By Liu Si and Zhu Ruiqing
“这个国家是通过残忍无情、毁坏灵魂的战争建立起来的。认清了这一点，才能理解美国的过去与当下。”德国历史学家霍尔格•霍克在《美国的伤痕：独立战争与美国政治的暴力基因》一书中写道。
“The US was built through cruel, ruthless, and soul-destroying wars. Only by recognizing this can we understand the US’ past and present,” wrote German historian Holger Hoock in his book Scars of Independence: America’s Violent Birth.
美国建国和发展史同其进行战争和扩张的历史步调吻合。美国，自独立240多年来，带着其殖民基因和帝国梦想，经过持续不断的战争和军事扩张行为，从北美一隅的新兴政权，演变为全球军事霸权，并凭借霸权行霸道、施霸凌。
The history of the US’s founding and development aligns with its history of waging wars and expansion. For over 240 years since its independence, the US has evolved from a nascent power in North America into a global military hegemon driven by its colonial genes and imperial dreams. It has often exercised its military power arbitrarily and engaged in bullying and coercion.
无数事实告诉世人，美国恃强凌弱、巧取豪夺的军事霸权行为违背和平与发展大势，给许多国家带来巨大浩劫与无穷危害，是世界动荡不安的主要根源，是威胁人类社会文明进步的最大挑战。
Countless facts show the world that the US’s military hegemony, characterized by its reliance on force and exploitation, runs counter to the trends of peace and development. It has brought enormous devastation and harm to many countries, and stands as a major source of global instability and the greatest challenge to the advancement of human civilization.
“天定命运”：支撑霸权的精神假想
Manifest Destiny: The Spiritual Fantasy Underpinning Hegemony
美国自诩为“山巅之城”，美国人自视为“上帝选民”，认为美国是一个拥有“天定命运”的国家。数百年来，美国人以此为美国军事扩张和军事霸权赋予了所谓“合法性”和“神圣性”。
The US has long referred to itself as “a city upon a hill,” and the Americans have often seen themselves as the “chosen people.” They believe that America is a nation with “Manifest Destiny”. For centuries, Americans have used this concept to imbue their military expansion and hegemony with a sense of legitimacy and divine purpose.
根据新华社国家高端智库发布的《起底美国军事霸权的根源、现实与危害》报告（简称报告），美国依靠武力等不断扩张，借美墨战争、美西战争等向西、向海扩张，经两次世界大战崛起为全球超级大国，于冷战后形成一家独大的单极霸权。在美国走向全球军事霸权的历程中，“天定命运论”始终在为美国发展和巩固军事霸权提供着精神假想与行动借口，不断影响着美国的政策和行为——不仅是美国历史上使用军事手段开疆拓土和暴力迫害原住民的依据和借口，也是美国20世纪以来争夺世界主导地位、输出价值观和对外武力干涉的思想根源。
Dozens of armored vehicles from the US military move from the city of Kuwait towards the border with Iraq on March 25, 2003. The Iraq War had begun.as six cruise missiles launched by the US Navy struck some key targets in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad on March 20, 2003. (Photo by Li Xiaoguo)
According to the “Origins, Facts and Perils of the US Military Hegemony” Report, released by Xinhua Institute, the think tank of Xinhua News Agency, the US has continually expanded its territory and influence through the use of force. From the Mexican-American War to the Spanish-American War, the US expanded westward and seaward, rising to become a global superpower through two world wars. After the Cold War, it emerged as the sole dominant unipolar hegemon. Throughout America’s journey toward global military hegemony, “Manifest Destiny” has served as both a spiritual fantasy and a pretext for its development and consolidation of military dominance. It has consistently influenced American policies and actions, not only as a historical justification and excuse for territorial expansion and violence against indigenous peoples, but also as an ideological foundation for the 20th-century struggle for global leadership, the promotion of values, and military interventions abroad.
美国外交学者乔治•赫林就曾指出，从驱逐美洲原住民、夺取墨西哥三分之一领土、对菲律宾人和波多黎各人实行殖民统治，到2003年入侵伊拉克，“美国对其‘伟大使命’的认识一直被用来合理化其武力扩张”。
American foreign affairs scholar George Herrin once pointed out that from the expulsion of Native Americans, the seizure of one-third of Mexican territory, colonial rule over the Philippines and Puerto Rico to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the US has consistently used its perception of greater destiny to legitimize its military expansion.
