The Role of the US during WW1 and WW2 - Essay Example

The Role of US during WW1 and WW2 Student’s name Institution Course Professor Date The role of us during WW1 and WW2 A public assumption to explain what caused the American civil war was that the North was no longer in a position to tolerate slavery as being part of the structure of United States society and that the political power brokers in the North were making arrangements of abolishing slavery throughout the union. Economic and social differences between the North and the South brought about the civil war. In 1973, Eli Whitney invented a machine that had the capability to separate seeds from cotton in a very short period of time. During this time farming in the South shifted from growing other types of crops to growing cotton. This brought about intense slavery because there was need of a larger amount of low-cost labour (Pope, 1995). On the other hand, northern economy focused more on the industry activities rather than agricultural activities. The north purchased and turned raw cotton into finished goods. This disparity between the north and the south set up a major discrepancy in economic attitudes. States versus federal rights was one other cause of conflicts. Two camps emerged with different opinions: those fighting for more states privileges and those fighting for federal government to have greater power. The fight between slave and non-slave state was one major factor that contributed to the fighting between Americans. Several questions rose as the America began to expand. Such questions included whether the new states allowed to be part of the union would be free or slave. During the Mexican war, fight began about what would happen with the new zones that the United States anticipated to gain upon triumph. The negotiation of 1850 had to be created to handle the issue of balancing between the free and slave states, southern and northern interest (Elizabeth, 1995). Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was another issue that increased the tension. Another issue was the growth of the abolition movement. Increasingly, the northern society started opposing slavery. The election of Abraham Lincoln also played a major a role. It made the south believe that the election was conducted in favour of the north because Lincoln was against slavery. Most archaeologists believe that the people who originally inhabited the Americas were the Asians who moved to America during the era of the last Ice Age when the level of the oceans fell. Archaeologists agree that, due to increase in population pressure, Home sapiens in Asia and Europe had moved to the northern part of Steppes and Tundra by 20,000 B.C. These migrations took place over a long period of time between about 20,000 B.C. and 8,000 B.C. Crude spearheads; connected to the remains of different kinds of animals that were extinct by 12,000 years ago; provide evidence of the presence of the hunting groups in the Americas. The ancient Americas hunters lived in bands of 20 to 25 people (Alfred, 1994). Discoveries made at Folsom and Clovis New Mexico indicated the presence of humans in the Americas by 10,000 B.C. Over a long period of immigration, different peoples of different languages and physical types moved out of Asia to America. The first group of migrants moved to western hemisphere preceding the prevalence of the mongoloid inhabitants’ in Asia. Discoveries show that there were Australoid and Caucasoid genetic features in the first inhabitants of the America. It is sometimes referred to as Paleo-Indian. The archaeological and biological records show that inhabiting of the Americas took place prior to the beginnings of agriculture in the old world and that with the vanishing of the Bering land bridge this population had lived in relative seclusion from the rest of the human race. The procedures of social progress and the growth of Indian advancement were long and difficult, and they gave American Indian societies and ethos great resilience and a skill to endure even the shock of downfall (Andrea, 1994). This self-governing progress and relative segregation also had some negative consequences when American Indian inhabitants came into contact with the peoples of Asia, Europe and Africa (Venzon, 1995). The most obvious failure in United States history was the Vietnamese War. After a very long and damaging war, South Vietnam fell to the North, and immediately Vietnam became a communalist state, which was what the United States was trying to thwart. In general, United State overseas strategy in the Middle East has never gone well. It is clear that many Middle Eastern States especially Iran, are still inimical to the United States. The anti-American revolution still raging in Afghanistan and Iraq is a clear indication that the United States has a failed to make peace between them and the Middle East countries (Herbert, 1964). Another United States failure in history is the efforts to make peace between the Arab world and Israel. These efforts have had only very limited accomplishment. Ever since, Israel which is the closest ally to United States has ever remained under attacks from the Arab world. The present-day status of the United States economy is not good. Also the present-day level of the United States national debt is obviously excessive. It is a failure has it has made the financial future of the United State uncertain. Despite such failures, the United States became successful during the reconstruction era. Reunification of the Union brought what we now call the United States of America. United States made further advancements by expanding the economy of the south and the north. Through reconstruction, both the south and the north received