Weaponized Landscapes: Case Studies of United States Wartime Tactics of Strategic Environmental Destruction and Forced Urbanization
Abstract:
The United States Military has a history of altering to enemy environments to give the US an upper hand during armed conflicts. Entire landscapes are changed in ways that fundamentally change the ecosystem for decades to centuries with little regard for the native population or environment. This is often done via controversial means that have been compared to war crimes, however the US excels at maintaining a legal grey area for their methods. Three case studies were chosen as examples of US tactics: Sherman’s March to the Sea, The Manhattan Project and subsequent bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and finally Operation Ranch Hand in the Vietnam War. These cases show that the extent of the destruction relates to the effectiveness of the tactic. The tactics used by Sherman helped exacerbate the pre-existing environmental struggles of the South, changing the landscape into one where farming was not viable for some time. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki crippled both cities, and showed the newfound destructive power that America had and was willing to use, leading to the surrender of Imperial Japan. Operation Ranch Hand, despite its lasting environmental detriments, failed to fundamentally change rural Vietnam and could not force urbanization, leading to the withdrawal of troops. These case studies are intended to show a pattern of destruction perpetuates throughout different eras American history, and still occurs to this day.