Throughout human history, many of the great civilizations that have arose and fallen through time, though none has shown more of an interest in casualty rates as the United States of America. Ever since its founding, the United States has always put an emphasis on the value of manpower within the “crisis situation” military that existed. This “crisis situation” varied from the instances that the United States would have the need for a military. It wasn’t in our culture to have a large standing army prior to World War II. Though in every prior encounter throughout America’s history, it has always sought the best methods to cut casualties during the armed conflicts that it would become involved in. It was from learning from prior wars, such as the Civil War, Spanish-American, Indian Wars, and the Great War that the military strategies were evolving.

In every instance though one item remained a constant, the notion of a high amount of American soldiers K.I.A. would grow to be ever more intolerable. It is during the Second World War, the United States would have over 215 divisions to create the massive Armed Forces for the conflict. This would be unheard of in the prior Great War, because only unlike any other time in American history, the United States could hurdle the sheer might of their Armed Forces against the Axis. All of that changed however, when it was revealed that the Soviets survived Hitler’s Operations Barbarossa. With the Soviet manpower aiding the Allies, it was no longer necessary for the United States to have such a high amount of soldiers. So after the victory of Stalingrad in the winter of 1943, the early notion of 215 American divisions for the war effort was reduced to 99 divisions.

Continuing the American style of warfare the United States military, political and even public opinion geared America to have low casualties. This is in spite of the massive amount of casualties that the European powers face themselves, such as the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and to a lesser extent Fascist Italy. To the United States, this idea of losing a massive amount of men on a rapid scale is unacceptable and in some opinions, disgraceful. Upon closer observation of these nations, none of them possessed the industrial capacity to truly change their strategies. In this instance, the United States held the advantage. To meet the challenge of the Second World War, and the far grander scale of which the conflict is fought than the prior Great War, the United States initiates an industrial explosion. With the rekindling of the long abandoned furnaces of the American factories, the United States embarks on a quest to not only equip its soldiers with adequate equipment, but with enough supplies to remove the need for man. In the absence of manpower, the usage of machines takes precedence in the flames of World War II.

This exists in varying forms, which are limited to only the varied engineers, technicians, scientists, and industrialists entrusted with this massive undertaking. It is the economic abundance that plays one of the two key factors in recreating the American industry. During the war, the Federal government had effectively removed Sherman Anti-Trust Laws from the playing field. In the absence of this anti-monopoly law, many companies began to grow to heights that had only been seen in the late 19th century. The steel industry now had enough customers to employ everyone that was previously laid off from the Great Depression, and more. The military made sure to allow any individual who had previously worked in a factory, or had some sort of industrial, and agricultural skill away from service.

However, despite all of this the U.S. was still lacking in industrial workers. So, in an effort to replace the lost “man “power, the U.S. began to do the unthinkable, allow women in the blue collared jobs. During the Second World War, in an attempt to replace the siphoned manpower that was lost for the military drafts and enlistments, women enter the fields of welding, technicians, and various other assembly jobs. To promote women in the workforce, Rosie the Riveter was created and that drove women to change the perceived ideas as women as frail and weak. These individuals managed to work the assembly lines for bombs, ammo, rifles, as well as shipyard welders, anything that was needed for the war effort. Prior to the war, only 1% of women had worked in industrial jobs, when it did break out it exploded to 65%.

In addition to the vast quantities of newly trained and experienced specialists, the U.S. possessed bountiful amounts of resources. These included; aluminum, iron, oil, rubber, and other industrial goods were all utilized by these companies. Although the average citizen in the States had to ration their usage of these, and other resources, it was for a larger goal. The people of the United States were no strangers to rationing, as they had lived through the Great Depression. Many of the ideas from that period actually transitioned, one such program was growing one's own garden for food. Another was the local collection runs that children would conduct to gather broken bottles, tires, metals and other miscellaneous materials. Both of these exploded with participation, as the garden program had excess food for the citizens and military. While the collection runs managed to gather enough materials to merit a second deposit area.

The contributions that the American industries had made toward the war effort were remarkable. Henry Ford, who prior to the war dealt in the automobile manufacturing industry had begun to convert his factories to create airplanes. This was all thanks to the Federal government providing incentives for this massive conversion. With the construction of Willow Run in Detroit, MI a 67 acre span of land with 40,000 employees, the United States was producing bombers at an exponential rate. The same could also be said for Henry Kaiser and his massive shipyards. Kaiser had managed to make a name for himself by constructing the Hoover Dam, and an even bigger name as a shipbuilder. His company had served as the workhorse of the Navy, and with the aid of assembly line had managed to churn out a ship every 53 days.

