Napalm

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how napalm, a chemical made by thickening gasoline with the aluminum salt of naphthenic and palmitic acid, was first developed in the United States during World War II and was used in the Korean War and then the Vietnam War. In particular, it examines how its use in the Vietnam War has had the most impact on the 20th century. It looks at how the widespread use of napalm contributed to ideas on the strategies of war and how the impact of napalm in the Vietnam War changed how the public viewed the war, which led to changes in the way the public was viewed in a war situation.

From the Paper:

"The first impact of Napalm is the effect it has had on the strategies of war. One text titled The American Way of War: A History of United States Military Strategy and Policy, describes America's approach to war as always being an attempt to reach total war (Weigley). This means not just fighting the forces of the opposing country, but fighting the country itself to cause their surrender. In more modern times, the recent war on Iraq can be given as an example, where American forces do not only fight against the soldiers of Iraq but bomb heavily to limit their ability to fight. With this approach, the goal is to maximize damage to the opposing country so they surrender quickly and the damage to American forces is minimized. If this approach is what America was attempting, Napalm became a way of achieving it in the Vietnam War."

More papers on Napalm:

• Analytical Essay # 67420 : "War in Literature"
• Analytical Essay # 50708 : "Photography and Children of War"
• Analytical Essay # 66433 : "Postwar Vietnamese Novels"

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