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Corl Von Clausewitz described war as a paradoxical trinity and its first component is primordial violence kindled by the passion of the people. For the U.S. and Western societies this passion for violence was drastically diminished following August 1945. The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by the Enola Gay, killing 70,000 people on August 6 th, followed by the Bockscar, killing 80,000 people on August 9 th . In the coming years, tens of thousands died from the radiation fallout and exposure to the blast. According to military historians MacGregor, Knox, and Williamson Murray, this was the fifth revolution in military affairs since the creation of the modern state at the Treaty of Westphalia (M. K. Murray 2001). Subsequently, not a single nuclear weapon has been employed against another state or non-state actor. The Social order and tolerance for war changed as a result of nuclear weapons raising the value of narrative 1 in warfare. To understand the evolutionary route the world has taken since the use of the atomic bomb, it is critical to assess the events leading up to its use, specifically the acceptance of Total 1 The use of the term narrative space here refers to a collection of words, deeds, and images that provide cognitive context to events seen by individuals resulting in behavioral outcomes.

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Corl Von Clausewitz described war as a paradoxical trinity and its first component is

primordial violence kindled by the passion of the people. For the U.S. and Western societies

this passion for violence was drastically diminished following August 1945. The first atomic

bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by the Enola Gay, killing 70,000 people on August 6th,

followed by the Bockscar, killing 80,000 people on August 9th. In the coming years, tens of

thousands died from the radiation fallout and exposure to the blast. According to military

historians MacGregor, Knox, and Williamson Murray, this was the fifth revolution in military

affairs since the creation of the modern state at the Treaty of Westphalia (M. K. Murray

2001). Subsequently, not a single nuclear weapon has been employed against another state

or non-state actor. The Social order and tolerance for war changed as a result of nuclear

weapons raising the value of narrative1 in warfare.

To understand the evolutionary route the world has taken since the use of the atomic

bomb, it is critical to assess the events leading up to its use, specifically the acceptance of

Total War by Western societies and the development of Air Power Theory. Following World

War II, the following events set the stage for narrative's in warfare: societies desire for

political equality, population growth, and an increase in sovereign nations. Today, the

current conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria demonstrate narrative’s importance to

the state of warfare.

Total War theory accepts that whole societies are an acceptable target for military

gain. The wars of the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century fully embraced this

theory. However, Total War was not always the means of conducting warfare. Neither the

British nor the French committed to destroying each other's society during the Hundred

1 The use of the term narrative space here refers to a collection of words, deeds, and images that provide cognitive context to events seen by individuals resulting in behavioral outcomes.

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Years War. Likewise, Europe collectively avoided Total War during the Napoleonic era.

Instead, these societies sought subjugation as an acceptable end. However, Western societies

evolved over time to accept Total War. The U.S. Civil War illustrates Total War in its planned

execution and resourcing of Total War tactics. General Ulysses S. Grant directed General

William T. Sherman to attack the Confederacy's heartland and cut off their lines of

communication to deny the Confederates desperately needed war resources. When marching

into Alabama, General Sherman issued a warning to the residents of northern Alabama:

"The government of the United States has in North Alabama any and all rights which [it chooses] to enforce in war, to take [Confederate] lives, their houses, their lands, their everything, because they cannot deny that war exists there, and war is simply power unconstrained by constitution or compact." (W. A. Murray 2005)

The American Civil War was fought on horseback without the aid of air power or indirect fire

capability and is the deadliest war the U.S has fought because of the Total War tactics

accepted as the necessary means to winning the war.

As great as the ability to destroy was during the American Civil War, the Industrial

Revolution continued to increase the destructive capability of war. Likewise, military theory

in Western nations continued to accept little distinction between civilians and soldiers

during war. World War I embodied the notion of Total War. On May 7, 1915, a German U-

boat sank the RMS Lusitania, a non-military vessel filled with over 1,900 passengers and

crewmembers. When the war ended, there were roughly ten million civilian deaths (Mougel

2011). Despite this monumental loss of life Total War theory did not change as the dominant

way to execute warfare following WWI.

At the beginning of the Interwar Period, Western societies rejected the idea of large

nation vs, nation warfare, embracing significant reductions in military spending. The Treaty

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of Versailles restricted military forces and the creation of the League of Nations was intended

to prevent a second world war. France went through the "lean years" (Alexander 1986) while

Great Britain adopted a policy deemed "The Ten Year Rule," where military spending was

minimal because the British believed no significant war would be fought in the next ten years

(Alexander 1986).

