Describe The Relationship Between Trade And War

Prior to the late 19th century, the United States was preoccupied with domestic affairs and simply used the Monroe Doctrine as their lone foreign policy. By the late 19th century, however, domestic concerns suppressed just enough to let foreign issues take the spotlight. The Industrial Revolution brought mass production, which forced the United States to seek a new global market for trade. America also became increasingly concerned with intervening in Latin American affairs and spreading democracy to less powerful nations. Due to the aforementioned factors, imperialism played a pivotal role in shaping American foreign

During the 1890’s, the United States began building and advancing their economy, as well as focusing more independently on becoming an even more powerful nation. Not only did the Americans begin to create a stronger national military and navy, they also began to look overseas towards the Pacific Ocean for resources and territories; this is when America began to look less like a national power and more like an imperial power. There were many reasons as to why the United States began to expand between 1880-1929, two of which include the military opportunities countries abroad had to offer, such as Pearl Harbor, as well as the domestic and political objectives the U.S. felt obligated to fulfill. Although, there were many important reasons for the United States to began to expand, the most significant reason for the expansionist foreign policy was the economic resources and opportunities other foreign countries had to offer the U.S.

Along with the foreign affair problems with no army, this also played a role with problems in foreign trade. Not having an army to protect US goods was extremely risky with trading. Ships were easily attacked when they were crossing oceans to trade with other countries. Mainly pirates took over ships and forced them to hand over very valuable goods. Sometimes pirates captured sailors from the ships, and also stole goods. While the US was having troubles protecting their goods, other countries were having troubles keeping economy in their own country from declining. To help the economies of other countries from declining, countries placed tariffs and trade restrictions on US goods. By doing this, foreign countries would not want to buy US goods because they were too expensive. Instead, they would buy goods from their own countries because it was cheaper. Also the countries placed trade restrictions on other countries’ goods to make it harder for people in their own country to receive foreign goods.

Another major foreign policy action was the entry to World War I. On August 4, 1914 there was an outbreak in Europe. A war started between the central powers and the allied powers. The central powers consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungry, and the Ottoman Empire. They were also known as the Triple Alliance. The Allied Powers, also know as the Triple Entente consisted of Britain, France, and Russia. An immediate cause of the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914. Some long term causes that started the war were militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism. America tried to keep themselves isolated from the war in Europe. Before the war, America had an idea of neutrality. Neutrality is when American lives and property is not threatened. There was great ethnic diversity in the United States which led to a public union about war. The United States also had the idea of freedom of the seas. This meant the routes for trading were open. The United States had the desire to trade with both the central and the allied powers. The United States had a great economic interest in the war at this time. There were many different

After the Civil War, the United States began to prosper and get stronger, ultimately because of the second Industrial Revolution. As time went on, the urge for overseas expansion became a big must and began to spread throughout many Americans of the time. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, overseas expansion played a big role, from new rules to new policies. And not all people, especially the Americans, like these new rules and policies.

Profits affected American foreign policy because the US was producing more that it could possibly consume at the time, they needed a market for their exports. In order to secure their share of the global market and make a good profit along with access to sugar, coffee, fruits, oil, rubber and minerals, the government built a stronger navy, acquired more coaling stations and colonies and invested heavily in foreign markets.

In the book, America's Great War: World War I and the American Experience, Robert H. Zieger discusses the events between 1914 through 1920 forever defined the United States in the Twentieth Century. When conflict broke out in Europe in 1914, the President, Woodrow Wilson, along with the American people wished to remain neutral. In the beginning of the Twentieth Century United States politics was still based on the "isolationism" ideals of the previous century. The United States did not wish to be involved in European politics or world matters. The U.S. goal was to expand trade and commerce throughout the world and protect the borders of North America.

