COST OF VICTORY FROM HISTORY

The cost of victory, American victory, is ongoing.

And it should be. Here’s why:

After finishing the assigned reading list for an American History degree I noticed repeated behavior:

The losers get paid.

Why, you ask? Here’s why:

 

After the WWII defeat of Germany and Japan, the warring nations were beaten down and vulnerable to the next wave of disasters.

The USSR staked their claim in every country they rolled over on the way to Berlin.

They claimed them all, and then some.

 

The Iron Curtain formed the imaginary boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991.

 

That’s the sweet talk of history, ‘imaginary boundary.’

My Hungarian buddy said he escaped from Hungry in the early 70’s by navigating fence wire and mine fields. (Hey Gedi)

I didn’t ask if they were imaginary.

The so-called imaginary boundary was set to move further west unless something big happened.

 

When World War II ended in 1945, Europe lay in ruins: its cities were shattered; its economies were devastated; its people faced famine.

In the two years after the war, the Soviet Union’s control of Eastern Europe and the vulnerability of Western European countries to Soviet expansionism heightened the sense of crisis.

On December 19, 1947, President Harry Truman sent Congress a message that followed Marshall’s ideas to provide economic aid to Europe. Congress overwhelmingly passed the Economic Cooperation Act of 1948, and on April 3, 1948, President Truman signed the act that became known as the Marshall Plan.

Over the next four years, Congress appropriated $13.3 billion for European recovery. This aid provided much needed capital and materials that enabled Europeans to rebuild the continent’s economy.

 

So, America helped Europe recover after WWII, while also keeping a close watch on the greatest ethnic cleansing nation in history.

Every new atrocity stands on its own, but WWII Germany is in its own league for atrocities, which is to take nothing away from Russia under Stalin.

Should every American know that the U.S. occupied Germany then, and still do today?

 

More than forty U.S. military bases span the continent, from northwestern Greenland to Turkey’s border with Russia.

The bulk of bases are concentrated in central Europe—primarily in Germany, Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom.

 

Japan After WWII

Like Germany during WWII, Japan did horrible things.

Do they need supervision this far down the line?

From all indictors, yes.

With a history that includes going hog wild on their neighbors, Germany and Japan hold U.S. troops in the highest number.

But, haven’t things calmed down enough since 1945?

No more holocaust, no more rapes of Nanking, of Manila, and Singapore.

The long shadow of history cast by inhumane acts is still present.

If the bad thing is to be nipped in the bud, you have to start as soon as possible.

Who knows what an aggressor nation will do unchecked?

We know.

It’s not a mystery.

You never know when a country may go off the rails and line up behind a thin-skinned, nut-case leader, one who instructs his ‘people’ to ransack the order of normal operations, get as much press as possible to spread their ignorant message, and leave a stream, growing into a river, of shit in their wake.

 

The Cost Of Victory

The U.S. has consistently worked to support the losers in wars against it, including Germany, Japan, and South Korea.

Even Vietnam:

 

One measure of the pace of the normalization of bilateral economic relations is the increase in trade flows, which rose from about $200 million in 1994 to over $1 billion in 2000, to nearly $4.5 billion in 2003. The United States is now Vietnam’s largest trading partner.

 

On the list of nations receiving the most U.S. aid, Afghanistan comes in at #9, Iraq at #26.

Shocking? Yes.

Reading history is an enlightening experience.

From the looks of things, there is one certainty: keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

To leaders less versed in making a peaceful world, giving aid to hotspots is a waste of money.

No aid leaves the door open for others when devastated nations seek help, like food.

America is the standard when someone is looking for the standard of giving.

It’s not a question of what we get back, it’s a question of volatility.

Either help a nation in need feed its people, or get ready to send the guns.

After the American Civil War, life was worse in the South.

 

The southern economy collapsed after the war.

There was widespread destruction of lands, communities were wiped out, and the entire social system was uprooted.

Without slaves, landowners resorted to sharecropping, a system that did not encourage soil conservation or implementation of new crops.

The South fell into widespread poverty, a situation that lasted for generations.

 

As you go about your day, do it with a sense of history.

I hope this post helps.

If not, leave a comment and let me know, I’ve got more.

It will all be on the history test.