Before reading this article, I sincerely invite you to click the "Follow" button, so that you can continue to push such articles in the future, and it is also convenient for you to discuss and share, your support is the driving force for us to insist on creating~
Text: Peng Cheng
Edit|t
introduction
Musk posted an article claiming that Western civilization has extraordinary empathy, and even said that this is the biggest weakness of the United States.
(Elon Musk)
Do you agree with the fact that the United States, as the first country to possess nuclear weapons, did not use its first-mover advantage to conquer the world, but instead helped countries like Germany and Japan that had been battered by the war to revive their lives?
(Elon Musk's remarks)
Many people may have similar questions, but is it really because of sympathy? Hasn't the United States really wanted to conquer the world?
1. After the success of the Manhattan Project
We all know that the United States was the first to possess nuclear weapons, but in fact, a technology, especially military technology, also needs a process from success to maturity.
Today's United States can easily produce enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world, but when the Manhattan Project was just succeeding in 1945, it could never have done so.
(Manhattan Project)
The United States successfully tested an atomic bomb in July. Immediately after that, this weapon was thrown on the battlefield in August, and the time can be said to be very tight, and there is no time to perfect it.
Some declassified materials also show that there were actually three atomic bombs dropped by the United States back then, but one of them was a dud, which can also show that the atomic bomb technology possessed by the United States at that time was actually not mature.
In fact, the nuclear bombs that were thrown to Japan were already all the reserves of the United States back then, and it was not as simple as paying lip service to making a few more.
(Atomic bomb exploded in Hiroshima)
What's more, even if there is an atomic bomb, if you want to use it to conquer the world, you must always have the ability to deliver supporting global weapons, strategic intercontinental missiles, ultra-long-range strategic bombers, which of these things can be taken out by the United States at that time.
Under such circumstances, the deterrent effect of the atomic bomb was naturally greatly reduced, so if the United States had used the atomic bomb to force other countries to cede their interests, it would not have been difficult, but it would have been a fool's dream to make the whole world bow down.
What's more, after seeing the terrifying power of the atomic bomb, all the major powers in the world with conditions have started the research and development of nuclear weapons in full swing.
The Soviet Union had its own nuclear weapons in 1949, and then it took out the hydrogen bomb one step ahead of the United States.
(The moment of the explosion of the Soviet hydrogen bomb)
This is the fundamental reason why the United States did not use the atomic bomb to conquer the world in the first place, and people who hold views like Musk either do not have long brains, or deliberately confuse the public, in short, they are either bad or stupid.
2. Japan's post-war economic rise - the logistics base of the Korean War
As for the United States' kindness to other countries, it is even more ridiculous, Musk gave the example of the United States helping Japan and Germany to restore their economies, then we will also explore from this perspective.
First of all, looking at Japan, as we all know, there was an obvious turning point in the US policy toward Japan after the war, and the key node of this turning point was actually the founding of New China in 1949.
Originally, out of an anti-fascist stance and a hatred forged with Japan during the Pacific War, the United States adopted the practice of military occupation and demilitaristic transformation of Japan after Japan's surrender, and at the same time demanded a huge amount of war compensation from Japan.
(U.S. troops stationed at Yokosuka Military Port)
However, due to the victory of the Chinese revolution, the Chiang Kai-shek regime, which the United States had spent great efforts to support, finally fell into the sea of the people's war, which caused the United States to lose its grip on manipulating the Asian region.
In this case, Japan became the only viable option for the United States, so the United States not only returned Japan's dismantled industrial equipment one after another, exempted Japan from war reparations, but also pulled Japan into its own security system.
When the Korean War broke out, it was impossible for the United States to transport supplies to the Korean Peninsula across the Pacific Ocean, so it naturally handed over a large military order to Japan, injecting a powerful shot in the arm into the sluggish Japanese economy after the defeat of the war.
All goods in the Japanese market were swept away, and Japanese products were also used by the government to enter the international market when they purchased large quantities, and the strong demand led to a rapid increase in productivity......
