Biographical - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... Chamberlain must have governed in frenzy of faith that the mad man of Germany would calm down soon. He must have played the gentle man that Britain was not going to blow the first whistle on Germany. While Hitler, Mussolini and Japan came out openly as rogue leaders and state, we sat back and watched. It seems nothing was wrong with the invasion of Manchuria. It seemed it was all okay to embark on rapid militarization of Rhineland. The appeasement policy massaged Hitler’s roaming appetites for war. I have today set foot on Europe to bring good news, thanks to Chamberlain and the appeasement policy (McDonough 1). I bring good news from the world on the other side pacific that we are indeed very sorry for this war, which the world could have avoided. This is the news that I bring with a gun on my hand and explosives on my back.” Powell spearheaded many military strategies and by October 1944, there was huge progress. He helped in designing the D-Day operations and strategies, much to the success of the Allied. After the end of the war, Powell returned to work in Europe under the Marshall Plan. He records in his diary the following. “The Marshall Plan is a big boost in the recovery of Western Europe and Japan in the post-war period. I can see a future beyond the rubble, hunger and starvation. Even so, I fail to understand why the Russians with whom we had just fought on the same side could be taking advantage of the situation. I foresee a quite friction between the ambitious Soviet and the USA. I believe it is now time for reconstruction, not for claiming plunders of the war. Otherwise, I may consider that I fought on the wrong side of the war.” Amongst other entries, Powell observes that the onset of the Cold War started with Russia’s taking advantage of the small nations. He also notes that in the aftermath of the war, many states in Eastern Europe were still weak. Rather than being left to their own determination, Russia was forcing them one after another into communism. It is then that the US acted under the Truman’s Doctrine (McDonough 1). Under the Truman’s Doctrine, it became the official policy of the US to support any free people resisting attempted subjugation by an armed foreign force. To counter the emerging tyranny of Russian, Powell received orders to watch keenly the developments in Eastern Europe and advise accordingly. This was the early years of the Cold War in the aftermath of WWII. Powell was also not an apologist for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki situation on the account that it was a consequence of war. He based his reasoning purely on war strategy. From his 1945 diaries, he has offered sufficient reason why the use of the atomic bomb was unavoidable (Doyle 1). As noted in his diary, he enters the following: “The world seems to forget so fast. Just the other day were dealing with Hitler and Mussolini. That is over, and the next rogue is Russia. The United States is practically fighting proxy wars to help those whose right to free determination is under threat by the USSR. It is foolhardy to start playing blame games at this moment on whether the atomic bomb solution is justified.” Powell indicates that when the United States resolved to use atomic bombs on Japan, it was because that was the only solution left. Germany and other axis powers had been subdued and surrendered. The war had dragged for too long, but Japan was not ...Download file to see next pagesRead More