The Usa's Role In The Civil War

The Civil War was the most bloody war in American history, with the most American deaths of any conflict. It occurred when the southern states of the United States collectively succeeded from the Union, and formed a confederacy. These states seceded because they felt that their state rights, granted to them by the constitution, were being infringed upon. With newly invented weaponry and poor medical knowledge, the death rate of those involved in the war was extremely high. This pattern of advancing technology causing more deaths has been prevalent through all of time. However, with the introduction of nuclear weapons, and thus the total annihilation of the world, this precedent has hit its limit.
World War One, or “The Great War,” was one
While the United States played a major role in the western front of Europe, its main focus was the Pacific campaign. This conflict with Japan was one that struck fear into many Americans. The Japanese were notorious for their fierce, and sometimes brutal, fighting. One tactic of the Japanese was the use of Kamikaze attacks, in which the noses of airplanes would be replaced with explosive payloads and flown into battleships (Kamikaze Attacks). Despite these attacks, the United States managed to repel the Japanese, and eventually were prepared to invade Japan’s mainland. This action however, would result in the deaths of many Americans and Japanese.
The need to prevent the invasion of Japan was the justification of the use of nuclear warfare. The United States dropped two nuclear bombs, Fat Man and Little Boy, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Little Boy, a uranium based bomb, killed an estimated 237000 in Hiroshima. However, Fat Man only killed an estimated 80000, a significantly less number due to the lack of density in Nagasaki. The bombs together killed an estimated 317000 people, both directly with the explosion and with the lasting radiation
The U.S.S.R. had initially intended to avoid affairs with Vietnam, and allowed China to remain its main ally and provider of aid. This changed however, when the United States moved to protect South Vietnam against the communist North Vietnam. The U.S.S.R. and the United States used this conflict as a way to show the strength of their countries, without directly fighting each other. Both the U.S.S.R. and the United States offered military support through arms, training, and troops to their side (Llewellyn). This type of cold war proxy war wa repeated in 1979, when the U.S.S.R. had occupied Afghanistan in order to counter the United States’s presence in Pakistan. The United States supplied arms and funds to the rebel group called the “Mujahadeen,” in order to combat the Soviets indirectly