KA-BOOM, BANG BANG, POW, the noises of war. Many resent these sounds for it represents a horrible event to them. War can be seen as senseless fighting. It has claimed the lives of so many people around the world. But war is more than just fighting because it can bear advantageous fruits that a country can use to thrive. The United States especially has grown because of war. It has brought us from a country that farms into one that uses factories. World War II was the origin of many beneficial things to the United States such as hegemony, a revived economy, and new technology. With our dominant presence we keep other countries at bay, this is presence called hegemony. During World War II, Europe was getting overrun by the Nazis with Hitler …show more content…
Basically the article suggests life was rough. But that all changed when we decided to participate in the war. In Steven Horwitz and Michael J. McPhillips’ article, “ The reality of Wartime Economy”, they note that many people want to believe that war was the reason we got out of the Great Depression because it has many favorable outcomes. They also point out that the economy was also revived by the aid of the government, but only because World War II was a catalyst (3). Industries got back into shape to spew out war materials. As if in unison, the whole country acted to aid in this war. Due to the demand of war supplies, millions of jobs opened up in factories. Horwitz and McPhillips’ article agrees when statistics were compared from before the war, and during the war. The statistics showed that 17% of Americans were unemployed before and during the war almost zero percentage of the american work force unemployed (4). The war was enough stimulation to the economy to get its gears started. Since almost everyone was employed during the World War, they were able to accumulate a large amount of sum. The earned money from the citizens accumulated so much that many families were able to move away from the cities and live in the suburbs. Everyone had money to spend and new consumer …show more content…
War does have some major downsides to it. The people of the country has to sustain a toll for going to war. During World War II, American citizens’ living standards lowered. Americans had to ration food since normal living necessities wasn’t distributed among the public. Most of all the production happening at factories was to support the war cause and extremely little consumer goods were made. Citizens had to make due with basic utensils that weren’t up to date at all. Some families that were well off had enough food to eat, but the majority had to start growing their own food. Horwitz and McPhillips article supports this when they point out how Americans had to live lives of lower quality as a result from “reduced quality, quantity, and variety of products available” (9). Also in the book War is a force that gives us meaning written by Chris Hedges, he claims that “In wartime the states seeks to destroy its own culture … exterminate the culture of its opponents” (62). By this Hedges mean that war causes a country to build up significant levels of nationalism, or the belief that our nation is superior and just. We neglect our true selves and go into a state of mind in which war can be fought in. We have to make ourselves seem like the good guys, and reduce our enemies to mere objects. By doing so only then can we go to war with them. Even with these arguments, war is
...conflict. The war had a profound effect on the United States domestic life. The government had massive spending. The more than $150 billion spent throughout this war led to a severe economic crisis (Lawrence, 171.) The war also caused Americans to not trust their governmental leaders for the first time in history. This was due to the Watergate scandal along with the war efforts (Lawrence, 172.) Due to the profound effects economically and socially the war had on Americans, the U.S. should have not proceeded to entering into a battle that was not their own.
In the novel, My Brother Sam is Dead, by James and Christopher Collier, they teach that there are many other ways to solve conflict besides war. War is violent, disgusting, and gruesome and so many people die in war. Families separate in war because of how many people want to be in the thrill of the war and also how many innocent family members die in the midst of war. Lastly, war is worthless and it was caused by a disagreement over something little and the outcome of war is not worth the many lives, time, and money and there are other ways to solve conflict besides to fight. War causes so many negative outcomes on this world that it needs to be avoided at all costs.
They left people without jobs, homes, and money. In the story “Digging In” by Robert J. Hastings it explains how people did anything to make money for their families even if it was only for 5 dollars. Even with these hard times some people still had hope like it showed in “Depts” by Karen Hesse. In this poem a farmer had hope that rain would come to grow his dying wheat while his wife didn’t think so. This was a very stressful time right until president Roosevelt made some changes. In the article “The New Deal” it explains how Roosevelt helped end the great depression with programs that gave millions of people jobs. The great depression was a very hard, stressful, and sad time for the american people that had many
Third, during the war the US economy plummeted as we were still recovering from the great depression. We didn’t have much time since the great depression to the war. The unemployment rate since the great depression was low, but the war started to change that. “The United States was still recovering from the impact of the Great Depression and the unemployment rate was hovering around 25%”(Impact...KLRU). A lot of men were sent off to war so there jobs were not getting done and someone had to get them
Horwitz, Steven, and Michael J. McPhillips. "The Reality of the Wartime Economy: More Historical Evidence on Whether World War II Ended the Great Depression." Independent Review Vol. 17, No. 3 (2013): n. pag. Questia School. Web. 2 May 2014.