During this time of limited military funding, many great theorists of military affairs

emerged. Italian General Giulio Douhet was one of them and wrote his theoretical work on

the potential impact of aerial capabilities in war titled, Command of the Air. Douhet's

predictions of air power’s effects were largely validated during WWII in the aftermath of the

atomic bombs. As Douhet wrote:

"… aerial warfare admits of no defense, only offense. We must therefore resign ourselves to the offensives the enemy inflicts upon us, while striving to put all our resources to work to inflict even heavier ones upon him."

On the morning of August 6th Japan was at the mercy of the United States' air superiority.

Today, inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) fill this role by providing the same air

offensive capability that Douhet envisioned. A plane is a tool for achieving offensive

capability, but not the capability in and of itself. Although Douhet did not foresee nuclear

bombs, they nonetheless personified the formidable power he predicted:

"… take the center of a large city and imagine what would happen among the civilian population during a single attack by a single bombing unit. For my part, I have no doubt that its impact upon the people would be terrible… What could happen to a single city in a single day could also happen to ten, twenty, fifty cities. And, since news travels fast, even without telegraph, telephone, or radio, what, I ask you, would be the effect upon civilians of other cities, not yet stricken but equally subject to bombing attacks? What civil or military authority could keep order, public services functioning, and production going under such a threat?"

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Douhet was able to envision this because he, like his peers, accepted civilian populations as

military targets. Douhet believed cities are hubs of everything a nation needs to conduct war:

industry, productivity, finance, and population. This is crucial when one ponders Total War

tactics and how atomic warfare used to be acceptable.

The Japanese victims of Fat Boy and Little Man never had a chance to realize the

terrible impact Douhet describes, but those who witnessed the aftermath around the world

certainly did. The dropping of the atomic bombs galvanized the world with their destructive

capability. Societies fear of the nuclear bombs being used again has prevented major state on

state conflict for seventy years. Douhet predicted that air power would change the way

societies endured warfare by breaking societal resolve:

"A complete breakdown of the social structure cannot but take place in a country subjected to this kind of merciless pounding from the air. The time would soon come when, to put an end to horror and suffering, the people themselves, driven by the instinct of self-preservation, would rise up and demand an end to the war."

While he was right about a subjected country breaking down, Douhet was shortsighted in his

vision of air’s impact on war. The entire social structure of the world arguably broke down

after 1945. The U.S. had never been considered a world leader, but after dropping the atomic

bomb and declaring itself the sole arbiter of nuclear warfare, the U.S. unabashedly assumed

the mantle of leadership.

The United Nations formed out of the ashes of WWII. With all societies fully aware of

the new destructive capability war posses it didn’t take long before warfare was summarily

outlawed. Article 1 section one of the UN charter:

"To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective

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collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace"

Effectively, war had reached societies' threshold for destructive capability and tolerance. The

fear of nuclear annihilation with no prior notice simply terrified the world. Since WWII, the

physical destructive potential of warfare has not been released again, in spite of the

proliferation of nuclear weapons to no less than nine nations in possession of 15,800 nuclear

warheads (International Campaign to abolish nuclear weapons 2016).

Having been devastated by two world wars, societies began seeking new ways to

govern nations and regulate warfare. This search led to the embracement of human rights.

The belief in human rights is a result of Enlightenment era philosophers such as John Locke,

Tomas Hobbs, Charles de Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Jean Jacques Rousseau, which can be

summarized as the belief in individual liberty, self-determination, and equality. Following

WWII, with the U.S. virtually alone as the world’s leader, the ideas put forth in the

Enlightenment Era were beginning to be embraced globally. From its inception, the U.S.

aimed to embody these philosopher's ideas and synthesized them into a single governing

union making the U.S. a global ideological leader as much as a military one. Combined with

the power derived from nuclear weapons, the U.S. sought to embody Machiavelli's principle

for ruling: both loved and feared.

In 1944, there were 17 democracy-based governments, 32 anocracies2, and 20 autocracies

(Roser 2016). Democracy was the least used, and also least populated form of government. In

2 Despite its popular usage, anocracy lacks a precise definition. Anocratic regimes are also loosely defined as part democracy and part dictatorship, or as a "régime that mixes democratic with autocratic features".

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effect, this equated to less than two thirds of the world population actively participating in

their political bodies.3 This began to change after WWII. In 1948, there were 24 democracies

and by 2009 there were 87, an increase of over 350% (Roser 2016) directly-elected

governmental bodies subject to the political will of their populations. Thus if societies live in

fear of nuclear annihilation, it logically follows that the their responsive governments will

not engage in war and risk annihilation. Therefore the behavior of the people, which must be

derived from their belief system, assumes a greater role in the total political process,

including the conduct of war itself.

