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The Role of the United States During World War II Essay

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World War II was a horrible event that will be remembered as one of the darkest Points in human history. With estimates of deaths ranging from 60 to 80 million, it is unthinkable to imagine that this chaos was allowed to grow and erupt as it did. Many Americans in the United States, simply thought the madness in Europe would be contained to that continent. However, a new enemy brought the war to our shores. “When the war began, the United States had entered a period of isolationism. Americans viewed the conflict as Europe’s problem and wished to keep it that way. However, as the situation in Europe grew increasingly overwhelming, the United States began to slowly edge towards going to war.” The final point, of course was the surprise …show more content…

Irritated that the Japanese had moved into their territory, the USSR began to strongly dislike the Japanese and began to send militarily into the northern Manchuria region. Due to the United States' relatively friendly relations with both the USSR and China, it too started to publicly disapprove of the Japanese for their escalating violence. The United States cautioned Japan against further hostile actions by threatening to cut off shipments of raw materials to the country. This was a really risky situation for Japan, its only income of oil and metal came from the United States, while their main source of rubber came from some British territories in Malaya. “Therefore, it would seem that the nation would have to tread lightly to avoid angering the West. Or would it? In a surprising act of defiance, Japan promptly separated from the League of Nations, which was the precursor to the United Nations.” Tensions continued to arise in the region for several years until 1937, when Japan entered full force military combat with the economically depressed nation China. This conflict became known as the Second Sino-Japanese War, which would later be singled out as the starting point of World War II in the Pacific Theater. In the fall of 1940, Japan met with the Germans and fascist-controlled Italy to create an alliance known as the Tripartite Pact. Under this alliance these three nations agreed to work with and hold up each other in their respective countries’

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