(U.S. soldiers who enjoyed ample logistics during the Korean War)
In other words, a large part of the reason for Japan's rapid economic recovery after World War II stemmed from the "sacrifice" of the Korean people, which Musk called American sympathy, and can only say that he understands sympathy.
After talking about Japan, what about Germany? Actually, it is more appropriate to say the Federal Republic of Germany, that is, West Germany, than Germany.
3. The Federal Republic of Germany – a bridgehead towards the Soviet Union
The situation in the Federal Republic of Germany and Japan was almost identical, and the fate of the German and Japanese allies in World War II was similar, except that this time the United States targeted the Soviet Union.
After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union pulled their allies to establish NATO and the Warsaw Pact, respectively, and the two camps faced each other, and after World War II, Germany was dismembered and became East and West Germany.
(The Berlin Wall that divided the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR)
The Soviet Union's military front was certainly terrifying, but what the United States was more afraid of was the socialist ideas exported by the Soviet Union, and at that time, after the devastation of the war, the whole of Europe was generally in a scene of withering people's livelihood, and the possibility of revolution had risen sharply.
As a result, the Marshall Plan came into being, and for practical reasons, it was difficult for the United States to exclude West Germany, which would not only make it much more difficult to rebuild Europe, but also likely to have a chain reaction of West Germany being co-opted by the Soviet Union.
In the end, the United States not only actively mediated the reduction and reduction of West Germany's war reparations, but also neatly launched aid programs aimed at supporting the German economy, such as the Dawes Plan.
(Caricature describing the Marshall Plan)
It can be said that the United States helped Germany to revive the economy and the Marshall Plan it launched is a purpose, but the fundamental reason is that the people are afraid of the post-war economic collapse in Europe, and the people can not even guarantee their basic livelihood to directly launch a revolution, and wake up the whole of Europe with a red flag, so what is the United States and the Soviet Union fighting for hegemony!
Fourth, the pace of American conquest of the world - NATO continues to expand
In fact, despite the fact that the United States has repeatedly claimed to protect the "free world" and portrayed its confrontation with the Soviet Union as "fighting dictatorship and tyranny," the purpose of the United States is simply that of Sima Zhao.
Now that the Soviet Union has disintegrated, the Warsaw Pact that opposed NATO has long been a thing of the past, but what about NATO? Is the existence of this military alliance, which includes the vast majority of the developed countries in the world, really for self-defense and security?
(NATO venue)
Today, NATO's presence is not weakening in the slightest, on the contrary, it is expanding and has already had catastrophic consequences around the world, such as the crisis in Ukraine.
Former U.S. President Trump once expressed his dissatisfaction with the U.S. spending on NATO, so in the end the U.S. chose to continue to maintain NATO, what is the purpose of the U.S.?
In fact, it is very simple: If there is no NATO, how can the United States brazenly maintain hundreds of military bases all over the world? How can it meddle in the defense systems of its allies in the name of joint defense?
(Aerial photography of U.S. military bases overseas)
At the same time, these NATO allies have to be coerced by the United States to target countries that are hostile to the United States, because they will also withdraw rashly
Isn't being hostile to the United States pursuing hegemony? Isn't it the United States trying to realize its ambition of conquering the world?
epilogue
All in all, Musk's remarks can be said to be completely sophistry, and he picks Germany and Japan as an example, why don't you go and see what the United States has done to Iraq, Syria, and other countries? The implication is that if it weren't for the United States being too kind, it would have dominated the world long ago, which is really ridiculous.
The United States has never given up its ambition to dominate the world, and if it were not for the existence of countries such as China and Russia to restrain the United States from acting recklessly, I am afraid that the United States would really be like Musk said, and it would not even bother to maintain its superficial efforts.
Literature References:
The Evolution of the U.S. Overseas Base System: A Study Based on Strategic Cognition[D].Fudan University[2024-04-20].
Li Tao.A preliminary study on the factors of Japan's economic recovery in the post-World War II international pattern[J].New West:Theory, 2018(10):2.