The American home front during World War II is recalled warmly in popular memory and cultural myth as a time of unprecedented national unity, years in which Americans stuck together in common cause. World War II brought many new ideas and changes to American life. Even though World War II brought no physical destruction to the United States mainland, it did affect American society. Every aspect of American life was altered by U.S. involvement in the war including demographics, the labor force, economics and cultural trends. During the Great Depression, the American birth rate had fallen to an all-time low due to delayed marriages and parenthood.
Tassava, Christopher J.. "The American Economy during World War II." EH.Net. The Economic History Association, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.
Nothing can impact society like war. War can be viewed as noble and just, or cruel and inhuman, as well as everything in between. War affects everyone in society whether they are fighting in a foreign country or waiting at home for a loved one to return. War is an indispensable part of civilization; found at every chapter of human history. It is the culmination of the basic survival instinct when provoked. As has the technique of battle; society's view on war has changed as well. Today the act of war has become almost shameful, whereas in earlier eras war was glorified and heroic. American society's view on war has changed also. Our history, even as a young country has seen a great deal of conflict.
Although wages rose during the war, prices also rose by sixty percent. Because European farm production was disrupted, the United States' agricultural prices rose more than fifty percent between 1913 and 1918, and farmers' income increased significantly. Many farmers saw this as a great opportunity to bring in wealth and borrow money to expand production, but when the high prices of agricultural merchandise decreased, planters faced a credit squeeze. While most men were off at war, many women and blacks took over their jobs, contributing intensely to the Great War, also known as World War I.
The years berween 1929 and 1933 were trying years for people throughout the world. Inflation was often so high money became nearly worthless. America had lost the prosperity it had known during the 1920's. America was caught in a trap of a complete meltdown of economy, workers had no jobs simply because it cost too much to ship the abundance of goods being produced. This cycle was unbreakable, and produced what is nearly universally recognized as the greatest economic collapse of all times. These would be trying years for all, but not every American faced the same challenges and hardships. (Sliding 3)
...epression. Obviously the high need for workers during World War II made people earn money. Many of them saved a lot of their money because they knew that they would probably lose their job after the war. Then, when Congress decided to cut tax rates in 1945, Americans had much more money to spend and they felt confident in starting new businesses, which led to a very low unemployment rate after the war and the end of the Great Depression.
Wars are good business. They create an immediate demand for a wide variety of materials needed by the government in order to fight the war. They create work opportunities for people that might not ordinarily be considered part of the normal work force. And, while not necessarily good for the soldiers engaged in the fighting, wars are always good for the businesses that provide the materials used in a war. The Second World War was very good for business.
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, Imperialism was a popular trend among the large, powerful countries. Imperialism is defined as “The policy of extending a nation's authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political hegemony over other nations” Imperialism cannot be said as either good or bad, but as a general rule; If you live in an annexed country, imperialism is not good, if your country annexes smaller ones to gain profit, land, and respect, then imperialism is good. The United States was not much of an imperialistic country until we won the Spanish-American war. As a result of this war, we annexed Guam, The Philippines, and Puerto Rico. This is the point at which the US becomes and imperialistic nation, and though it was a hard struggle to keep these annexed countries under control and eventually gave them all back to their rightful owners. The importance of taking these countries is that we then could have coal stations around the world to fuel our navy, and we got respect from other countries around the war. This respect and intimidation helped the allied powers defeat the central powers during World War II. Ever since the US became the most powerful nation after the Spanish-American war, we have retained the title.
War has been around for centuries. From the time modern civilizations began, war has played an integral part in human history. It shaped the world into the modern world we live in. War has been said to be a great motivator, for example, the Great Wall of China was built to fend off the attackers from the north. However, the negative aspects of war far outweighs any positive effects it might have. The destruction of civilizations, cities and countries, mass killings of men, woman and children alike, the disastrous effect it has on economy and the after effects of war can last for centuries.
War is such a debatable topic of whether it is just to wage a war on our neighbours or invade a country.One thing is very clear there are consequence and a cost. Martin Luther once stated,“War is the greatest plague that can afflict humanity, it destroys religion, it destroys states, it destroys families”. This was exactly what did. War was not a fun game like what Jessie Pope described it as in her poem, ‘Who’s for the game’. What war did was it changed people and society. The war caused soldiers to suffer from PTSD, it left families to face the feeling of grief and it crippled the economy.