The Great War

The first world war was one of the most brutal and remorseless events in history; ‘the global conflict that defined a century’. Over nine million soldiers and a large amount of innocent civilians lost their lives. Empires crumbled, revolution engulfed Russia and America rose to become a dominant world power. Huge armies deployed new weapons of devastating effect from rifles and pistols to torpedoes and flame throwers. These weapons were used not only in the trenches but by tanks too. This was an advantage to those who were able to access such machinery as they could easily launch bullets and missiles at nearby enemy bases. The downfall of the tank was the fact it was unable to cross the trenches. Tanks were not the only pieces of equipment that could access this machinery but U boats and planes too. The British carried ‘bolt action rifles’ in which fired 15 rounds per minute at a minimum range of 1,400 metres away. This allowed the British to take out foes at a far greater range. By using machinery in which rules out the need for getting up close to the enemy was a great advantage during world war one. Soldiers ran from trench to trench attacking with all that they had. This resulted in a massacre as the soldiers running toward the trenches were shot down. Machinery such as machine guns and heavy artillery were the weapons used in the trenches. In modern day society, machine guns are the main weapons used by soldiers. This wasn’t the case around the 1914s. They took four

The book “Radioactive Boy Scout” is a true story about a boy named David Hahn that attended a Michigan high school. His goal was to set out and build a fast breeder reactor in his garden shed. He educated himself in these things by reading popular mechanics and the golden book of chemistry experiments. Whatever he could not get from laboratory suppliers, universities, hospitals, and nuclear agencies, he made himself. David collected household smoke detectors and extracted americium-24. He also got assembled gas mantle covers and pulverized them to get radioactive thorium and took the Geiger counter in to an antique shop where he found a clock with a phial of radium paint left in it. With a little bit of things he had

Prior to the First World War, the USA was a flourishing power in terms of having one of the largest economies and military strength, however America had few foreign policy ambitions during this period. Despite purchasing Alaska from Russia in 1867, there was no real interest in expanding America. Before The Great War, it seemed unlikely that America would become involved in war over the conflicts of other western powers. They considered themselves a ‘City on the Hill’, an example to the rest of the world of stability and democracy. The large Navy ensured security of the North American continent and the small professional army, points to the overwhelmingly defensive front they put on. Washington adopted an isolationist policy with regards

The Great War, or World War I as it came to be known, dealt a devastating blow to the optimism and self-confidence of Western civilization (Foner 733). In fact, when war occurred in the year 1914, President Wilson proclaimed American neutrality. However, as in the years leading up to the War of 1812, naval warfare which was in Europe made its way into the United States (Foner 734). In addition to this, Britain declared a naval blockade of Germany and started to stop American merchant vessels (Foner 734). Moreover, Germany made the decision to commence submarine warfare on ships seen entering and leaving British ports. What is more, is that in May of 1915, the British liner Lusitania (which was transporting an excessive amount of weapons such as firearms) was sank by a German submarine off of the coast of Ireland, this resulted in the death of 1,198 passengers, 124 of which were Americans (Foner 734).

Although there are many defining years in the making of the United States as a nation, 1776 is the most important year due in majority to Washington and his decisions during the war.

one 's society. It existed during the early stages of civilization when hunter-gatherers came of age

It is fair to refer to the United States as the stray seed of Great Britain’s Earlier Empire, yet even with this relationship their executive leaderships and institutions are vastly different. Like an abused child, the United States vowed to, and successfully created a system of governing completely different from the monarch they were previously ruled under, giving birth to a presidential system that would become the leading example of political democracy.

The First World War was a devastating calamity in which 10 million soldiers lost their lives fighting for their countries. This figure is ridiculous, but when one realizes that, that does not include the civilians who lost their lives during the fighting, the number seems even more ominous. This terrible event happened, and America tried to stay neutral for a while; however, we eventually found ourselves entangled in its web of destruction and for the a little more than the last six months of the war America was part of the fighting. The Germans were no fools, when America and its “dough boys” joined in the fighting they knew it was a big deal, it even lead to a strike by the Germans. “We must strike,” General Erich Ludendorff told his fellow commanders, “before America can throw strong forces into the scale.” But what was the final act that pushed America past the point of no return? What effect did America actually have while fighting? Why was it such a big deal that this one country joined in the fighting? What was going on in America, while its soldiers were out fighting on another continent somewhere in the world? The purpose of this paper is to examine those questions and discuss the influence that America had while fighting in Europe in the Great War as well as the politics that occurred internationally after the war ended.

