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Origins of the American Perception of War

The Evolution of Armed Conflicts and the Notion of Total Victory

Jan 29, 2009 Jeanie Turner

There has been an American view of war since the colonial days. The United States has involved itself in countless wars under the guise of 'doing the right thing'.

The early colonists of the Americas brought with them traditional European-style warfare tactics. However, as these tactics were suited to the culture and terrain of Europe, they did not fit well in their new land. The Indians of North America did not conform to the traditional rules of warfare or fight in the same manner as the colonists always had. The Europeans had to adapt their military strategy to their new land and the Indians had to also change their battle tactics to accommodate the onslaught of colonists broaching their territories.

Colonial View of War

There has been a uniquely American view of war since the colonial days, though not any lasting military tactics as is such today. The United States has entered every major war and conducted countless military interventions based on a perceived moral injustice against them. The Pequot Indians killed John Stone, therefore the settlers were justified in their mission to annihilate every man, woman, and child to right this wrong. The colonists used their Christian faith to justify the destruction of the Indians, denouncing them as godless heathens and animals. They even used a passage in the Bible that said children should be killed with their parents to excuse their indiscriminate slaughter of the Indians.

Contemporary View of War

From the colonial wars with the Indians to the modern day war in Iraq, there is not a single example where the United States did not justify their military interventions and declarations of war based on higher moral purposes and of ‘doing the right thing’. We are the ‘good guys’ in every conflict, regardless of any ulterior motives. The American government and the military, of course, have entered into war with their own specific objectives to accomplish, but, as far as the American public is concerned, their main objective is grounded in moral principles. The government decides when to go to war, but it is up to the politicians to sell the war to the American people. The politicians throughout the history of the United States have created the ‘American view of war’. This view encompasses grand moral purposes, total victory and complete annihilation of the enemy, anything less is not acceptable. However, since 1945, there has not been a need for a ‘total victory’. Instead, small-scale interventions to accomplish specific goals in a timely manner fit today’s military environment, and, while the government has adapted to this changing military climate, little has been done to change the prevailing archaic ‘American view of war’.

John Chambers Whiteclay and G. Kurt Piehler eds., Major Problems in American Military History (Boston: Boston Houghlin Mifflin Company, 1999)

The copyright of the article Origins of the American Perception of War in Military History is owned by Jeanie Turner. Permission to republish Origins of the American Perception of War in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.