此外，美国人还在不断试图给自身的扩张行为找寻理论依据。美国的社会达尔文主义者称，国家也与自然界一样，遵循弱肉强食、适者生存的规律。国际关系学者们则提出霸权稳定论、民主和平论等，鼓吹美国主导的世界单极体系能带来持久和平。
Furthermore, Americans have continuously attempted to find theoretical justifications for their expansionist actions. Social Darwinists in the US have argued that nations, like nature, follow the laws of jungle justice and the survival of the fittest. And their scholars have proposed theories like hegemonic stability and democratic peace, advocating that the unipolar world order led by the US can bring lasting peace.
报告认为，事实上，这些论调都经不起历史和现实的检验，无论如何变换用语，都是为美国军事霸权和利益辩护、服务的理论，其内核都反映出美国黩武、扩张、干预、道德粉饰的帝国思想。
The Report argues that these arguments do not stand up to historical and real-world scrutiny. Regardless of the terminology used, they all serve as theoretical justifications for American military hegemony and interests, reflecting a core imperialist ideology of American militarism, expansionism, interventionism, and moral whitewashing.
软硬兼施：维系霸权的百般手段
Using Both Soft and Hard Means: Myriad Strategies to Sustain Hegemony
“战争已经成为这个国家历史中不可分割的一部分。与其说美国从建国开始便一直进行战争，倒不如说是战争本身造就了美国。美国所打的战争成就了今天的美国，也将塑造未来的美国。”法国历史学家托马•拉比诺这样描述美国与战争“牢不可破”的关系。
War has become an inseparable part of this country’s history. It is not so much that the United States has been waging wars since its inception; rather, wars have shaped theUS. The wars fought by theUS have contributed to the America we see today and will shape its future, said French historian Thomas Rabino, who described the unbreakable relationship between theUS and war.
战争和军事行动是美国维持军事霸权地位的最直接手段。美国在其240多年历史中，仅有不到20年没有打仗，堪称世界历史上最好战的国家。通过一场场战争，美国铺设了覆盖全球的军事基地作为控制世界的战略锚点，将拉美和加勒比国家视作“后院”，控制中东等欧亚大陆地缘政治咽喉，把军队部署至非洲，通过军事手段控制重要资源和原料。
A protester holds up a sign in a rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, on February 19, 2023. (Photo by Liu Jie)
War and military actions are the most direct means by which theUS maintains its military hegemonic status. The country has been out of war in less than 20 years during its over 240-year history, making it one of the most belligerent nations in world history. TheUS has established a network of military bases worldwide through a series of wars, serving as strategic anchors for global control. It considers Latin America and the Caribbean as its “backyard,” controls the geopolitical heartland of the Middle East and Eurasia, and deploys troops in Africa to gain control over essential resources and raw materials through military means.
美国智库昆西治国方略研究所2021年一项研究显示，目前，美国在海外80个国家和地区设有750个军事基地，几乎是美国驻外使领馆和使团数量的3倍，每年运行成本或高达550亿美元。仅从2001年开始，海外军事基地支持美国在至少25个国家发动战争或军事行动。
A 2021 study by the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, aUS think tank, revealed that theUS currently has 750 military bases in 80 countries and regions around the world. This is nearly three times the number ofUS embassies and consulates abroad, with annual operating costs potentially reaching as high as USD 55 billion. Since 2001 alone, overseas military bases have supportedUS involvement in wars or military actions in at least 25 countries.
报告指出，为维护全球军事霸权，美国不仅通过发动或介入战争、铺设全球军事基地网等显性手段进行直接控制，还通过构建同盟体系、利用规则机制等隐性手段进行间接控制。
The report highlights that to maintain its global military hegemony, theUS employs overt means such as initiating or intervening in wars and establishing a global network of military bases for direct control, and covert means like building alliance systems and utilizing rule mechanisms for indirect control.
以1949年北约成立为标志，美国开始着手打造军事同盟，之后又建立了美菲、美日、美韩等双边同盟，企图以结盟取得整体军事力量优势从而威慑对手，实现自身政治和安全利益。如今越来越多的国家发现，同盟体系实为美国维护军事霸权的工具，作为“盟友”不得不服从美国意志。正如德国联邦议院议员塞维姆•达代伦所说：“美国想要的不是盟友，而是忠诚的仆从。”
Starting with the establishment of NATO in 1949, theUS began to build military alliances. Subsequently, it formed bilateral alliances with countries like the Philippines, Japan, and South Korea, attempting to gain an overall military advantage through alliances to deter adversaries and advance its own political and security interests. More and more countries now realize that alliance systems serve as tools for the country to maintain military hegemony, and as “allies,” they must adhere toUS dictates. As German Federal Parliament member Sevim Dağdelen put it, “TheUS doesn’t want allies; it wants loyal servants.”