When the UN was founded in 1945 as an international body dedicated to maintaining

peace there were just 51 member nations (United Nations 2016). The permanent members

of the Security Council, the U.S., France, Great Britain, Russia, and China, only had to influence

46 other nations in order to pass a resolution. As of 2011, there were 193 member nations

(United Nations 2016). In other words, there are now 147 self-interested and self-

determined opinions decided the fate of any international law. Each UN member nation is

also entitled to their own sovereignty, protection of human rights, and ability to dictate

terms to international communities on various legalities to international treaties.

Not all nations embraced the U.S. as either the ideological or military leader. Those

nations who rejected the principles of the Enlightenment Era embraced another philosophy

of similar principles, Marxism or Communism. The basic premise of these philosophies is

that everyone is deserving of equality and it is the capitalist, or bourgeoisies, who aim to

3 This does not mean that a nation who claims to be a Democracy is actually considered one. The Democratic Republic of Korea is an example of a "Democracy" in name only and not counted among the actual Democratic nations. It is also important to note that not all counted democracies practice absolute "fair" election practices. Such a standard might discount all Democratic nations if it was the standard in the opinion of the author.

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exploit the working class. Regardless of the differences between Marxism and the

Americanized versions of Enlightenment philosophies, societies around the world pursued a

new social order based upon equal treatment. These societies also shared a presumption to

prevent nuclear war.

The spreading idea of political equality resulted in the claps of a centuries old practice

by western societies, colonialism. Within the claps of colonialism indicators of narratives

significance to war can be seen. India's unique approach to independence through non-

violence should not be overlooked as it reflects principle of supreme excellence defined by

SunTzu, breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting (Tzu 2004). Following WWII Great

Britain was a skeleton of its former glory and it is not difficult imagining the massive

population of India overwhelming the entirety of the British Colonial forces in an armed

revolution. Great Britain did not develop nuclear weapons until 1952 so it can be assumed

that Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian revolution against Great Britain, was not

practicing non-violence out of fear of nuclear weapons, but rather aversion to all violence.

However, Great Britain's concession to a non-violent movement that never challenged the

military capacity of Britain's forces is a strong statement in the affirmative that Western

societies had changed their view of warfare outright. We can begin to see narrative rise in

this example. Gandhi spoke non-violence, practiced non-violence, and images of his non-

violent protests legitimized his words and deeds spreading his narrative of non-violence as a

means to securing India's independence. Amazingly, in spite of the historical wealth and

investment made by Great Britain in India, independence was achieved non-violently.

Not all colonies choose non-violent revolutions against their European masters.

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Guerrilla wars became a means of challenging colonial and nuclear powers alike with no less

than 31 from 1945 to 1972 (Laqueur 1998). Western militaries began to conduct limited

warfare4 in the Korean War where the U.N. determined nuclear weapons would not be used

and limited victory was acceptable. Limited war continued over the decades as a means of

combating the guerrilla forces. These guerrilla wars were the result of weaker armies

fighting great powers. During the time of Vietnam's French Indo-China rebellion against

colonial rule came the American Vietnam War and the fundamental transformation of

warfare to one impacted by the narrative space can be seen;

"On January 31, 1968, some 70,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched the Tet Offensive (named for the lunar new year holiday called Tet), a coordinated series of fierce attacks on more than 100 cities and towns in South Vietnam. General Vo Nguyen Giap, leader of the Communist People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN), planned the offensive in an attempt both to foment rebellion among the South Vietnamese population and encourage the United States to scale back its support of the Saigon regime. Though U.S. and South Vietnamese forces managed to hold off the Communist attacks, news coverage of the offensive (including the lengthy Battle of Hue) shocked and dismayed the American public and further eroded support for the war effort. Despite heavy casualties, North Vietnam achieved a strategic victory with the Tet Offensive, as the attacks marked a turning point in the Vietnam War and the beginning of the slow, painful American withdrawal from the region." (History.com Staff 2009)

Here a nuclear society capable of destroying their enemy in days, but rejecting the violence of

warfare at its own peril. General Vo Nguyen Giap is credited as stating that the North

Vietnamese were preparing to negotiate peace following his defeat during the Tet offensive,

but it was the American media that presented the outcome of the battle as a loss by America

giving him and the North hope. "After Tet, the US reexamined and then changed its military

policy, placing new limits on American participation and setting the stage for the withdrawal

4 Limited warfare refers to a war fought with the least amount of force deemed necessary to win a war. For example, if a nuclear power chooses not to use nuclear weapons it is limiting its militaries capacity to fight the war it is engaged in. Other limitations are restricting Rules of Engagement, the choice not to use chemical or biological weapons, not to target civilians or non-combatants with lethal munitions. These limitations are commonly practiced means of conducting warfare today.

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of American troops." (Levanger 1973) President Lyndon Johnson withdrew his candidacy for

President of the United States a few months after Tet. Guerrilla fighters around the world

took notice. "As an Algerian militant put it, if his fighters killed thirty soldiers in a village, this

would be reported in a few lines on the back page of the world press whereas the noise of

even a small bomb in a big city would reverberate throughout the world and make

headlines." (Laqueur 1998) and within the headlines narrative dominates more than

weapons.

