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COMMENTARY: The Changing Face of Strategy
Friday, October 18, 2002
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

U.S. service members found themselves engaged in "conflicts other than war," "peacekeeping operations" and "humanitarian missions." They deployed from their home stations more after the Cold War than during it. At the same time, rogue states like Iraq, Iran, Libya, North Korea and Syria took note of the changed circumstances in the world as saw them as an opportunity to increase their militaries and their influence.

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
On July 16, 1945, the meaning of the word "defense" changed in a New Mexico desert. That was when Allied scientists detonated an atomic bomb that rocked nearby Alamogordo with the strength of more than 10,000 tons of TNT.

The scientists had had no real idea what to expect, but as they watched a rising mushroom cloud, they knew the weapon had instantly changed the whole idea of war and survival.

Less than a month later, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and killed more than 200,000 people. Japan, until then ready for a last-ditch suicide effort against the Allies, surrendered. One bomber could destroy a city and all its inhabitants -- and America had thousands of bombers.

Following the war, the Soviet Union, a U.S. ally against the Axis Powers, became the main enemy. The communist dictatorship's avowed goal was to "bury" capitalism. The flags of triumph frayed as the West and the USSR squared off.

The Berlin Airlift of 1948 was the first confrontation between the superpowers. It was an illustration of how warfare had changed, because the Soviet blockade of West Berlin did not escalate to war. The consequences of such a war were too horrific.

The Soviets put their research and espionage apparatuses into high gear and in 1949 had also developed nuclear weapons. The Cold War that followed the next 40 years became based on strategies like "containment" and "mutually assured destruction."
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2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

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