Although the central focus of the Cold War and the atomic age revolved around the policies and actions undertaken by the Soviet Union and the United States, Europeans were just as concerned with the outcome of their decisions. Raymond Aron, a French philosopher and journalist outlined these fears in a May 1955 article entitled "Europe and Airpower" (excerpt below). Often times, the decisions of the two superpowers overshadowed the concerns those who would ultimately bare the high price of war. The prospects of war, according to Aron, had changed with the ushering in of the atomic age and the costs had become too great to consider. As Raymond points out, "It is difficult to imagine an atomic world war without envisaging the destruction of the civilization which we know."
The thoughts of war had turned from the destruction of armies on the battlefields to the destruction of entire societies. The Soviets and the Americans were acutely aware of the immense destructive power of the weapons they were creating in order, in many cases, to establish a balance of power that would later be referred to as "mutually assured destruction". The two nations were also aware that any potential misstep by themselves or their enemies could lead to unintentional war with unimaginable consequences. Europeans had found themselves stuck in the middle of this "dismal danger zone". Aron alluded to the notion of this balance of power when he wrote, "The nearness of danger often distorts judgment; it also sharpens awareness of the essential."
Raymond Aron, "Europe and Airpower"
The memories which the peoples have stored up from preceding conflicts and the presentiments which they now harbor as regards a future conflict account for the profound difference between the American and the European consciousness.
For the United States, the two wars of the twentieth century were colonial wars. They were waged-especially the second one-according to the unwritten law of the American economy, namely, the reduction of human costs by the increase of expenditure on machines. A type of combat that does not count the costs of materiel in order to save the lives of soldiers will certainly not be squeamish about the destruction of enemy lives and property in theaters of operation. Such a war of materiel whenever it is being waged upon foreign soil will be waged efficiently, without scruples and without hesitation. It poses some pressing questions for these peoples whose countries serve as battlefields…
The Americans are probably right when they remind us that there is, in the atomic age, one alternative which is worse than war, namely defeat. But Europeans are not wrong when they hold that, in this age, avoidance of war is better than victory. Nor are they wrong when they question the worth of a strategy which places greatest emphasis upon the preparation of that kind of war which would be so horrible that no one will dare start it except as a last gesture of desperation…
Since two atomic bombs, were dropped upon cities the world awaits, perhaps wrongly, the repetition, in the case of total war, of these horrible massacres. It is difficult to imagine an atomic world war without envisaging the destruction of the civilization which we know…
It is possible to compress our findings into the following general statements: Strategies aimed at whole populations, and not merely at armies, have increased tremendously the terrors of war. Secondly, war threatens the very life of civilizations when it is conducted with means of destruction that are vastly superior to available means of construction, and when it effaces the traditions and withers the feeling of security underlying the existence of the human community. We cannot rid ourselves of the dismal feeling that we have entered this danger zone. Are Europeans more deeply convinced that history has reached a crisis than are the American people? Perhaps. The nearness of danger often distorts judgment; it also sharpens awareness of the essential.
Text Dependent Questions
1. What does Aron Raymond say is the difference between American and European costs of war? Why?
2. According to Aron, what is the ultimate outcome of a world war in the atomic age?
3. What is the "danger zone" that Aron refers to? Why does he refer to it as "dismal"?
Sources
Engel, J. A., Lawrence, M. A., & Preston, A. (Eds.). (2014). America in the world: A history in documents from the war with Spain to the war on terror. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.