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What is Military-Industrial Complex?
What is Military-Industrial Complex?
The concept of Military-Industrial Complex, which was a term that was coined by Dwight D. Eisenhower on January 17th 1961, was originally used as a warning against the impending Soviet threat that loomed over the West. Essentially, it means the relationship between a country's army and its defense industry. In the case of America, the word generally refers to the United States Armed Forces, but it can extend to other branches like the United States Navy or Air force. The expectation for America was that a mutually beneficial agreement would be formed by the U.S Congress, U.S Bureaucracy, and interested groups in this case, defense contractors. This would form a robust time frame in which political contributions, political approval for military spending, lobbying to support bureaucracies, and oversight of the industry would come together quickly and efficiently for the military. This concept was generally called the "Iron Triangle" (Wikipedia contributors, 2024, para. 2). Today most historians classify the history of the U.S Military-Industrial Complex into three eras.
The First Era (1797 - 1941)
The First Era (1797 - 1941)
During this Era, the U.S military heavily relied on the civilian infrastructure that was available to design, build, and maintain the equipment that they had. One notable example of this was the many ships that were produced during WWI by the US. It owned the shipyards where the ships were being built and hired civilian shipbuilding companies to build the ship for them (Critical Issues, n.d., paras. 4–5). Although many wars were fought during this period, the U.S was never dragged into a war that lasted for long periods of time or one which caused much destruction to U.S troops and equipment. For example, while most of Europe was engulfed in constant war during WWI and received massive amounts of damage, mainland U.S was never directly affected. Along with that, most European powers fought for nearly 4 years starting in 1914. While the U.S joined in 1917. This didn't give the U.S enough time to develop the Military-Industrial Complex as it is today, which is why the U.S Military mainly relied on civilian infrastructure even after the war.
The result of the military-industrial complex of this time period
Weaponry that the average US troop would be deployed with
Ship-Building during WWI by civilian companies in US-owned shipyards
The Second Era (WWII - 1992)
The Second Era (WWII - 1992)
Most Historians agree that the second era of the military-industrial complex began during WWII. This period for the US was characterized by rapid growth and acceleration of technologies, conversion of civilian based infrastructure to solely for the purpose of military, and direct expansion of the military-industrial complex through legislation. These changes occurred mainly because of two reasons. The need for reliable, robust, efficient, and effective weaponry that the US could use against the Axis Powers (McDonnell, 2020, ll. 7–9) and growing concerns that the Soviet Union and its members of the Warsaw Pact would push into the West (The Military Industrial Complex Is More Powerful Than Ever | the Nation, 2023, para. 8). The sudden need for military equipment nurtured and supported the growth and consolidation of the US military-industrial complex. As a result, many specific defense contractors that have fields that are specific to the army were born. This allowed for rapid development of weaponry at a rapid rate, efficient legislator that would allow for gains in technology, and a strong connection with bureaucracy that would allow quick execution of certain plans.
Civilian infrastructure that was specifically converted to serve the military's purpose. In this case Ford's car company to producing bombers for the US
Another example of Ford motors building military equipment for the US army, in this case M4 Shermans
The planes and jet produced in the Cold War now in a scrapyard
The Third Era (1992 - Now)
The Third Era (1992 - Now)
Finally we come to the last and final era. During the beginning of this era, the Soviet Union collapsed and with it most of the need for vast amounts of military funding for a future threat. As a result, most of the countries in NATO began to cut their military spending however the US kept most of its funding. During this Era however, most of the defense contractors that still existed began to merge with the other contractors to make bigger companies, and those that didn't merge shift their focus back to civilian operations. The reason for the US's continuous funding towards the military was because that is a huge industry and powers a fundamental part of the US's economy despite the collapse of communism and end of the Cold War (Weber, 2024, para. 7). Today, the US has a bigger military spending than the next 15 countries combined
How the geopolitical world looked like during the Cold War
The percentage of money spent by countries on their military
How the constant improvement of the military-industrial complex looks like represented by a ball repsenting a defense contractor
Conclusion
Conclusion
All in all, the military-industrial complex is the mutually beneficial agreement that Congress, the Bureaucracy, and interested groups (in this case defense contractors) that has developed greatly throughout the years. The first era lasting from 1797 to 1941 and remaining in the hands of civilian infrastructure. The second era lasting from WWII to 1992 in which military spending greatly increased and dedicated defense contractors arose. The current era starting from 1992 to now cut back the growth of spending eventually leaving us with the greatest military budget of any country which is close to 900 billion dollars. Some economist claim that we may have entered a new military-industrial complex due to the economic "Cold War" that the US and China are having now. In the end, the spending on military assets directly affects us because of the lack of funding in other places such as free healthcare, new space program, and welfare of the people.
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Resources Used
Resources Used
Critical issues. (n.d.). https://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/fact-sheets/critical-issues/6738-military-industrial-complex
McDonnell, L. (2020, June 26). Who’s Your Ally? Part 3: Meet the Primes – The origins of the U.S. military-industrial complex - MIT Office of Innovation. MIT Office of Innovation - Supporting the Process of Innovation From Idea Through Impact. https://innovation.mit.edu/blog-post/whos-your-ally_3/
The military industrial complex is more powerful than ever | The nation. (2023, May 9). The Nation. https://thenation.com/article/world/military-industrial-complex-defense/
Weber, R. N. (2024, May 17). Military-industrial complex | Definition, Elements, Influence, & Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/military-industrial-complex
Wikipedia contributors. (2024, April 20). Military–industrial complex. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93industrial_complex
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