Ac Brown
When The U.S. decides to get
involved in a war, the government first deliberates if we have a moral imperative
to act or if our involvement will benefit our country in some way in the long
run. U.S. military engagements can be defined by the desire for America to
support other countries to sustain the government that the people of that
country want. America desires to insure the freedom of self government to
different countries because we value that ability so much in our own country. American
government desires to assist other countries in need. Our government also looks
for a moral or more important justification before deciding to enter a war,
looking for our involvement in a war to benefit our own country as well as the
countries we assist.
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| U.S. Troop Deployments by Country |
The Korean War is an example of
America taking action in another country to protect the people from being taken
over by a government that did not agree with our own. It was the first struggle
when anticommunist forces tried to stop the spread of communist control. The
U.S., with Truman as the president at the time, did not condone communists
planting their power in yet another country. "If
we don't put up a fight now," Truman worried; there was "no telling
what they'll do." Truman showed true concern, not only for Korea
internally, but for the possibility that the Soviet Union and China were going to try to expand communism throughout Asia. The
U.S. took this opportunity to assist South Korea, not only for their sake, but
for the sake that other countries might not soon give into or be taken over by
communist control. America believed that if South Korea was left to its own
defense and then failed, that no other smaller country would resist communist
invasion and control. That belief came with the worry that communist leaders
might be confident in overriding nations that are closer to the U.S. In the
attempt to prevent any of these events from happening, the U.S. got involved in
the Korean War.
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| The Korean Conflict |
The Vietnam War is another war
fought in the struggle to keep out communist rule. North Vietnam invaded South
Vietnam to impose communist rule. Once again the U.S. reached out to support a
noncommunist benefit. The U.S. assumed the job of training the armed forces of
the newly formed noncommunist Republic of Vietnam. But as the fight to defend
democracy against the internal forces of communism grew, the U.S. became more
involved in the war against communists. The great efforts by the U.S. and our
troops continued to be matched by the determination of the North Vietnamese to
bring their country together under communist control. In 1973, the American
troops were taken out of the war, leaving South Vietnam against the North
Vietnamese that were steadily moving in. The South’s independence was short
lived after U.S. troops left. The communists in the North finally took over the
South in 1975. This war is an example of the U.S. fighting against the
communists but not succeeding for the country that they were fighting for. It
was in the U.S.’s best interest to leave this war; however, it only shows that
with the help of American troops, other countries have a better fighting chance
to self govern. This also shows why America can better justify getting involved
in a war, if their assistance will possibly bring freedom to another country.
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| American Deepening Involvement in Vietnam |
The U.S. got involved in Grenada in
1983 for the similar reasons as the Korean and Vietnam Wars. However, it did
differ slightly. Under Ronald Reagan, our president at the time, our troops
invaded the Caribbean island to overthrow its socialist government. This time,
instead of fighting to prevent the establishment of unwanted governments, the
U.S. was fighting against and desired to get rid of a government that was
already in control in that country. Our troops were stationed in Lebanon in
1982 for a completely different reason than before. The U.S. troops served an interposition force in Lebanon. America assisted the Lebanese government, in its
fragile state, to maintain their own power and control in their politically
volatile country. In this instance, U.S. got involved in another country to help
them preserve the government that they had, when and if it was threatened. In
the cases of Panama
in 1989 and the Gulf War in 1991, the U.S. overthrew dictators that were ruling
unfairly over countries.
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| U.S. Troops in Gulf War |
Whether we have to push out a dictator or prevent the
establishment of corrupt governing, the U.S. is concerned with the well being
of other countries and maintaining a fair government for them. The U.S.
thoroughly contemplates a justification to entering a war, or thinks about if
the overall importance of supporting another country is worth it for our own
country. The main reasons that America gets involved in wars is when another
country experiences threats to their governments well being.
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| U.S. Troop Deployment by Region and Decade |
- Chronology of U.S. Military Involvements This site helped me get started on my research. It gave a chronology of American military involvements from 1960-1999 with a simple description of each war.
- U.S. enters Korean War This site gave me a better knowledge of why the U.S. got involved in the Korean war. It also gave me in sites about what president Truman had to say about the war and why he thought it was important for the U.S. to take action.
- The Korean War This site furthered my understanding about the U.S. involvement in the Korean War. It also helped me find Americas justification on entering the war.
- U.S. Campaigns of the Vietnam War This site gave me information on the reasons the the U.S. got involved in the Vietnam War.
- U.S. Global Troop Deployments This site gave me multiple pictures of graphs of U.S. troop deployments in different countries and regions of the world. These graphs helped me know where U.S. troops had spent a lot of time fighting.
- Lebanon 1982 This site gave me information on the reasons that the U.S. troops stationed in Lebanon.
