Cold War Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cold War Politics - Essay Example Calling war a ‘savage human behavior’ the general reiterates the importance of establishing an effective security policy; a term that obviously cannot be used interchangeably with a ‘war policy’. It should be noted that a security policy does not necessarily act as a cause of war. In fact, war is decided by the quality of interaction between nations and their eagerness to reach an agreement. (p. 209) General Marshall makes allusions to the World War II to elaborate upon this aspect however, the most interesting point remains that he describes the institution of war from the perspective of Germany and Japan only; the very nations that constituted the opposing side of the Second World War. He states that war is the doctrine of Japan and Germany; the people, who he believes have given a lot of thought to this. Though, his speech was meant to shed light on the lessons that the United States learned as a result of the Second World War, however, comically enough the first half of the speech sounds more or less like an attack on the central powers; the side that not only suffered a humiliating defeat in the great war but were also heavily penalized. Though, the penalty is nothing compared to the number of lives that were lost but stigmatizing an entire nation does nothing to help either. General Marshall seeks to get approval to shape their military strategy and security policy as a mode of protecting America and its citizens from aggressive nations such as Germany and Japan. He makes several statements that not only implicate Japan and Germany as the sole perpetrators of war but also portrays America as a helpless nation. This aspect of Marshall’s speech depicts that the history of war is in fact framed by its victors that largely portray themselves as the innocent party.