Has America Jumped The Shark? (Part II)

If you have yet to read the first part of this article, Has America Jumped the Shark? (Part I) it's a very good idea to read that first. Otherwise Part II won't make a lot of sense. If you have already read the first part, then you're probably ready for some answers. So without further ado, on with Part II.

The Vietnam War is largely considered to be America's biggest blunder of the 20th century, and for good reason. Almost 60,000 American soldiers died in that conflict, and that was the first time in long a while that the USA lost a war. The Viet Cong succeeded in conquering South Vietnam, and the mighty American War Machine™ was confounded. What's more, support at home had never reached a lower point, with massive antiwar protests and demonstrations. The Vietnam war didn't quite tear the country apart, but it came close. It did leave wounds, though, wounds that have yet to fully heal.

So is this, then, the point where America jumped the shark? It is an obvious place to make the judgment, but would it really be accurate? Granted, this was a major incident of the American military failing to achieve victory, and it was somewhat in contrast to a string of apparent successes earlier in the 20th century. There is definite argument for jumpage here.

Before making any final judgment call, let us first look at the earlier successes. They say you should learn from your mistakes, but you can learn at least as much from your achievements. Lets look at the Korean War first.

The Korean conflict is the forgotten international war of the 20th century (if you ignore 11 seasons of M*A*S*H). This is due to being overshadowed by the World Wars that proceeded it, as well as taking place entirely on the Korean peninsula. It was the first war fought under the auspices of the United Nations, and many member countries sent troops. That said, it was largely fought by the American, Chinese, and Korean militaries.

It started when North Korean troops poured across the 38th parallel in 1950, overwhelming their southern neighbour and nearly taking the entire peninsula, their goal being to reunify Korea under communist rule. UN forces, led by American troops, pushed back hard and captured most of North Korea, with the goal of reunification under a democratic government. Then China invaded, and pushed the UN forces well back into South Korea again. The war ended in 1953 with virtually no change to the original border, but only after 5 million fatalities, most of them prisoners or civilians.

Who won and who lost this war? Well, North Korea didn't achieve their goal of making all of Korea communist. America failed to reunify Korea as a democracy. Only China got what they actually wanted, which was a communist buffer state. So we really can't count this as all that much of an American success story after all.

For a more certain success, let us look instead at World War II. It started in 1939, but the US didn't get involved until the end of 1941, with the devastating Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. From then on the US fought a two front war, until Japan and Germany surrendered in 1945. Of course, it took two atomic bombs to make Japan surrender, otherwise the war would have dragged on into at least 1946.

On the other side of the world, while the combined allied forces, largely American, British and Canadian, stormed unto mainland Europe at D-Day in 1944, the Russians would have taken Berlin before the end of 1945 even without the D-Day invasion. In fact, getting a large allied presence into western Europe was just as much to prevent the Soviet Union from getting control over the territory as it was about defeating the Third Reich. So we can count this as a success, since the Nazis were destroyed and the USSR was only able to conquer about half of Europe. Certainly not an exclusive American success, though, since they did show up to the party late and were only one of the allied nations.

How about the supposed war to end all wars, World War I? This war was waged from 1914 to 1918, but the USA only got involved in 1917, after a German memo encouraging Mexico to declare war on the US was obtained by American intelligence. Before this there had been strong opposition to getting involved in a European war. American troops didn't see action in Europe until almost the end of 1917, but they were enough to decisively tip the balance of power against Germany. So as in WWII, the USA was on the winning side of a global conflict that they joined late. Again, we can't really call this an American success story.

Of course the war that the United States is most nostalgic about is their own civil war. I'm not sure what there really is to be nostalgic about, considering that more American troops died than in both world wars — over 600,000. Considering the central issue of the war was slavery, and that the country was willing to go to war with itself over it, one would expect that Americans would be eager to forget about their civil war. Yet people still dress up in period costume and reenact battles from it. Does anyone else in the world do this? Sure, people may dress in period costume, but to stage mock battles from a war that shredded the very fabric of their nation? By comparison a visit to Medieval Times seems cultured and delightful.

So where are all the great American military successes? Setting aside the American Revolution, you really have to turn to wars like the Spanish-American war or the Mexican-American war, which were of course in the 19th century. In the 20th, there were interventions like Panama and Grenada, which are really nothing to brag about. So there really hasn't been a great American victory in quite some time.

Remember when at the start of part II there was mention of finding answers? Well, this is really a question that I can't answer for you. Has America jumped the shark? I'm sure one day, in the not altogether distant future, historians will agree when America jumped the shark, and from the 20/20 view of hindsight, it will all make sense. For now, you'll have to decide for yourself. Just keep this in mind: if you have to ask if something has gone into decline, the possibility is strong that the decline is already well underway.