The United States has arguably been a nation which has changed the world multiple times since its foundation when they declared their independence from Britain in 1776. After the 18th century the US has been involved in several conflicts, not just within the country, but also in foreign lands. And today, America is still a powerhouse in both military and economically. And lately, USA has been stamped as aggressor and as an egoist country only caring for themselves.
The Cold War had set its toll on the free world, even though the USSR and US were never directly at war, both sides lost countless men and material goods indirectly fighting each other in foreign lands. After the Second World War the USSR was the new bad dog down the street, and USA sough to stop this pest from expanding further than Eastern-Europe and into Asia. In the 1950s it was important for America to show its strength against communism and the soviets that they had the power to fight back, so they got the UN to ratify a war against North Korea when South-Korea was attacked.
This resulted in an American led war against the North Koreans which later on ended up in standstill on both parts. America was the big factor in helping defending the south, and to what purpose? South Korea was at this time very un-industrialized, and they had no rich mineral resources to pay America later, and to this day South Korea hasn’t paid a dime to the US for the war effort. This shows us that America wasn’t helping for the cause of money or recourses, but rather to help the South Koreans stop the invading North Koreans.
Although America didn’t get any war loot, they shook the communist regimes showing that they are ready for war, which is a political plot, and America gained a lot of ground on that field in this short-lived war. When the soviets established a foothold in Cuba by placing nuclear warheads there the free world was shocked, especially the American populace. The fact that Russia could launch an ICBM (inter-continental ballistic missile) to strike America without them having any sort of retaliation readily available put fear into America and other capitalist countries in the south.
Russia wouldn’t have launched the missiles unless they came under ttack from America, which again is highly unlikely as no one had the guts to start it and be labelled as world destroyer. The deployment of said missiles is purely a political move again, to show America that the USSR is not to be trifled with. This is very sad part, actually, even though they were removed. This gave the US an incentive to actually engage in other wars. This is later shown by the justification of many wars and reforms inside the country, also a whole plethora of new rules which the American society agreed to since they were still scared by the ongoing threat.
Another interesting point is the Vietnam War which America participated in, they said they had the law under their belt as their attack was justified by the incursion of communism. America deployed over 60. 000 soldiers to fight against communism in this foreign land for no other purpose than to destroy communism, which is shown by the fact that when they later left the country was in a poor condition, and the Americans retreated without caring for the local South-Vietnam inhabitants.
This was the first “loss” for the US, but the Vietnam had significant help from the USSR in form of guns, gunships and top modern jet fighters (which outclassed the American jet fighters), and this is just USSR doing the exact same thing as America- strengthening their political ties. The Americans did also help Afghanistan when Russia invaded, they didn’t send troops as that would mean war, but instead sent them free of charge weapons and armaments.
America wasn’t alone in seeing themselves as protector of the free world, as the soviets also had an agenda that communism should be spread to every country on the globe. It’s wrong to accuse the USA of being top dog since they are merely defending against the “communist plague”, just like the USSR is defending from the “Imperialist pigs”. America wanted to do the same in Vietnam as in Korea, to free the people, but the overwhelming force of the US army couldn’t stand up to the job to endless Vietcong guerrilla soldiers in Vietnam.
America didn’t show their intent by just flexing their muscles in foreign wars, but they also deployed huge numbers of troops and built up huge military installations thru ought the free world during the cold war. Still standing today the US has troops and bases in Norway, Germany, Britain, Japan, South Korea, The Philippines, and other various islands in the Pacific still, even though the USSR was eventually defeated when the cold war ended. Why is that? This gives us a clear definition of the political play in progress, as they still see Russia (and China) to be warmongers.
America expresses this by influencing their friends to station troops in their countries, and maintaining a huge fleet stationed near Chinese waters at all times even today. It’s irrational to say America did as they did in the cold war for economical reasons, as fighting a war and maintaining such a large army is not cheap. The imperialist days are also over which basically says that countries are not land grabbing anymore like they did before the “modern society of reason”. America did not conquer any country, nor did it occupy or attack any wealthy country that would benefit themselves financially or with resources.
This is a fine example of America actually caring for the world, even though they acted in political purposes – which actually make sense since politicians are in fact running most countries (even Norway! ).
Most countries will act as their leader says, and the leaders are thinking politics when they make decisions for their country. Many say America acted in for their own good when they policed the world, although true it is only partially true. It was important to knock the USSR back, so they wouldn’t dare attack and at the same time the US actually improved the way of life for many people.
America is guilty of pursuing political interests over the freedom for some, but the USSR did just the same thing, so it was a balance to keep both powers in check. There is not one country in the world that will sacrifice itself without pursuing their own interests, and America acted the way they thought best. America didn’t gain any ground, other than political ground, and nor did they get any financial services from the countries they helped. In effect, America did help the free world during the cold war, but they only did so because it benefitted their lifestyle and politics.