The Importance Of US Foreign Policy After WWII

World War 2 Germany signs the Treaty of Versailles that officially ended world 1. World War 1 was a destruction to human life. World War 1 was viewed as pointless because there was nothing solved and they end the same place they started at. Due to the death toll the United States changed the Foreign Policy to Intervene to Isolation which means that the United States does not get involved with foreign country affairs.

Throughout American history the U.S has tried to stay out of national disputes but sometimes it is necessary for them to take action. In all the wars ever fought in the world only two have been fought on U.S soil and one of the wars was between our own country(Civil War).

Chapter 25 discusses the United States and the Second World War from 1939-1945. The United States wanted to stay out of international affairs but the newly elected Roosevelt advocated for an active role in it. Though he wanted a role in this, his priority was to attack the domestic causes of the depression which appealed to many poor Americans who were suffering from the Great Depression and had just lost everything. During this time, fascist governments threatened military aggression and the rise of Hitler created a controversial and war-like atmosphere. Hitler had a goal to avenge the defeat of WW1 which lead to the accusations of Jews, and the eventual full-blown Holocaust. Neutrality acts were put into place during this time to prohibit the exchange of arms to nations during the war.

After the Second World War, American foreign policy was, for the most part, different then post World War 1 foreign policy. As a result of the war, we decided that threats to peace and freedom elsewhere in the world did affect us, that if we ignored serious trouble in the world it would probably eventually find us. Thus, after the war we became internationalist using our power and prestige to help and protect our friends and acting to prevent wars wherever possible or to minimize them when they did break out.

As Franklin Roosevelt began to have more internationalist views, Americans, under no circumstances, wanted to be drawn into another foreign war. The result was a relative stand still in American foreign policy. Congress pacified isolationists by passing the Neutrality Act of 1935, which was designed to isolate America from the growing Nazi monster. First, it created an embargo on the sale of arms to all belligerent nations and second it stated that American citizens that traveled on belligerent ships were doing so at their own risk. The Act was basically an attempt to prevent the World War I nightmare from happening again. Roosevelt was required to sign the bill though he would have rather it had different provisions regarding the embargo of arms to belligerent nations. He was in favor of creating selective embargoes

From its foundation, the U.S. favored neutrality and isolationism in global affairs. We were successful in upholding this policy in the many years prior to World War II, and even as war broke out in Europe and around the world, President Roosevelt insisted that the U.S. should stay out of the conflict. In a 1940 campaign speech regarding the war, Roosevelt is famous for saying, “I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again: your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars,” (history.co.uk). Strict Neutrality Acts were passed by Congress in affirmation of this policy, imposing a general embargo on warring

The U.S. wanted neutrality during the war. The citizens of US knew that their involvement in the first World War had been a terrible mistake driven by bankers and business owners with business in Europe. They believed this should never be repeated again. To keep America out of the war, Congress passed a series of Neutrality Acts, and they took no part in conflicts such as the Spanish civil war, but Franklin D. Roosevelt knew that the Axis Powers would soon conquer Europe, and America would be their next target. The question of the extent of US involvement had divided the country. On one side were Internationalists, who argued that giving aid to Great Britain and France would make US going to war unnecessary. On the other side were Isolationists, who believed that US should not have association in the war and remain neutral by avoiding financial deals with countries at war. Roosevelt was an internationalist.(“The Neutrality Acts, 1930”).

America wanted to stay neutral but with Germany pushing their boundaries they were willing to put a stop to it. In may 1915, German soldiers sank the Lusitania killing 128 Americans. This was a big factor in the United States joining that Great War. Another big factor was that the

“ Pearl harbor caused our nation to the course of our nation’s history and the world’s future.’’ How did the American’s position on World War II change, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor? The American’s position on World War II, changes when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Throughout the essay it will explain the America’s position on the policy of Neutrality “Isolationism” and U.S attack military weapons and also the Japanese attack on Pearl harbor before WWII.

America’s decision to abandon their neutral position in World War II was justifiable. America took almost every peaceful measure it could to avoid joining the war. However, after Japan bombed the American naval Base, Pearl Harbor, America could not remain neutral in the war. Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor left a total of 2400 American civilians and servicemen dead. If America had not retaliated to this attack and had chosen to remain neutral, America would have been seen as weak. America would have possibly faced similar attacks. After America declared war against Germany, it joined the allied team which consisted of the Soviet Union and Britain. Although America did not know this on December 8, the date of declaration of war against japan,

Early on in World War II it became clear to America that if they were to win, they would need to conduct many amphibious landings in both the Pacific and Atlantic theaters. Prior to World War II any amphibious assaults conducted were done so by large row boats to get men ashore or by taking a deep water port to enable the assaulting troops to unload onto a dock straight from their ship. This was a slow tedious way of moving troops and supplies ashore, which resulted in many casualties. When it became clear that America was going to enter the war, a new method of landing men ashore quickly was going to be needed. A man by the name of Andrew Jackson Higgins answered this challenge, and in doing so changed amphibious warfare forever (Strahan, 1994). The creation of the of the LCVP or Higgins boat gave America a key asset in World War II that changed tactics, strategy, logistics and doctrine.

What? From the beginning, US President Woodrow Wilson declared the US to be strictly neutral besides giving away materials to the Allies. In May 1915, even when a German submarine sunk Lusitania, a British ocean liner that had 128 US citizens out of 1,200 passengers, the US stayed neutral despite the commotion it caused. Then, in January 1917, Germany declared that its restrictions on warfare for submarines would change starting February 1st. This meant that German U-boat commanders would all be allowed to sink any ship they considered to be supporting the Allies in any way. Also, it was found that Germany sent something known as the Zimmerman Telegram to Mexico proposing an alliance if the US were to participate in World War I. However, this was intercepted by the British and shown to the US. Because of the unconstrained warfare of submarines, the Zimmerman telegram, and pressure lead the US to join the war and abandon its state of neutrality. Although there was a notable amount of disagreement with this decision, the position officially was that the US couldn’t allow their rights to be blocked like that as a sovereign nation.

The United States’ involvement in foreign political affairs as a global power was minimal before the country declared war on Germany on the 6th of April, 1917, officially entering the First World War. A great deal of U.S. citizens had hitherto endorsed a policy of isolationism, admiring their President, Woodrow Wilson, for his efforts to keep the country away from the almighty European conflict. However, before entering the war, America often traded with countries of both the Triple Entente and Central Powers alliances. It became apparent that the U.S. favored Britain as a partner in trade, and so Germany tried to prevent the Entente country from receiving imported goods. Forced by circumstance, America joined the war chiefly because several German offenses against the U.S. had provoked them to counteract.

     As totalitarian sates emerged into power, the United States got involved with World War II to help control these groups and to promote democracy in the European theatre of the world. The party with the most power at the time was the Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler. This socialist party was led by a powerful dictator who broke away from the League of Nations and began to conquer vast amounts of territory at a fast rate. The United States wanted to leave foreign affairs alone in fear of another world war. The United States could not avoid the fact Hitler was taking over Europe and help was needed. The United States became fully involved in the European theatre of World War II when Hitler led his

The United States have been involved in many countries throughout history. Most recently the U.S. have been involved with the Middle East and terrorist groups within those countries. Throughout our involvement in other countries the U.S. has experienced blowback. The term blowback has played a significant role on our foreign policy. “Blowback is defined as the unintended consequences of policies that were kept from the American people” (Johnson, 2000, p. 8). This paper will discuss the effects of blowback in United States foreign policy and why it matters, the consequences of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and how the Bush administration contributed to the rise of ISIS.