各类规则和机制则是美国隐形控制的另一个重要手段，例如利用《出口管理条例》《武器出口控制法》等法律法规构筑军民两用及军用出口管制体系；设立《原子能法》等特定领域立法；建立或主导诸如“巴黎统筹委员会”“导弹及技术控制制度”“瓦森纳安排”等多边机制。而这些国际规则和机制的存在本质上服务美国安全利益。
Various rules and mechanisms serve as another important means of invisible control by theUS. For example, it utilizes laws and regulations such as the Export Administration Regulations and the Arms Export Control Act to build a system for controlling dual-use and military exports. It establishes specific legislation in areas like the Atomic Energy Act and leads or participates in multilateral mechanisms such as the “Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls” (COCOM), the “Missile Technology Control Regime” (MTCR), and the “Wassenaar Arrangement.” The existence of these international rules and mechanisms fundamentally servesUS security interests.
近年来，美国人还炮制了“基于规则的国际秩序”这一说辞，用来美化包装霸权主义。俄罗斯战略规划与预测研究所所长亚历山大•古谢夫指出，美国刻意保持“基于规则的国际秩序”定义的模糊性，因为这些所谓的“规则”越不具体，美国就越能对其随意“装扮”。一旦有国家违背美国的意愿，美国就会指责其“违反规则”，就有理由对其进行惩罚。
In recent years, Americans have coined the term “rules-based international order” to package and beautify their hegemonism. Alexander Gusarov, Director of the Institute for Strategic Planning and Forecasting in Russia, pointed out that theUS deliberately maintains the ambiguity of the definition of a “rules-based international order” because the more vague these so-called rules are, the more theUS can arbitrarily dress them up. Once a country goes againstUS wishes, theUS accuses it of violating the rules, providing a pretext for punitive actions.
无尽伤害：滥施霸权造成的灾难
Endless Harm: Disasters Caused by Rampant Hegemony
“我们可以有一面特别的国旗——我们的国家也可以这样做：我们可以只保留我们惯常的国旗，把白色条纹涂成黑色，用骷髅标志代替星星。”1901年，美国作家马克•吐温曾写下这样的文字来谴责美国在菲律宾发动战争、血腥屠戮的帝国主义行为。
“We can have a special one—our States do it: we can have just our usual flag, with the white stripes painted black and the stars replaced by the skull and cross-bones.” In 1901, American writer Mark Twain wrote such words to condemn the US imperialist actions in the Philippines, where they launched wars and carried out bloody massacres.
美国军事霸权驱动的战车带来了无休止的伤害。征服印第安人的战争，直接抹去了数百万印第安人口；菲律宾殖民战争，20万至100万菲律宾人死亡；朝鲜战争，300多万平民死亡；越南战争，200万平民死亡；伊拉克战争，20万至25万平民死亡……根据美国布朗大学“战争代价”项目今年公布的数字，“9•11”事件后，美国在全球至少85个国家发动战争或“反恐行动”，已直接导致包括43.2万平民在内的超过94万人死亡，3800万人流离失所或成为难民。
People stand guard near the bodies of civilians killed in an airstrike in Ghazni Province, eastern Afghanistan, on September 29, 2019. Arif Noori, a spokesman for the Ghazni provincial government, stated that on the evening of September 28, 2019, US troops launched an airstrike in the Khwaja Umari area of the province, resulting in the deaths of at least fivecivilians. (Photo by Rukhulla)
The juggernaut driven by American military hegemony has brought endless harm. The wars that conquered Native Americans directly wiped out millions of their lives. The Philippine colonial war resulted in the deaths of 200,000 to 1 million Filipinos. The Korean War led to the deaths of over three million civilians. The Vietnam War claimed the lives of two million civilians. The Iraq War resulted in the deaths of 200,000 to 250,000 civilians. According to the “Costs of War Project” at Brown University in the US, since the “9/11” attacks, the US has launched wars or “counter-terrorism operations” in at least 85 countries around the world, directly causing over 940,000 deaths, including 432,000 civilians, and displacing 38 million people, many of whom have become refugees.