many offers. The creation of laws that protected the rights of freedmen by allowing them the right to speak and to vote was a major move the American government made. The American government through enforcement Act of 1870, forbidden the use of force, terror, or bribery to thwart the American citizens to vote because of their race (James, 1994). This strengthened the thirteenth adjustment which gave slaves their freedom. When the war began in the year 1914, the American government tried to stay neutral and was a supporter for the rights of neutral states. Though American government did not want to join war, it is clear that the United States loaned money to Great Britain and France with the expectation that they will become victorious (Alfred, 1994). Before 1915, the German government had a plan of warning and giving time to vacate ships carrying the American passengers before they sunk them. However, they did sink the Lusitania later in 1915 without giving a warning and as a result, 1,200 lives were lost including over 120 Americans (Venzon, 1995). One year later, the German government send their U-boats to sink the Sussex and this made the American citizens outraged at such direct violations of their dispassionate rights at sea. The United States played a major role by supplying their allies with weapons and resources; the United States Congress passed a series of neutrality Acts between 1935 and 1937 (James, 1994). The laws indicated clearly that it was illegal to lend money or sell weapons to nations at war. President Roosevelt knew that the America will be drawn to war if the allies failed to win. Later in 1939, he convinced the congress to permit the allies to purchase weapons from the United States. In 1941, Lend-Lease Act was passed which allowed the American government to lease or lend weapons and other resources to the any state vital to America (Stephen, 1995). United States by the summer of 1941, took part fully in the war by allowing their Navy to escort the British cargo ships transporting United States arms. Although America pretended to be neutral, Churchill and President Roosevelt met in secret on a warship off Newfoundland. Late 1940, Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. Japan had planned to acquire more resources from Southeast Asia but their plan failed when the United States sent aid to strengthen Chinese resistance. President Roosevelt had to cut oil deliveries to Japan when the Japanese attacked the French Indochina late 1941. Early 1942, the American government wanted a revenge for Pearl Harbour; they send bombers to bomb major Japanese cities including Tokyo (Anne, 1995). United States also destroyed over 332 Japanese planes, one support ship and all the four aircraft carriers. This was the biggest United States success story as this made the Japanese government to withdraw. Late 1942, U.S Marines supported by Australian Marines attacked the Japanese huge air base which was still under construction on the island of Guadalcanal (Herbert, 1964). It is clear that the ruthless world war of 1914 to 1918 left much of European nations poor and wrecked. The shocking totals as revealed by researchers were more than eight million people dead, as both nations in the battle lost the better portion of a whole generation of males. The United States failed to employ its diplomatic skills in order to maintain peace during both World War I and World War II. It is very possible to think that diplomacy failure is what caused or provided the basis for military war between nations in the first place. In United States history, the revolutionary conflict came to an end because England refused to continue to impeach the conflict (Pope, 1995). It is also seen that the civil war reached an end due to admission of defeat. World War I ended as a result of unbearable force. Because diplomacy did not lead the day, the end of World War I gave birth to World War II which came to an end with Japanese and Germans admitting defeating unconditionally. In as much United States put more effort to maintain peace, the way they carry out their international diplomacy has never worked well in certain states. The measures they have put in place to deal with terrorism have been seen to be serving to breed terrorism. This is seen in the parts of Islamic Africa and the entire Arab world where upheavals have stimulated Al Qaeda like insurgents. The United States has failed again to employ diplomatic skills to deal with the Arab world. The American state department officials are watching helplessly as sympathizers of Al Qaeda like groups in Libya, Iran, Mali and Syria gain support and strength as time goes by. It is seen that the diplomatic determinations put in place soon after the end of World War II with the Marshall Strategy in Europe and under the leadership of MacArthur in Japan were tremendously real and as a result, they have produced economic well-being and independent or diplomatic nations for these former enemies (Herbert, 1964). This is seen as the most successful mission that the American government conducted through diplomacy in order to restore peace. The United States foreign policy also played a role in Europe during the cold war. This has been considered as a successful undertaking. References Andrea, Alfred J., and James H. (1994). The Human Record. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. Bass, Herbert J. (1964). America's Entry Into World War I. Chicago: Holt, Rinehart And Winston. Pope, Stephen, Wheal, and Elizabeth-Anne. (1995). The Dictionary of The First World War. New York: St. Marten's Press. Venzon and Anne Cipriano. (1995). The United States in the First World War. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc. Read More