The Policy Of Neutrality During World War II

November 1943, the US Congress debates America’s involvement with Europe. They received numerous reports about mass murdering of Jews, but they did not have any evidence. On November 4th, 1943 a German newspaper wrote "Its actually true that the Jews have, so to speak, disappeared from Europe...” Although at the time this seamed odd, America had their hands full a year later. On December 7th 1941, Japan declared war on the United States with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This act was only significant due to it being the first attack by a foreign nation on American soil since the American Revolution. The bombing of Pearl Harbor, as well as Japans alliance with Germany and Italy, left the United States government no choice but to declare war on Japan and the Axis powers.

The U.S was extremely reluctant to be drawn into the wars that emerged in Asia in 1937 and European nations in 1939. Disillusioned with the experience of the first World War, when huge number of trench warfare casualties had led to a peace that Americans believed betrayed the objectives they had fought for, the U.S sought to deflect from all forms of entangling alliances. Between the Manchurian crisis and invasion of Germany in the 1930s, the U.S edged slowly along the road that resulted in the second World War (Allison, Grey and Valentine, 252). During the 1930s, the U.S largely preferred to remain a bystander, even going to an extend of enacting neutrality legislation in the mid-1930s, in a bid to prevent involvement in any potential war.

A better way to explain United States Foreign Policy is by high and low tide being isolation. Although the United States Foreign was isolation before World War two started it changed to interevne after the attack on Pearl Harbor which pulled the United States into the war which was ended by the dropping of two atomic bombs. The United States foreign policy is changed to intervene during World War one. In 1920’s was the end of World War One at the Treaty of Versailles. This war was pointless and was a massive destruction of human life.

The United States wanted to stay as far away from war as possible. It learned its lesson from World War I. When World War I erupted in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson pledged neutrality for the United States, a position that the clear majority of Americans favored. But can you truly isolate a country from war? With allies, and political ties, can it truly be done? No, it can’t. To prevent an arms race that could lead to another world war, America signed several disarmament treaties to limit the size of naval fleets among Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States. It also wanted to avoid any involvement in European or Asian affairs. Isolationism was America’s way of trying to stay safe.

Reason for US neutrality during the 1920s and 1930s was very simple.Great Depression and Stock market crash..US had to take care about government and problems inside the country and they don't had time and responsibilities to help other contries.At first they had to fix their problems

and Japan were joined together as the Axis Powers. Germany then declared war on the U.S.

After World War I, the United States made it pretty clear that the country and its people did not want any involvement with any international affairs, such as international wars. The decision was made on August 27th, 1928; the pact was a pledge to shun war as an instrument of policy. The United States was determined to avoid involvement in the European Alliance system. The two reasons why the United States kept its distance politically were due to the Great Depression. During the Depression, it made foreign policy unimportant and the danger of war abroad scared Americans and it only reinforced their desire to stay out of it (P.628)

The United States of America entered into World War II, because of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (World War II). On December 7, 1941, Japan bombed the American fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (World War II). By the end of the attack, there were 2,403 dead, 188 destroyed planes, and 8 damaged or destroyed battleships (Attack at Pearl Harbor). Franklin Roosevelt said that American must become “the great arsenal of democracy” (World War II). America then entered into the war at the Battle of Midway in April 1942 (Battle of Midway).

The years between 1939 and 1945 marked a territorial domination and military power demand, years that brought fear amongst the global nations and settled battles for expansion during World War II. After the military offence on Poland by the German military power, in Europe Germany sought to dominate and expand its territories and power through the continent in alliance with Italy and Japan battling the head leaders of the Allies; United Kingdom, France and The Soviet Union (Lindrum, 2013). In the conquest of domination of the Pacific and whole Asia, The Japan Empire took actions against The United States and China within the Northern Pacific. In the hopes of disabling the U.S. military and pushing back its advances in defenses systems and military fight power, on December 7th, 1941 the United States of America suffered the bombing of the Pearls Harbor naval base and the lose of over 2,300 naval troops (TNA, 1942). Cough by surprise the American nation demanded for action against Japan after the devastating attack, promoting the inevitable action of the president Franklin D. Roosevelt to isolate further terroristic actions, intelligence leak and sabotage by declaring war against Japan, the rest of the Axis members and authoring the Executive Order 9066 in 1942.

During the 1920s and 1930s, the U.S. remained neutral because the country was back to isolationism after President Warren G. Harding promised to “return to normalcy” in 1921. Americans favored the idea of being an isolated country and staying out of war, however this changed once Japan had attacked China and President Roosevelt knew they would be in danger of being attacked as well. After the attack policies were added so that Roosevelt was able to help out the democratic governments that were at war. I believe the point where the U.S. was no longer neutral was when Roosevelt wanted to help China using the Cash and Carry policy to aid them with supplies. The 1st Neutrality Act prevented Americans from selling weapons or lending money to warring nations and I believe this was a good idea since America wanted to stay an isolated country and it kept them from intervening in the war.

When World War I began, The United States made it clear that they didn’t want to be involved in the war, and maintained their neutrality. Isolationism was a long American tradition, embraced since the earliest days of the country. In fact, during the century following the signing

The United States inclusion in World War Two resulted in a shift in how the nation was viewed by the world. Prior to our involvement in World War Two the United States foreign policy was not to involve ourselves in regions conflicts that did not involve the United States but to withdraw instead. After World War Two the foreign policy was that of possible intervention in conflicts in foreign lands.

On Sunday, 28 June 1914, at approximately 10:45 am, Franz Ferdinand and his wife were killed in Sarajevo, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia and Herzegovina, by Gavrilo Princip. The assassination of Ferdinand and his wife set off a chain of events that would lead to the start of World War I. When the war began the United States proclaimed a united policy of strict neutrality. After multiple U-boat attacks that killed hundreds of American civilians and the transmission of the “Zimmerman Telegram”, America declared war on Germany in 1917. In an address before a joint meeting of Congress, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson discusses the aims of the United States in World War I and outlines his famous “Fourteen Points” for achieving a lasting peace in Europe.

Between the end of the First World War and the start of World War II, American foreign policy gradually changed and evolved in order to fit the beliefs of the country as a whole and adapt to new international situations. World War I had not been particularly well received by the American public, with the vast majority of the people condemning U.S. involvement; they believed that the war had only hurt them and that the glorious country of America should no longer get involved in foreign wars and affairs. In essence, America was disillusioned by the experience of World War I, and such disillusionment would have a tremendous influence on how the U.S dealt with foreign events and incidents for decades to come. It cannot be stressed enough how stubborn the general public was in maintaining isolation after the end of the first World War. The diplomatic failures regarding the League of Nations and recovery had sullied the experience for the American people, and they were content to retreat into their domestic shell, desperately trying to be blissfully unaware of the events going around them all over the world. A speech by Warren G. Harding in October of 1920 reflected the general American attitude at the time; in it, he lambasted the League of Nations and criticized the fact that it was a blow at America’s constitutional integrity (Doc A). Harding, like the rest of the American people, had turned his back on the world. Fortunately, this mentality would not last; as World War II

United States' Isolationist Policy During the Inter-War Years After the First World War many people in the United States wanted to turn their backs on European and other world affairs. This has been a policy of isolationism. If this term is used to mean having nothing to do with the outside world, then the USA was clearly not isolationist as it was involved in a number of important international issues. The term can more accurately be used, however, to mean refusing to become involved in international disputes and conflicts.