When the United States finally entered the fray of the Second World War, FDR made clear the production quotas for the war effort. Early in the war, Roosevelt wanted 120,000 tanks and 60,000 planes in 1942. Every nation, Axis and Allied had reviewed the quotas and could not believe them. Adolf Hitler scoffed at the notion that the United States had the capacity to produce that much. In contrast, Admiral Yamamoto, the architect behind Pearl Harbor had stated that the United States represented a sleeping giant. Yamamoto and others believed that if the United States could indeed produce that many machines, weapons, ammo, and tools, then the Axis’s days were numbered.

For as long as human history could recall, the idea of arriving first with the most men was the surefire way to win wars. This method of warfare had been adopted by the Soviets, Germans, Italians, and to a lesser extent the British. However, the United States challenged this centuries old method with a new one; the idea of arriving last with the most machines. It is with the combination of the amount of resources that the United States possesses, and the vast amount of technical ingenuity and manpower that makes this possible. It should be noted that by the end of the war, about 5,777 merchant ships, 299,293 planes (18,000 bombers), and 88,410 tanks were produced for the war.

Thus the American version of total war was unique in its own way. Instead of sending a high amount of men to be slaughtered by enemy forces, the U.S. would utilize mechanized warfare. This was seen in the conception of Strategic Bombing in both the European and Pacific Theaters, the D-Day Invasion in Normandy, the buildup of the navy in the Pacific, and the Lend-Lease act that served as a precursor to all of them. With the ability to produce such a high amount of material for the war, the United States had placed a reliance on machinery. If a tank was destroyed, it could be easily replaced. The same logic held true to the aircraft carriers, destroyers, Higgins boats, P-51 Mustangs, and even B-17 Flying Fortresses.

However, perhaps no single undertaking America undertook was more paramount than the most secretive, the Manhattan Project. In 1933, many of the brightest minds in the field of nuclear energy had made various breakthroughs in their research. From Leó Szilárd’s realization of a nuclear chain reaction to the discovery of nuclear fission by Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman. Many of these scientists resided in Germany, until the Nazi’s took power. Fearing that their research would be used for malevolent causes, the scientists fled to varying nations. This conspiracy of close-knit scientists were known as the Hungarian Conspiracy, and many of them left Germany for the U.S.

In the spring of 1942, Albert Einstein sends a letter warning FDR that the Nazi’s were attempting to create a nuclear bomb. He also warns Roosevelt of the subject of atomic energy and the fear of what it may or may not bring. Initially, FDR was baffled with questions such as weaponing such an item, the production, and the very idea of tampering with reality. In an attempt to answer these, and other questions, FDR green lights the Manhattan Project to find the answers. Led by General Leslie Groves of the Army Corp of Engineers, this would be the largest and secretive operation ever undertaken by the wartime Roosevelt administration.

In addition to Gen. Groves’ command of the military side of the operation, FDR appointed Robert Oppenheimer to lead the scientific side. The project had with them the greatest mind in the world, the 600,000 staff members, and the secrecy of the security of the United States Army. While the base of this project was in Los Alamos, New Mexico the actual project extended throughout the United States. Various institutions had taken up separate and seemingly unrelated research, but in reality everything was part of a grander scheme. This cooperation that existed between the universities and the United States government would later cultivate into the Military-Industrial Complex.

In addition to this, the United States had opened up the R&D to the British and Canadian scientist, but kept highly classified information a secret. The Soviet Union is never told of the Atomic bomb, until the Potsdam Conference, due to fears that the atomic bomb would cause an arms race. While major cities like Chicago, Detroit, and Milwaukee handled their own individual research, all of the finding were brought together to Los Alamos. The end result, on July 16th, 1945 was the detonation of the atomic bomb in Alamogordo, New Mexico. The initial test, known as the Trinity Test would result in a massive shockwave with a gigantic mushroom cloud arising in the sky and the sandy ground that laid below the bomb turned into this purplish glass.

