The Ethical Theories of World War II

Today's military strategists atomic number 18 fitted to protect troops and civilians more than those of the past. Unlike World state of war I and World state of war II, today's strategists don't rely on acerbate gas or biological weapons to kill others due to multinational treaties ratified in the aftermath of the use of such weapons. Further, today's strategists go to great pains to avoid the inadvertent death of civilians, as was witnessed in Kosovo. However, such "ethical" consideration of military military unit and civilians is a far cry from strategies during World War II wherein military strategists on both sides of the conflict regularly and purposely targeted civilians, from the Dresden bombing to the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the following quad throws, we are provided with a firsthand account of such interposition of soldiers and civilians and its impact: 1) Rikihei Inoguchi's (1994) The Divine Wind; 2) Johann Voss' (2002) Black Edelweiss; 3) Ernie Pyle's (2002) jovial Men; and, 4) Gerald F. Linderman's (1999) The World Within War.

In Rikihei Inoguchi's (1994) The Divine Wind, we are provided with the firsthand accounts via letters of Nipp anese kamikaze fighters in World War II. In The Divine Wind, we see that the suicide bombings of Muslim pilots on September 11, 2001, represented a similar strategy employ by the Japanese during World War II. In the book Inoguchi (1994) relives his experiences as a pi

Inoguchi explains how the exculpation for the suicide missions planned in the Philippines stemmed from the fact that Japanese forces were heavily outnumbered in the region. Furthermore, reinforcement from the Second Air pass by in Formosa would not be forthcoming in cartridge clip due to needing repairs from a previous battle. As Inoguchi (1994) recalls, "Until it could regroup its eat up strength and transfer to Philippine bases, we stood alone a handful of planes against hundreds," (7). The ethics of Japanese pilots willing to partake in suicide missions stemmed from the pride of the Japanese culture and its refusal to admit defeat. The raising in pilot school also played a role in forming the ethics of country before look in these men.

When the suicide attacks are outlined for the men, Inoguchi remarks that it was not uncommon and had been used before. Such a strategy was even urged by the pilots themselves. Inoguchi (1994) provides some justification for what appears to be a violation of the rights of the pilot's. He argues that since they had very little chance of returning from this mission alive, the closely effective strategy had to be adopted. As he suggests, "If one is bound to die, what is more natural than the desire to die effectively, at maximum cost to the enemy?" (Inoguchi 2003, 8).

In Johann Voss' (2002) Black Edelweiss, the origin soldier in the Waffen-SS in Germany during World War II provides us with the account of an average, middle-class German. Germans' motivation during the war, both civilians and a majority of military personnel were for love of country. German value were instilled in Voss by the Nazi propaganda machine and his parents. His brother, father, and grandfather had served in the military and Voss, hoping to serve his country he loved, volunteered to belong to the elite division like many other Germans. Such ethics motivated the seventeen-year-old enlistee while he fought as a machine gunner in SS-Mountain Infantry Regi
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