in several Republican administrations, particularly
after 9/11 and during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He worked closely
together with President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Coen Powell.
Both of these US military interventions were described as endless wars,
impossible to win and difficult to end. It seemed the nation really hadn't
learned from past mistakes. To justify its invasion of Iraq, Washington tried to convince the UN that
Saddam Hussein was building weapons of mass destruction, a claim based on manipulated
intelligence. Sodom Hussein already possesses two out of the three key
components needed to build a nuclear bomb. He has a cadray of nuclear scientists with the expertise and he has
a bomb design. We know but that didn't prevent the US going to
war. all they possibly can to ensure we invaded Iraq. More than 4,000
Americans, a good number of coalition soldiers, a known number of Iraqi
civilians all died. That's the consequence
today. You believe it was a mistake to go there? I surely do.
The outcome is well known. After the toppling of Saddam Hussein, the war became a nightmare.
The nation unraveled into a chaos that produced the Islamic State and its global wave of terror. At the same time,
Iran expanded its influence, creating a situation that was the opposite of America's original goal.
The even more protracted and costly war in Afghanistan also ended in failure and
with the same humiliating images as in Saigon in 1975.
We can acknowledge that Iraq wasn't great for us and Afghanistan wasn't great for us. Vietnam wasn't great for
us. uh in fact the last set of wars were not great for us. Um so how do you
determine good versus evil in in that instance? And and the answer isn't so clear.
[Music]
[Music]
Just a few months after the de to debacle in Afghanistan, on the 24th of February 2022, Vladimir Putin launched
Russia's invasion of Ukraine. [Music]
Moscow's war of aggression against Ukraine resembles the classic war scenario. Armies fighting each other on
the battlefield. Whereas former President Joe Biden
pledged US support for Ukraine, the Trump government's position isn't so clear.
At one point, the administration was considering making concessions to Putin.
To the horror of Europeans given Russia's threats.
[Music]
[Music] The credibility of US alliances is at stake. America's president at the time,
Joe Biden, was willing to continue supporting Ukraine, but the United States was about to change its approach.
So, thank you so much for this help. We really counted on it. You spend this
money for our lives and I think that we save the the lives
for for Europe and for for all the world.
German society had settled into a security policy fantasy world and has
now been brutally awakened. At the same time, we're seeing that the country is
no longer able to safeguard its own security on its own
and that we remain dependent on the military protection of the US.
conventional. This means both the conventional forces of the American armed forces and the
nuclear shield. shield and if the US and NATO as a whole
uh don't succeed in repulsing this act of unprovoked aggression by Russia it
will have a profound effect in capitals like Beijing uh that will say look if the Americans won't defend a country in
Eastern Europe against an attack who thinks they're going to stand to help Taiwan
we are still the most important country in the world but we also have to accept
that that power is diminished because others are coming up and um the world
doesn't want a unipolar power.
[Laughter]
One of the main factors affecting the credibility of US deterrence policy could be that a new president is elected
in Washington every four years. [Applause]
[Music] [Applause] [Music]
North Korea's Kim Jong-un, Xiinping of China, and Vladimir Putin of Russia are
able to develop their strategies over the long term. Please raise your right hand and repeat
after me. I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear. Hi, Donald John Trump.
In the US, a change of course is possible after every inauguration. So help me God. So help me God.
Congratulations, Mr. President.
public. Two distinct mindsets emerged fairly quickly. On the one hand, that the US should stay at home, keep out of
foreign affairs, and concentrate on its mission of creating a moral republic for itself.
According to the other viewpoint, the US should be present and active in the world for moral reasons. Both mindsets
still exist to this day, which is evident from the almost constant pendulum swing in US foreign policym.
I think that there is a very strong strain of Americans that is back to this
kind of preworld war interworld war period where Americans are saying we're
kind of done over there. We've paid our dues. Can't other people take responsibility?
[Music] Glory, glory, hallelujah.
Donald Trump seems to be pursuing a third way, much like President McKinley did over 100 years ago.
His primary concern, American supremacy.
[Applause]
As commanderin-chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions. And
that is exactly what I am going to do. We will do it at a level that nobody's
ever seen before. Our armed forces will be freed to focus on
their sole mission, defeating America's enemies. We will again build the
strongest military the world has ever seen. We will measure our success not
only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end. And perhaps most
importantly, the wars we never get into. [Music]
In the view of the current administration, this supremacy serves exclusively
American interests, particularly economic ones.
To achieve it, the Trump administration wants to replace the old world order with an all new system of American
power. Senator Rubio, the post-war global order
is not just obsolete. It is now a weapon being used against us. And all this has led to a moment in
which we must now confront the single greatest risk of geopolitical instability and of generational global
crisis in the lifetime of anyone alive and in this room today.
Eight decades later, we are once again called to create a free world out of the chaos.
We will be a nation like no other, full of compassion, courage, and exceptionalism.
Our power will stop all wars and bring a new spirit of unity to a world that has
been angry, violent, and totally unpredictable. America will be respected
again and admired again, including by people of religion, faith, and goodwill.
We will be prosperous. We will be proud. We will be strong. And we will win like
never before. Order.
The 45th and 47th US president himself looks back on an uneasy history with the
military. He didn't serve in the Vietnam War and often clashed with veterans and
highranking US military representatives. [Applause]
And yet once again, he's the most unpredictable commanderin-chief of the world's largest army.
An incredibly powerful leader of professional soldiers who are at his beck and call.
[Music] A commander who can decide the world's
future. [Music]
One of the things which I teach my students about is the United States has
a legal mechanism to go to war. It's in the constitution. It's Congress that declares it. The president typically the
executive will ask Congress to declare war. And the last time that occurred was in 1941.
All of the conflicts we've been involved with since were
outcomes of what the executive wanted to do for the interest of the United States.
Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please? The ceremony that you are about to
witness is the changing of the guard. In keeping with the dignity of this
ceremony, it is requested that everyone remain silent and standing.
Washington is once again eyeing expansion options such as Canada, Greenland, and Panama. After 80 years of
the PAC's Americana, old alliances with the Europeans are being tested and there are challenges to the supremacy of the
United States and the security of its allies. In Europe by Russia, in Asia by
China, will the US once again resort to war to reassert its power? If it does,
any soldiers who give their lives for the stars and stripes will be buried here at the Arlington National Cemetery
directly above the Pentagon.
[Music]
[Applause]
Heat. Heat. [Music]
something
[Music]
else.
====
====
No comments:
Post a Comment