With the result of the Trinity Test clearly demonstrated, there were mixed reactions. The scientific community celebrated, except for Oppenheimer, who believed that he had “become death, the destroyer of worlds”. For the military side of the project, they saw an end to the war in the Pacific. By this time, the war in Europe was over, with Adolf Hitler dead and Berlin now occupied. Nearly an exact month prior to this, Franklin Roosevelt dies at his beach house in Warm Springs, Georgia and in his place, stood the newly sworn in President Harry S. Truman. Up until this point, Truman knew that something known as the Manhattan Project existed, and he asked Secretary of War Henry Stimson, to which he lied. It wasn’t until Roosevelt’s death that Stimson briefed Truman on the Manhattan Project, and nearly a month later that he would know what their research had created.

Upon learning of the atomic bomb and the creation of two additional bombs, Truman understood the known effects of unleashing such a massive weapon. Around this time, the United States had managed to successfully island hop all the way to the Japanese home islands. Upon reaching the islands, the marines discover the ferocity of the Japanese Imperial soldier and their dedication to Bushido. The extent to the will Japanese soldiers wasn’t known until the battle of Iwo Jima, which was a battle for roughly 8.1 square miles of land that lasted over a month. Approximately 6,821 soldiers were killed, with 19,217 wounded on the American side. As for the Japanese, their numbers ranged from 17,845-18,375 dead and or missing with 216 Prisoners of War (POW’s). It was at this time that the U.S. had understood that the Japanese had been fortifying their home islands, and willing to die from battle as opposed to surrendering.

After learning what the weapon was capable of, he had asked various military advisors about the amount of men, time, supplies and casualties the United States would expect. Prior to this inquisition, the United States Navy and Army had each been launching their own methods of obtaining a Japanese surrender. In the case of the Navy, the plan was to establish a naval blockade around the islands and imitate “wolf pack” submarine groups that had been borrowed by the Nazis’. This in turn would halt any and all shipments of rice, grain, iron, oil, and coal effectively leaving Japan to fend for itself. In the case of the Army, the plan was to utilize carpet bombing from the British, mixed with the usage of the newly developed napalm. These inferno air-raids wreaked havoc on the Japanese cities. This is mainly due to the city building the Japanese had adopted, where their living, industrial, agricultural and religious building were heavily mixed with each other.

Neither of these had yielded any results, as the Japanese still maintained the idea that the United States won’t hold out until they obtain unconditional surrender. However, the Japanese had met with the Soviet Union’s diplomats to achieve peace with them, to which the U.S.S.R. declared war on them. To finalize the defeat of the Japanese and obtain unconditional surrender, the United States had begun to enact Operation Olympic. In this invasion plan, many of the troops from the European front would be transferred to the Pacific and retrained for combat. The total amount of men required for the invasion would be at 1 million, thus dwarfing the European Theaters Operation D-Day on the beaches of Normandy, France.

After taking into account the severity of the fighting the Japanese displayed, and their philosophy of death by the sword instead of surrendering, Truman understood that it would be a long war. What he didn’t realize was that many military advisors believed that it wouldn’t be until 1946 until the Japanese surrendered. Truman had also received reports from both the Navy and the Army that all they needed was more time, and that the Japanese were close to surrendering. However, Truman understood that the civilians and soldiers wanted the war to be done with. In addition, he understood that the United States would take a massive hit in the amount of casualties for the invasion of the home islands.

With all of this in mind, Truman had decided to up the ante on the bombing raids on the Japanese, by halting all prior raids and asking for a list of major Japanese cities. Upon obtaining this information, Truman made the decision to bomb Hiroshima (Little Boy) and Nagasaki (Fat Man). By doing this, Truman had followed the American method of war. He had effectively saved American lives by sparing them from another grueling year of fighting and bloodshed. In so doing, the notion of the war of the machines was forever associated with the atomic bomb. Throughout the rest of his life President Truman would always be asked about the decision making process for dropping the bomb. He would reply, in a very irritated voice that it was not a question of should, but where.

The idea of mechanized warfare was briefly introduced in the First Great War, but never closely observed. This was due to 20th century technology mixing with 29th century battle tactics. However, it would be several decades later until one of the nation’s understood that it wasn’t the amount men in uniform that won wars, but technology. The United States partially accomplished this by producing enough armaments, ammo, and other supplies to dwarf all of the players in the Second World War. With this influx of materials, the U.S could effectively replace everything in a matter of months, weeks, and in some instances days. With the addition of the Atomic Bomb, the U.S. had perfected the ultimate display of technology being a pivotal part in concluding a war. Thus, the prior notion of arriving first with the most men would be replaced by the concept of arriving last with the most machines.