This was somewhat a political decision that the United States needed to make in support of her allies. The U.S needed to prioritize strategy in choosing how they would act after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and Hitler’s military success’s in Europe. The U.S had two options as to how they would proceed with military action. We knew if Russia collapsed that would allow Hitler to then fully focus his attention to defeating the British as well as helping out the Japanese which was a great ally of Hitler. The Japanese military success with the bombing of Pearl Harbor was obviously of great importance to the United States but helping our allies defeat Hitler took precedence after Winston Churchill asked the president Franklin D. Roosevelt for support in defeating Hitler.
“This is a war to end all wars”. This quote from Woodrow Wilson showed how he viewed the war, it also gives a view on the amount of effort that would be put in to this was as it was the last one. When the USA joined the war in 1917 the federal government seized an opportunity to increase its powers. With the use of government intervention America began to change politically, socially, and economically. Certain laws were passed to repress the unwanted voices and taxes set to fund the war and government influence, these aspects will be analysed in more depth.
In Howard Zinn’s “The Empire and the People”, he explains factors that led to American expansion. “In strict confidence…I should welcome almost any war, for I think this country needs one”, says Theodore Roosevelt to a friend in 1897. A factor of expansion through a war would deflect some of the rebellious energy that went into strikes and protests and shift that energy to an external enemy. It would help unite the people and the government. Another factor was brought to the table by Captain A.T. Mahan of the U.S. Navy, who had great influence with Theodore Roosevelt.
This telegraph which showed a potential alliance about to be formed between Mexico and Germany eventually became the deciding factor that led them to the war. This was a significant threat to the geographical position of Mexico. This led to America being forced to act as it was also a direct violation of the Monroe Doctrine and it was a direct threat to US citizens so the US. These events both had severe potential consequences from Mexico and Germany to America’s trade and security so it had no choice but to go to war. There were also economic reasons.
The United States could not safely increase their military and defense spending without the nation’s public getting upset. This is where the Cold War fits in because it could have been largely avoided but the American government jumped headlong into it in order to accomplish their goals at hand. With communism such a large threat, the American government would have the perfect opportunity to increase spending while getting the public’s full support in the matter. Secondly, the United States wanted the Asian, European, and Middle Eastern economies for American business to prosper in the future. America was becoming a large export nation and needed economies where they could sell their products.
Throughout the early to mid 1900s it was widely accepted that Wilson was pushed to enter the war purely based on his business interests, being the trade and debt aspects the his relationship with the allies lead to as suggested by C. Beard. However later view of historians, such as Brogan, C. Ray, H. Evans and N. Ferguson, suggest that he made the decision to enter to war due to moral aspects, such as moral obligation to retaliate to illegal submarine warfare by the Germans as well as an attempt to make the world a better place. Therefore, a combination of these aspects will be analysed in this essay, with a focus on those reasons that lead to his association with the allied powers, rather than the central powers. Prior to, and throughout WWI the USA maintained a much closer economic relationship with the allies than with the central powers. In 1914 loans to Germany stood at $344 million, and loans to Britain were $549 million, and in 1918 total loans to the allies totalled around $10.5 billion.
World War I In 1917 the United Stated had entered World War I on the allied side. American involvement in World War I began because the President and people had been persuaded by plenty of events and pressures that they could not just stand there without taking action. Alongside the fact that the Germans sunk the Lusitania and purposed the Zimmermann Telegram to Mexico to declare war with the United States, public opinion had turned against the Germans and Central Powers. Americans made a major impact in World War I in these specific areas; national economy, public attitudes, and the civili liberties. American particpation had a huge impact on national economy.
He felt strongly about keeping good relations with other countries, but at the same time warned Americans of the danger of remaining isolated from a world that was slowly being taken over by dictators in Germany, Italy, and Japan. He was in turn dominated by an isolationists Congress that felt that U.S involvement in World War I was a big mistake and were determined to prevent the United States from being drawn into another European war. When World War II broke out in Europe in 1939, Roosevelt called Congress into special session to revise neutrality acts to permit allies to buy American arms on a “cash-and-carry” basis. But Great Britain quickly became
Britain needed destroyers in order to fight the battles of the Atlantic. Although this was a simple trade, it marked that America was in direct contact with Britain for their needs to win the war, which makes them a non-neutral country. Ultimately, it was a smart move by the English because if Britain was captured, Germany and the Axis powers would have to fight Americans in ex-British colonies around the world. Moreover, in 1941, Britain found itself out of supplies and out of money. Roosevelt at that time declared that the “Defence of Great Britain is the defence of the
After the Second World War, American foreign policy was back once again to intervention to try and make the world a better and more peaceful place. After the victory of the First World War, the public of America had enough of being a part of foreign affairs. This led to the disagreement towards the United States joining the League of Nations, resulting in the U.S. not signing. This was the only major thing the U.S. did that could be categorized as isolationist. In other terms, America was definitely in interventionist mode.