America endured several events that launched it into becoming known as the world’s policeman. From the Spanish-American War to the two world wars to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States has positioned itself to be the world’s superpower. The ability of “Big Brother” United States to maneuver through land, sea, air, or virtual space makes the U.S. virtually unstoppable.

The British has welcomed the American entrance into the European front. Along with troops, the United States was backed by the american war machine, what almost seemed like an endless supply of industry, manufacturing, and the capital for both. This represented the power shift to the other side of the Atlantic. Britain’s financial resources were in a desperate situation, and their unquestionable international supremacy was going along with it. Going into the end of 1941, XXX reflected on this shift on the horizon. “‘Our War’ had become the world war, in which we were a tremendously important unit, but no longer in control of the decisions.”

On May 31, 1993 the 42nd President of The United States, Bill Clinton, stood before a crowd of just about 4000 onlookers and millions more viewing from home. For those in attendance, and around the country, this was a extraordinary day. Memorial Day brings out many emotions for millions of people every year, emotions such as pride, fear, anger, sadness or anxiety. Memories of loved ones gone, a parent one may not have met because he was killed in battle while they were yet to be born, a fellow brother or sister of the United States Armed Services who they spent many years beside: training, sleeping outdoors, consoling forming a strong bond as if they were family, and possibly the most horrible event one could ever witness, watching their fellow solider die in battle defending the freedoms and rights of Americans and humanity around the world. To be more specific the Vietnam War. This war is the cause why when President Clinton sauntered to the podium to address the crowd, after being introduced by the well-respected Joint Chiefs of Staff General Colin Powell, there was no doubt that participants of the gathering did not agree he was the appropriate individual to give this speech, regardless of his stature as The President of The United States of America. In fact, many were disrespected, hostile and irritated with him and presented no fear in communicating their disapproval publicly.

“It is the most unsordid act in the history of any nation,” Winston Churchill proclaimed when Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Act, giving tens of billions of dollars worth of war materiel and supplies to the enemies of Germany in the Second World War. (Underhill 69). As the democracies of Europe fell to the fascist menace, the USA acted as a final bastion against the Axis, fighting an industrial and economic ‘undeclared war’ from the signing of the Lend-Lease Act on March 11, 1941 to the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7 of the same year. The Lend-Lease, in addition to shifting the tide to the favor of the Allies and the Soviet Union, had significant long-term effects - it provided the basis for the Marshall Plan to restore Europe after the war, and thus helped spawn the interventionist policy which the American government used as a basis for several actions, ranging from the Gladio Operation in Italy to the Vietnam War. (Willbanks 56). Therefore, the exploration into the economics and politics of the Lend-Lease Act provided the pathway for the United States to achieve both political and economic dominance in international encounters and exchanges initially in the West and, later, globally.

At the start of the First World War the citizens of the United States were deeply divided on if the country should be involved and if so how much. Thanks to the mass amounts of immigrants that had established what was now a great nation America had become a country made from a diverse and multi-cultural fabric. This led to many opinions and views on the war effort. On the side that was against the war there were many out-spoken citizens that took to the streets and voiced their concerns. The government’s response to this was to take the drastic action of passing controversial laws in both 1918 and 1919 called the Espionage and Sedition Acts respectively. These laws would allow the government to fine or imprison American citizens for

Operation Iraqi freedom started on March 20th 2003. One of the main reasons for America to go to war was the terrorist attacks on September 11th 2001. During a speech by President George W. Bush on January 2002, he stated that Iraq had a connection to the terrorist group al-Qaida and was identified as a “rouge nation”. America reacted by sending in its military to get rid of the Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein. All branches of the military were deployed to participate in Operation Iraqi Freedom, but only one branch stood out amongst the rest for doing noteworthy effects and some damaging effects. This branch of service was the U.S. Marine Corps. The U.S. Marines played a major role in Operation Iraqi Freedom because they fought and won a lot

The year was 1898, and America had just finished fighting Spain in Cuba and the Philippines. Spain had been in control of the islands, but when they islands wanted their independence America volunteered to help. America promoted the islands fighting back, and were encouraging the revolution against Spain. Little did these nations know that once Spain had lost, America got signed over everything in the Treaty of Paris, and they did not plan to let these premiere locations go without another fight. We wanted the Philippines for three main reasons: missionaries wanted to spread Christianity and the word of God, we couldn 't leave them to govern themselves because they were unfit, as well as business leaders wanted a way to easily become immersed in the vast markets of China. So in February of 1899, America found themselves in another bloody war, known only as the Philippine-American War.