Was WW2, the last 'just' war?

Question

I see a rather large difference between Nazi Germany and Saddam's Iraq. Yes they were both murderous dictators but the scale was very different. Hitler had a clear desire and potential ability to subjugate the entire planet.

Saddam had very little (perhaps nothing) to do with 911 and it has yet to be proven that he had any intention or even the capability of attacking other medium powers,

Are people forgetting that it was the US that helped him invade Iran?

I'll accept the Korean war as a possible exception. (however in my opinion that was really just an extension of WW2)

Irish, I think you're forgetting about Japan. The US successfully installed a democracy there.

By the way I have studied History both formally in University and informally by reading a lot.

Though Curiam you do make a good point, I DO have a hard time understanting the 'justification' for war, especially the Iraq war.

Or maybe its that I understand the 'justification' of war all too well - its more about money than ethics - always has been (with a few possible exceptions)

The only side I take is the greater good for all of humanity.

Answer 1

In my opinion there are no 'just' wars. There are wars of necessity, opportunity, and convenience. 'Just' implies moral righteousness as the primary motivation. No one society has a monopoly on what is 'Right'. If you examine historical works on a war, you will find that both sides usually had 'causis beli' and believed in the superiority of their cause. This makes declaring one side 'just' near impossible.

Now with WWII, there are elements (as there are with any war) of 'just' actions by the victors. Few dispute that the Nazis or Imperial Japan were a threat to humanity and the world became a better place with their downfall. However there are also instances where the Allied Armies committed unnecsseary atrocities. Read Howard Zinn's "A People's History" for a complete explanation. The US didn't enter the war to save the Jews, or protect the people of SE Asia. The US entered the war to protect its business and trade. Before the "Day of Infamy", the US was gearing up for war and assertively supplying 'Allied' nations with war material. America had much to gain by entering the war.

Then there is the fact that the American State Department denied entry visas to Jews, and turned away a shipload of Jews who had managed to cross the Atlantic despite having a clear picture of the short term future of Germany's plan for the Jews.

Some wars are necessary, some are not. Some benefit mankind, some are pointlessly destructive. To declare some wars 'just' debases the nobleness of the sacrifices of the average soldiers and is incredibly pretentious.

Answer 2

Wow, You need to study history. Korea was also a just war you had communist trying to go in and take over a country that we just helped free from the Japanese after WWII. We tried to protect them but through many political problems we ended up with only half the country. It is to bad too since we now see how evil communism has been to Korea starving their own people and developing nuclear weapons and threatening the Asian Pacific Rim with Nuclear War.

Vietnam was also justified we were there to help the ligitemate government at that time as an ally. Our goal was to stop the spread of communism which has been a horrible failure in any country where it has been tried.

Afganistan I will not comment here about this war except to say that if you do not see how this is justified then you will never understand justification for war.

The Second Iraq War is a war that is justified due to Saddams continuous breaking the treaty they made with the US and the UN. He was starving his people and killing them by the tens of thousands. He used chemical weapons on his own people. I realize to many that is not justification but that is only because they do not care for the innocent. We have an obligation here since we beat them in the first war to follow up with the many laws they broke and the treaty agreement that they violated. If someone did not go in and stop him it would have ended very badly for his neighbors but even more importantly it would have ended very poorly for his people.

Now the handling after the war has not been smooth but should have been expected. I would expect to be there for many years to come. We are still in Germany, Italy and Japan and it has been over 50 years since WWII. It also took years to get everything under control but we did and it worked in the long run. I can guarantee you that many mistakes were made when we rebuilt Germany and Japan but we never gave up and now they are some of the strongest financial houses in the world.

I would suggest that we have not had an unjust war and if someone thinks we have they need to back up there accustion with fact based evidence not just heresay or conjecture.

Answer 3

No it was not. The Korean war of the early 1950's was a conflict in which the United Nations forces eventually repelled a North Korean and Chinese aggressive invasion of South Korea.

Similarly the first Gulf War of the 1990's was a conflict in which United Nations forces repelled an Iraqi aggressive invasion of Kuwait.

These two conflicts, but only these two, meet every criterion of what is famously or notoriously described as a just war.

Answer 4

Candace C might be interested to know that we have entered every 'war' in the interest of establishing 'democracy' and we have not achieved it even one time. Not once. All duly noted and recorded in history American & otherwise.

Mega - I know what you mean about Japan but i don't think at the time it was the true definiton of democracy nor is it exactly today, but i do sort of concede this point. It was the one time we instilled this a little bit but even if we declared the war in the name of democracy, it was not our complete true and original intent.

Answer 5

No war is just, it was just very very necessary to get rid of Hitler's Nazi Germany and the Aggressive Japanese Empire both of which attacked the allies and weren't helpful to world peace or people anywhere

Answer 6

I don't think so. We entered WWII after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and then we joined the Allies to help them defeat Hitler.
We are doing the same in Iraq. We helped stop a murderous dictator and are now helping to establish a democracy.
No difference there.

Answer 7

How can you call the recent Iraq war just? We invaded based on FALSE precepts. Does that qualify as just? No, it doesn't.
"Just" is just an opinion based on sides during the war. I'm sure there are many in Japan who say that we were not just in WWII by using nuclear weapons. Or that we were not just in Vietnam for ransacking villages of both enemies and friendlies.

Answer 8

The Korean War was "just" in my book!

Answer 9

Depends on which side you are with any war

Answer 10

All combat the U.S. has ever engaged has been just, including the Mexican/American war; the Spanish American War; Viet Nam; Korea; Grenada; and Afghanistan/Iraq.

So WWII was one of many 'just' wars.