1. The American and European response to German and Japanese acts of aggression were justified and fair. For instance, when Japan invades and moves into Manchuria and Vietnam the United States puts an embargo on steel and oil in order to stop Japanese imperialism which was justified and fair because the United States can choose who to trade with.. Also when the Germans invaded Poland with blitzkrieg or “lightning war”, Britain and France declared war on Germany this was fair because Britain and France were attempting to defend Poland. Finally when the Japan attacked Pearl Harbor the United States declares war on Japan, which was justified because the Japanese attacked and bombed an American naval base. 2. The Axis and Allied powers both implemented new strategies and technologies during the war. Radar was used by America to defend against German submarines that were attacking ships off the Eastern coast of the United States. Blitzkrieg also known as “lightning war” was a German tactic that required the concentration of offensive weapons such as tanks and artillery on a narrow front. The Germans used blitzkrieg to quickly defeat Europe in order to avoid a long war. Also sonar which makes use of sound waves to detect distant objects was used to combat German submarines in America and Britain. 3. During World War II the United States of America gradually shifted from neutrality to participation in the war. American isolation was mostly because of the Neutrality Acts of 1935 that outlawed arm sales and loans to nations at war or civil war. However the Neutrality Acts created conflict among nations that frequently traded with the United States, especially in Japan because the United States had an embargo on steel and oil plus ... ... middle of paper ... ...e stage for the Cold War. “The iron curtain” or the invisible line that separated communism and democracy helped Stalin to secure Communist government in Eastern Europe also known as the satellite nations. Also, two rival alliances form the NATO or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Warsaw pact which consisted of the Soviet Union and its satellite nations. 10. The United States of America attempt to contain the spread of Communism after World War II. The Marshall plan provided food, machinery and materials to rebuild Western Europe and combat communism. The Truman doctrine provided United States aid to countries that rejected communism. During the Berlin Airlift when France, Britain and the United States united Western Germany while the Soviets held West Berlin hostage and cut off supplies, the United States flew food and supplies into West Berlin.
Although the United States appeared isolationist in the 1920s it cannot be called truly isolationist as policy remained interventionist over some issues. Although it did not join the League of Nations it worked closely with them especially over humanitarian issues. It also instigated and signed the Kellog-Briande Pact in 1928 along with 63 other nations, outlawing war.
The Iron Curtain is a Western term referring to an imaginary boundary which divided Europe into two separate areas of political influence and ideology from the end of World War II until the end of the Cold War.
To start off the Cold war, Russia had lost twenty-seven million soldiers in World War II. Stalin was not going to allow the Germany to attack Russia again . To make sure of this , Stalin made East Europe his buffer zone.The United states could not allow the this to contunie to happen. The first example was the Truman Doctrine, that declared the the Untited States would support “free people”. The Doctrine was followed by the Marshall Plan which gave 12 billion dollars in aid European democracies so that communist ideas would not be so attractive. These were some of the long term , patient policies the United States did to
After the war, the United States and the Soviet Union had very different ideas on how to rebuild. The United States, led by President Truman, wanted to form democracies in Europe and create a capitalistic society to build economically strong nations that would compliment the American economy through trade. In contrast, the Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin, wanted to rebuild itself and spread communism through Europe and Asia. In a desperate attempt to rebuild, many countries devastated by war fell under soviet influence and resorted to communism. The Soviet Union called these nations Satellite nations and hoped that they would serve as ?buffer? nations, preventing invasion from the west .In its efforts to defend democracy, the U.S. created the policy of containment. In this new policy, the United States would try to block Soviet influence by making alliances and supporting weaker nations. Winston Churchill described this strategy as an ?iron curtain?, which became and invisible line separating the communist from the capitalist countries in Europe. To help enforce the ideas of containment, President Truman create...
During 1940-1970, the USSR and the USA were the world’s leading superpowers. After WW2, it was the US money that helped rebuild nearly all of Western Europe, putting nearly half a dozen countries into debt. They opened trade and helped Europe’s ravaged economy to get back onto its feet. They did so by creating the ‘Marshall Plan’ on June the 5th, 1947. The plans aim was to reconstruct Western Europe and at the same time to stop Communism spreading to them – the Americans were avid believers in the Domino Theory, and believed that communism would take over all of Europe if they did not intervene. They also created other policies such as the Truman doctrine on March the 12th, 1947 (which is a set of principles that state that the US as the worlds ‘leading country’ will help out other democratic governments worldwide) and NATO, 4th of April 1949.
Before the United States entered WW II, President Franklin Roosevelt signed a series of documents known as the Neutrality Acts. These acts were passed and followed between the years 1935 and 1941 and were used to keep the U.S. out of the war.1 The Neutrality Acts limited weapons sales to countries not involved in the war, gave the U.S. power to keep its citizens off of ships of, or travelling to nations involved in the war, and outlawed loans to countries currently in war and countries who had not paid back previous loans.2 These acts also outlawed American ships to carry weapons to nations in the war. The U.S. believed that if a nation in war knew that a ship had weapons on it, this ship would be a prime target for that country, therefor drawing the U.S. into another war. The Neutrality Acts helped keep the U.S. out of WW II until the bombing of Pearl Harbor, at which point the U.S. helped the British through a "Lend-Lease Program". The Lend-Lease Program allowed the U.S. to give arms and...
