Calling of war In this essay I will analyze two speeches, The Prophet Moses and President Roosevelt’s verbal and written plea to congress for a declaration of war against Japan. To help me with my analyses I will use two scholarly journals. The first called, Doctrinal War: Religion and Ideology in International Conflict and the second called, Japan’s Holy War: The Ideology of Radical Shinto Ultra nationalism, by using these two sources I will describe what similar concepts each speaker used to unit his nation as well as I will describe what justifications where given by both Moses and Roosevelt that enabled them to lead their nation in to war.
War has coincided with society since the ancient world, and will remain intertwined within society for reasons that can be best described in Robert Jacksons Doctrinal War: Religion and Ideology in International Conflict paper. In this paper he explains what Martin Wight, calls the three kinds of war evident from history, the first he describes is the wars of gain, these are described to be wars fought to expand territory and ultimately war that directly benefits the country. The second war he describes is war of fear, these wars are brought upon not because we want them to but because it is a necessity for ones nation to engage in these wars in order to defend and protect from current or future invaders. The third war he describes is war of doctrines these wars are, “missionary or crusading war, war to assert principles and advance a cause"[1] He goes on to say that doctrinal wars are, “wars of righteousness and conviction based on doctrines that are not only right for you but for us…They are wars to bring ones religion or ones ideology to foreigners and ultimately all people around the world. They are wars to defend the faith”[2]
The Two speeches I have chosen can be categorized as both war of fear and war of doctrine and to explain how the two speeches are similar I will use both defined definition of war to draw similarities between the two.
Moses starts his speech by telling his people “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. O not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemy to give you victory” [3] he tells theme this to reassure his people that they are already victors to the war not fought and need not fear, however at the middle of his speech Moses tells his people what they should fear if they choose not to fight, he address his troops by saying “Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it. Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it. Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marries her.”[4] by installing this fear in to them he is highlighting the necessity to wage war against their enemy however during this time Moses and his nation was not under attack meaning the justification to fight because of the fear of being invaded was not a solid reason to go to war. Toward the end of the speech however Moses starts to reveal to his people the real reason his nation should go to war, the definition he gives fits as a doctrine war, if you remember the definition of a doctrine war is a war fought based off values such as righteousness and ultimately a war to defend the faith. Moses clearly paints this picture by leaving one rule to his people, “Don’t leave alive anything that breathes .Completely destroy them, the Hittites, Amorites Canaanites, Perizzities, Hivites and Jebusites, as the Lord you God has commanded you. Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God.”
Today in the western civilizations