The British didn't want America trading especially with France because of a war involving France and Britain that was going on at the time. According to ManyThings.org

The period between the American Revolution and the Civil War had great significance for the United States' economy. Although initially the economy seemed unstable at first, after the second war that America fought with England, the economy began to show considerable growth thereafter. This can be seen as the result of the cotton trade in the South and the eventual industrialisation of America, especially in the Northeast and later the West. From the invention of cotton gins to the adaptation of railways one can see how the United States used their opportunities and resources to their full advantage, transforming their economy to be able to compete among the worlds leading economical countries.

In the nineteenth century, the United States became involved in world problems for many reasons. The US gained control of countries and people who lived in the Pacific and Caribbean by using the imperialism policy. Some Americans were against imperialism while others supported them. However, the United States was not justified for overseas expansion in the late 19th and 20th century because of cultural and political rationales.

It started with the Monroe Doctrine and then the Industrial Revolution. We had biggest industrial complex in the world. We sold to every country in the world. We were the most powerful country in the world and no one even realized it. We could have been independent. The anti-isolationist foreign policy was on the clock and the clock was running fast. With a globalizing economy everyone is directly affected. We got involved with foreign affairs before we got “involved”. What I mean is that when wars happened we were sending over weapons, which made it very likely that we would get involved. For example, World War I when German U-Boats were sinking our ships full of guns that we were giving to the Allies, which was one of the reasons we got involved. The Russian Revolution also added to fuel the fire. With the rise of Communism the Cold War became inevitable. After World War II, the world was separated into two factions. Communist v Capitalist. We lead the Capitalist/Democracy faction because we had the biggest industrial complex and most power. When you have such an influence on the world economy you are bound to be in world affairs

Although the United States didn't have the authority or firepower to back this up, it resulted in almost four decades of compulsory US involvement in any foreign affair. After the Civil War, Isolationistic practices grew stronger as the government had to find a way to re-unite the torn nation. President Grover Cleveland promised to avoid committing the nation to form any alliances with other countries while also opposed to the acquisition of new land. The climate of post Civil War US prevented us from deep involvement in foreign affairs. Our navy was also weakened by the war. Our natural resources were scarce and our diplomatic relations with other countries had been neglected. With the attention of our government focused solely on our nation, we proceeded to develop our interior. One of the biggest reasons for growth in US land mass was the public idea of Manifest Destiny. Americans believed that it was the destiny of the United States to populate a huge, vast continent.

There were also minor powers involved but all in all the power distribution during the war was one of a balanced multipolarity. Balanced multipolarity is more dangerous than that of a bipolar distribution but also lethal than unbalanced multipolarity. Balanced multipolarity is somewhat better than unbalanced multipolarity because in a balanced situation, the defeat of any great power will give the other power advantage to take over control. While in an unbalanced multipolarity, the scenario could go different ways due to different power-dyads.

Through the strong foundation of Isolationism and the policies enacted such as The Monroe Doctrine, the United States played a largely neutral role in foreign affairs. The Monroe Doctrine passed in 1823 was to forbid European nations from colonizing any territory in the Western Hemisphere. Although the United States didn’t have the authority or firepower to back this up, it resulted in almost four decades of compulsory US involvement in any foreign affair. After the Civil War, Isolationistic practices grew stronger as the government had to find a way to re-unite the torn nation. President Grover Cleveland promised to avoid committing the nation to form any alliances with other countries while also opposed to the acquisition of new land. The climate of post Civil War US prevented us from deep involvement in foreign affairs. Our navy was also weakened by the war. Our natural resources were scarce and our diplomatic relations with other countries had been neglected. With the attention of our government focused solely on our nation, we proceeded to develop our interior. One of the biggest reasons for growth in US land mass was the public idea of Manifest

One could say that the trade between China and the Americas had brought many items, such as tea (black tea), drugs (opium) and silk that would incorporate and change the Americas after the American Revolution which ended in 1783. But, the trade between China and the Americas proved great struggle after the British withdrew from the Americas. As a result, the Americas