After World War II began in 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt announced the neutrality of the United States. Many people in the United States thought that their country should stay out of the war. The people wanted the Allied Forces to have the victory. President Roosevelt also wanted an Allied victory because an Axis victory might endanger democracies everywhere. The United States equipped nations fighting the Axis with ships, tanks, aircraft, and other war materials. The Axis did not like this. Japan wanted to take over China, but China refused. China was led by Chiang Kai-Shek at the time. Japan wanted the United States to stop sending China supplies, but the United States refused. The United States opposed the expansion of Japan in Asia, so they cut off important exports to Japan.
In George Washington's farewell speech he warned the American people to beware "the insidious wiles of foreign influence." Though it was never put into law, this statement has played a major role in the American foreign policy of isolationism. American isolationist sentiment stems from the fact that America is geographically isolated from the rest of the world. American isolationist sentiment was at its peak in the years following World War I. "In the war of 1914-1918 that had set the stage on which Hitler now strutted, no people had been more reluctant combatants, and few more disappointed with the result, than the Americans"(Kennedy, 385). After losing more than fifty thousand young troops in a war that was viewed to be unnecessary, the American people began to view neutrality as the best policy. The reasons for American intervention into World War I, which included the sinking of the Lusitania and large foreign investments, were to be avoided at all cost in the unstable 1930s. The Great Depression and the New Deal promoted insulation from foreign trade in order to improve the economy. Extreme isolationist sentiment shaped and hindered Franklin Roosevelt's foreign policy in the late 1930s. The Neutrality Acts of the 1930s were designed to maintain neutrality by first eliminating the causes of World War I. As the War ripped through Europe, the American isolationists slowly began to view intervention as a necessary evil.
Prior to the United States entering the war, the major problem in America was the Great Depression. As they watched the war spread, many maintained the “isolationist” mindset because of thoughts of World War I ("World War II."). Tragedy struck on December 7, 1941 when Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor. The attack on Pearl Harbor was the action that made the United States question their neutrality and was the last of the of the U.S’s isolation. Due to the tension between the United States and Japan preceding the war, the attack on Pearl Harbor was not much of a surprise ("World War II."). Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. Now with the United States joining Britain in the fight against the Axis Powers industries began to produce military goods ("World War II"). Businesses increased because of the need for more people to work in the factories, so unemployment, caused by the Great Depression, lowered. The increase in businesses put an end to the Great ...
In 1914, World War I broke out between Allies and the Central Powers. The U.S did not formally join the war until the near end. Before the U.S joined in 1917, the country adopted a policy of neutrality in 1914 because Wilson wanted to support the country’s idealism for isolation and to adhere his diplomacy. However, even though the U.S preached its neutrality, the country supported the Allies. The U.S traded with the Allies and disregarded the Germans. The reasons why U.S adopted a policy of neutrality from 1914 to 1917 is due to the country’s pursuit for isolationism and the Wilsonian system.
The desire to avoid "foreign entanglements" of all kinds had been an American foreign policy for more than a century. A very real "geographical isolation" permitted the United States to "fill up the empty lands of North America free from the threat of foreign conflict.” President Roosevelt wanted to avoid war, especially since it was contrary to American policy which most if not all Americans were in agreement with. And as I said, another factor that led to the decision of Neutrality by President Rooseve...
World War II had a large effect on America, on how we were regarded in the world, on how our culture would grow and develop, and on how our citizens would develop and settle the land on their return. It brought people together for a while that were later torn apart, and changed the way Americans looked at higher education. Perhaps most importantly, it brought America to the world and served it up to them as something that could grow and become part of their culture, call it the Coca-Colonization of the world (Marling).
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.
Influenced by the fear of communism by American society and containment beliefs of people like George Kennan, who advocated that the US should use diplomatic, economic, and military action to contain communism, Truman established the Truman Doctrine, which stated that the US would protect democracies throughout the world, pledging the US would fight it around the world. This doctrine was an extension to both the Monroe Doctrine and the Roosevelt Corollary. In dealing with foreign policy, Truman did everything to protect nations of being consumed by communism, such as the Berlin Airlift, in which Truman decided to avoid the Soviet blockade of West Berlin and flew supplies directly over to the people in need. In Asia, Truman decided to use limited warfare, meaning the lack of atomic weapons, and was highly criticized by Douglas MacArthur, commander of the army, who he later dismissed for not following US policy.
While the aircraft was used in WWI, it did not become a major part of fighting until WWII. This weapon created another level of fighting in the air that included bombers, fighters, radar, and the ability to assess the enemy from above. The bomb raids were alternatives to static trench warfare and aircraft weaponry allowed the troops to attack the enemy from above which was the upper hand in fighting battles. The increased amount of bombing increased the need to improve the radar technology. The radar that was previously being used was inaccurate and not very useful; but with the improvements, the military was able to see enemy ships or submarines and fight back. One of the biggest elements that made World War Two more significant than World War One was the use of Nuclear Warfare. The United States dropped the world 's first deployed atomic bomb over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and the another bomb over Nagasaki three days later. The Japanese quickly surrendered from the war and thus led to the end of World War Two. America dropping the atomic bomb showed the world how big of a threat the United States is, especially to Russia which was another big nation at the time. The atomic bomb created terror and panic in everyone’s eyes with the fear of mass