In addition to the growth of nations, the world has seen a rapid increase in total

population contributing to narratives significant rise in warfare. In 1950, the world

population was 2,556,000,053 (infoplease 2016). In 2010, the world population rose to

6,929,725,043 (WorldoMeters 2016), and is projected to reach over nine billion before 2050.

(infoplease 2016) This growth of over four billion people has revealed what is referred to as

narrative space. Narrative space refers to the time and place individuals receive narratives

that impact their belief system and dictate their behavior. Advertisements are an easily

recognizable reference point for understanding narrative space. They target specific

audiences at specific times on specific platforms to deliver a narrative in order to shape

audience beliefs and behaviors: primarily, purchasing habits. Today there are four billion

more people receiving narratives that inform and potentially change their belief systems

impacting their decision-making.

When planning to conduct military operations Sun Tzu stated that the first

consideration a general must consider is who has the moral law on their side because, "The

moral law causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow

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him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger." (Tzu 2004) The narrative space is

where the moral law is generally fought over and won. The impact of these societal changes

has reached a point where today where the narrative space engulfs the battle space,

rendering narrative a significant aspect to warfare.

Since 2001 the U.S. has been in a constant state of conflict with non-state actors in the

Middle East. The U.S. has employed a form of warfare known as Unified Action, which is the

total integration of Air, Land, Sea, Space, Cyberspace, Diplomatic, and other government

agencies and non-government organizations in these conflicts (United States Joint Chiefs of

Staff 2011). Within Unified Action are individual war-fighting functions, such as maneuver,

fires, and intelligence among others. Despite Unified Action taking place in the narrative

space, the U.S. has not developed the doctrine to effectively engage in it. The United States

military has invested in its ability to rapidly deliver precision munitions to specific targets

and is now capable of targeting enemy combatants with greater precision now more than

ever. Precision Guided Munitions (PGMs) can be fired from land, air, or sea and brought

within three meters of their target, drastically reducing any loss of life due to indiscriminant

fires. It is easy to correlate this effort by the U.S. military as one to contain societies potential

to reject the conflict and/or the military as was experienced following the Vietnam War. The

military is presenting a narrative of precision warfare where only those violent belligerents

actively participating in war will be targeted with the violence of warfare. Additionally, the

U.S. has spent $7,770,949,640,000 between 2001-2014 on its military (SIPRI 2016). In spite

of all this capability and financial investment in its military affairs, the U.S. has been unable to

decisively end conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria.

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Over the last few years ISIS has made public executions a reality for the global viewing

audience. James Folley was beheaded, Muath Al-Kassabeh was burned to death in a cage, and

even children are shooting captives in the back of their heads. These acts are simultaneously

being recorded and then posted online. This is because ISIS is delivering a narrative. The act

of killing is an act of narrative reinforcement for them. Executions are purposeful sending a

clear message legitimized by the graphic images accessible on every networked device to a

global audience. They are operating in the narrative space because they understand its value

to achieving their strategic goals. This could not be possible if the U.S. or another power

dropped nuclear weapons on all the cities ISIS controls. But the U.S. likely wont do that nor

will any other nation. That level of violence will be contained and limited wars practiced and

because of this ISIS, and Al Qaeda before them and it is likely more after them, will continue

to fight in the narrative space.

Today, most commanders-and-chiefs must consider their political constituents

passion for violence in warfare before engaging in it. Leaders must convince their political

body that war, executed under specified conditions, is in the best interest of the state. Once

again, this concept is preformed by those heads-of-state through narratives to their political

bodies. Narratives entrenched in popular culture, such as "Axis of Evil" with all of its loaded

terms, "Imperialist" or "Colonialist" and its baggage, or even "infidels" and its religious

history, are more important today than ever before in the conduct of war. Therefore, the U.S.

military needs to sufficiently update its doctrine, rewrite its Professional Military Education

curriculum, and field a total force capable of winning in the narrative space, lest it expect to

continue its current trajectory of being unable to decisively end its military conflicts.

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The threat of nuclear weapons and war's violence, the expansion of democracy, and

the rise of the global population have collectively elevated the importance of narrative to 21st

century warfare. The use of the atomic bombs in 1945 pushed Western societies to its

capacity for tolerating violence in warfare. The rejection of Total War theory and the

embracement of Enlightenment political thought have dulled one of Clausewitz's three

principles of war, the passion of the people to preform violence. This rise of narrative space

necessitates a requirement for the U.S. military to develop doctrine and capability to fight

and win in the narrative.

Works Cited

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