American History

American History

Question: How did the development of atomic weapons affect military theory in the years immediately after World War II?

The further development of nuclear weapons led to the hydrogen bomb. The first ignition of a hydrogen bomb, code-named Ivy Mike was on 31 October / 1 November 1952 by the United States in the Eniwetok Atoll, releasing energy of 10.4 megatons of TNT equivalent. On 12 August 1953, the Soviet Union fired its first hydrogen bomb. In the nuclear test site of Semipalatinsk USSR brought the first portable H-bomb on 22 November 1955 explosion. The U.S. was followed on 21 May 1956 by the Pacific island of Namu dropped from an airplane bomb. 1961 tested the then Soviet Union on the island of Novaya Zemlya , the Tsar Bomba , the largest ever with 57 MT nuclear weapon detonated .

The invention of nuclear weapons sparked an unprecedented arms race - especially between the U.S. and the Soviet Union - from making it the biggest threat to the days of the Cold War. The development of the atomic bomb is now recognized as the darkest chapter in the art and science history considered. The atomic bomb is the epitome of the "curse of the art" has become. Nuclear weapons was also attributed this in turn has an inhibitory effect, which is precisely the threat of total annihilation of mankind, the “balance of terror has kept "and thus avoided a direct confrontation.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, experts doubt the military purpose of nuclear weapons, as each target can be destroyed with conventional weapons on the scale required. The greatest threat of nuclear weapons is therefore a use by terrorists considered, because they could use in nuclear weapons with little effort, great damage, while nuclear weapons in the fight against terrorism are totally unsuitable. The development of such small nuclear weapons will be assessed by experts as a threat because their use would attract little attention. Instead of destroyed cities and thousands of dead would see the world public only a small crater. As a consequence, would reduce the threshold for nuclear weapons use and relatively inexpensive in this way - lead to wars - without losing our own soldiers, and without overly negative image. Even the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty would thus be jeopardized, which could have unpredictable consequences for the sequence (abolition treaty).

Question: What were the key organizational and strategic problems of the US Army in the years immediately after the Vietnam War?

During the year 1966, the United States increased its troop strength in South Vietnam to 400,000 soldiers. The mass preacher Billy Graham held troop visits and major events, so-called Crusades (English: "Crusades") for Christmas 1966 and in subsequent years. General Westmoreland tried a "wear" strategy to defeat the National Liberation Front. This should be the guerrillas initially located and then destroyed by massive artillery use (Search and Destroy). The occupied territory was then occupied by the ARVN. Since the objective was to weaken the ...