如美国学者、巴德学院教授沃尔特•拉塞尔•米德所言：“美国是世界历史上最危险的军事力量。”
As American scholar and Bard College professor Walter Russell Mead put it, the US is the most dangerous military power in world history.
美国在全球的军事行为不仅直接造成巨大的人道主义灾难，更带来包括社会动荡、难民潮、心理创伤、生态危机等一系列复杂的社会问题。
US military actions globally have not only directly caused immense humanitarian disasters but have also brought about a range of complex societal problems, including social unrest, refugee crises, psychological trauma, and ecological crises.
例如，美军在越南留下约35万吨可爆炸的炸弹和地雷，估计仍需300年才能完全清除。美国驻日本冲绳的3座军事基地2002年至2016年至少发生270起污染环境事件，其中大多数未向日本政府通报。2022年5月，韩国正在收回的龙山美军基地被曝土壤和地下水污染严重，韩国环境部发现位于该基地南营区宿舍用地土壤中总石油烃超标29倍，地下水中致癌物苯和酚分别超标3.4倍和2.8倍。
For example, the US military left approximately 350,000 tons of unexploded bombs and landmines in Vietnam, estimated to take 300 years to clear completely. Between 2002 and 2016, at least 270 environmental pollution incidents occurred at three US military bases in Okinawa, Japan, with most of them not reported to the Japanese government. In May 2022, it was revealed that the US Army Garrison Yongsan, being returned to South Korea, had severe soil and groundwater contamination. South Korea’s Ministry of Environment found that total petroleum hydrocarbons in the soil on the dormitory site in the South Camp area of the base exceeded the standard by 29 times, while carcinogenic substances benzene and phenol in the groundwater exceeded the standard by 3.4 times and 2.8 times, respectively.
据美国布朗大学沃森国际与公共事务研究所2019年公布的数据，自2001年全球反恐战争以来，美军在装备和部署行动、作战行动、武器制造等过程中，已经产生了12亿吨温室气体，“是世界上最大的温室气体排放者之一”。
According to data released by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University in 2019, since the global war on terror began in 2001, the US military has generated 1.2 billion tons of greenhouse gases through equipment and deployment, combat operations, weapon manufacturing, and other processes, making it one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters.
美国的军事霸权行为给世界各国带来灾难的同时，也给美国自身带来严重创伤。拉比诺在《美国战争文化》一书中指出，美国几乎每代人都吞食过战争引发的政治、经济和社会乱象所带来的恶果。
While the US military hegemony has caused disasters for countries around the world, it has also inflicted serious wounds on the country itself. As noted by Thomas Rabino in his book American War Culture, almost every generation of Americans has experienced the consequences of the political, economic, and social turmoil brought about by war.
美国布朗大学“战争代价”项目数据显示，有超过7000名美军士兵以及约8000名美国防务承包人在“9•11”事件后美国发动的战争中身亡。另有超过3万名美军士兵自杀，这一数字是战斗中阵亡人数的4倍。美国为维持军事霸权所投入的天价军费也让美国国民背上了越来越沉重的负担，美国2001年后战争相关花费已超过5.8万亿美元。更重要的是，美国的军事霸权和对外战争行径滋生并助长了极端势力，反噬了自身安全，“9•11”事件便是典型案例。
The data from Brown University’s “Costs of War Project” shows that over 7,000 US military personnel and approximately 8,000 US defense contractors have died in the wars launched by the US after the 9/11 attacks. Additionally, more than 30,000 US service members have died by suicide, four times greater than combat deaths. The exorbitant military expenditures required to maintain military hegemony have placed an increasingly heavy burden on the American people, with war-related costs exceeding USD 5.8 trillion since 2001. Furthermore, the US military hegemony and its foreign military actions have nurtured and empowered extremist forces, leading to blowback and jeopardizing its security, with the 9/11 attacks being a prominent example.
“在战争中建国，在战争中扩张，在战争中称霸，是为美国。”报告写道，今天美国的军事扩张仍在继续，美国军事霸权主义仍在霸凌、破坏我们共同生活的世界。
The report concludes, “America was founded in war, expanded in war, and became an empire in war.” Today, US military expansion continues, and American military hegemony continues to bully and disrupt the world we all share.
