World War II : The United States

They came, unwarned. On the 7th of December 1941, the Japanese executed a full-fledged attack on Pearl Harbor. They mercilessly created havoc, with attacks that caused the sinking of eighteen American ships, as well as 170 aircrafts. The casualties were dreadful, with 1,177 of those lost lives had been of the crewmen. The very next day, President Roosevelt declared war on Japan, and thus the United States’ involvement of World War II. Americans of every state were absolutely enraged and bent on their will for vengeance against the Asian country. Within the shadows of galvanized America, Robert Oppenheimer had set his infamous Manhattan Project into action. This project was so disclosed that only a limited number of men truly knew of its purpose. The clandestine project held prior securities to the point in which famous scientists had to use codenames in order to visit Los Alamos, even wives were kept in the dark, and only key scientists could bring their wives along with them. (Source D) This project had been the discreet creation of the Atomic Bombs. Time and time again, this topic had never really dissipated, its controversial who, what and whys prompting generations to debate its palpable purpose. Was the aim really focused for the “good of all?” Was it for America’s self-preservation and wish to promptly put an end to all of the suffering? Many Americans to this day still believe and argue for the usefulness of the atomic bombings, that the droppings were justified.

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.

In his book The Best War Ever: America and World War II, Michael Adams tries to dissolve the many misconceptions of World War II. As the title of the book implies, The United States left the war with a great optimistic view of the these “glorious” five years. The United States as a population had been tricked into believing in the, at times, fabricated conditions of its history that had been presented to people as some beautiful stories and myths where nations are viewed as being first-rate in union and morality. These so-called myths were created out of several factors. Because of Hollywood, the vast amounts of government propaganda, and far-reaching economic prosperity, Americans were, for the most part, hidden from the real truth of The Second World War. In this period of time, even, the generation of the Second World War is seen as being top-notch in morality and unity. There was a popular misconception held that there were no problems in terms of ethnicity or gender; it seemed that families were living contented lives and children excelled in school and read all kinds of books (115).

What technology was developed during World War II, and how has the technology developed during World War II impacted the world today?

World War II brought great tension between two of the strongest countries during the 1940s: the United States and Japan. Conflict started with Japan’s push past Chinese borders into Manchuria in search of the natural resources that Japan needed. The United States avoided military action with Japan and instead decided to stop economic trade. One of these measures was the Neutrality Act, which prohibited the sale of weapons to nations at war (Nash 513). The United States tried several maneuvers on Japan; they placed oil embargos to force Japan to shut down military operations in China. The US was focused on economically destroying Japan while Japan was planning a surprise attack on the US. Japan. Completely unaware of what the Japanese were

While world war two was happening, we were fighting against Germany, Italy, and Japan or the Axis Powers. The United States got pulled into the war because of Japan attacking Hawaii at Pearl Harbor killing 2335 Americans. The United States wanted to stay neutral from the war and not be involved at all until they were directly attacked or threatened. According to visitpearlharbor.com “A poll taken in 1939, after the outbreak of war showed 94% as being against going to war.” this quote is showing that almost all of America did not want to go to war at all, but this changed after the Pearl Harbor attacks. After the attack, most of America wanted to go to war with Japan, and going to war with Japan also meant we would have to go to war with Italy, and Germany since they were in an alliance.

America’s involvement in World War II created significant opportunities for American women on the home front. At the same time, it stirred conflict in the gender roles of Women during wartime. One of the main issues that dominated women’s lives during the war was balancing the role at home, with the new pressures placed on them due to the war economy. In most cases, the strides made regarding women’s rights during World War II were misleading, as policy makers used the female workforce for short-term assistance only. American Women faced varying experiences of life during World War II due to factors such as ethnicity and class largely affected the social implications of war. Nevertheless, the advances made by women during this time frame began a movement that would soon give empowerment to women throughout the country, inspiring independence and personal growth through the ways of unions, employment, and a change in traditional gender roles.

The United States had many reasons for growing around the war. They were involved with different ways to assist the economy, politics and economy. Economy around Word War I was booming for the United States. It was not only a great time for industry and manufacturing but also the American people. Women were not thought of as capable of doing most work. During this time women were being neglected for their rights. However, due to the draft in World War I it caused for many shortages in workers. Allowing women to fill the void created opportunities for them that otherwise may have been out of the question. The only downfall from huge boom in revolution, and even years before was the ever-increasing number of people living in the city.

World War II changed the American psyche from isolationism to wanting to go to war. Before America entered the war most people were isolationists, or against joining the war. With the Great Depression and the memories of the tragic losses from WWI not many people supported America’s involvement in oversea affairs. The ones who wanted to go to war were usually more radical and wanted to assert America’s power to show that we are the strongest country. Most people knew this was a bad idea being that this would just waste innocent lives. With the Japanese trying to take over Asia and the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 tensions were beginning to rise. America wanted this to be a European problem and not to make it an American one. One

The United States during World War I extended their “military, economic, and/or political control” to other weaker countries like, Hawaii, Cuba, Guam, and Puerto Rico. They were following the policy of Imperialism.1 Imperialism allows for nations to be able to trade with one another and businesses preferred it because it helped the United States economy. Nationalism is when the people of a nation are under one government and this played a key factor in starting world war one. There was tension between Germany and France who both wanted rule of Morocco. “Nationalism led European nations to compete for the largest army and navy, or the greatest industrial development.”2 Due to nationalism, allies were starting to form between the nations. This was happening all throughout Europe in the 1800s. Ultimately nationalism is what wrecked Europe 's empires. Nations wanted powerful and large armies so militarism was also a result of WWI. Whenever a nation would get a large army, another nation thought they had to step it up and have an even larger nation. Britain was a nation that was equipped with a big army so Germany competed with Britain for a larger army. These armies were growing at a fast rate and this was causing tension between the nations during peace time.

When World War II began, the United States was not initially apart of it. What sparked the beginning was Nazi Germany’s attack on Poland in September 1939. Even though we were not at the center of the action, our country did take steps to assist and protect weaker countries, like the United Kingdom. Roosevelt felt it was important to “be the great Arsenal Democracy…[he believed] we must apply ourselves to our task with the same resolution, the same sense of urgency, the same spirit of patriotism and sacrifice as we would show were we at war.” Because of this, the zeal and patriotism America showed was greatly increased. We took advantage of the power we had and the American Industry began to put forth collective efforts in supporting the Allies.

World War II. World War II began 20 short years after World War I occurred. There were many memorable and momentous events that have occurred during this World War. The events that happened before the war is just as important as the events that happened during the war. It all began with the ideas of Adolf Hitler, the leader of Germany and Head of the Nazi Party. Hitler planned on making Germany the Third Reich by expanding and creating an “Aryan” racial state. Hitler believed that the superior nations had the right to lebensraum. Lebensraum was living space through expansion. Lebensraum gave the superior individuals the ability to gain authoritarian leadership. This is how Hitler came to power. While Spain was fighting

America’s “cash and carry policy” from its series of Neutrality Acts offered helpful, but limited resources to Britain and France ("American Isolationism in the 1930s"). However, the isolationism of America was shattered by the attack on a naval base in Hawaii- Pearl Harbor. The day after the attack, on December 8, 1941, President Roosevelt formally declared America’s entrance into WW II and consequential end of isolationism ("World War”). This moment marked the beginning of America’s to its present day glory. While WW II did reveal America’s internal problems such as racism, WW II provided a platform to begin to address and fix those issues.

Is it possible to know what Americans thought of World War II, if they believed that the war was a just war or whether they did not agree for what the United States was fighting for? The historian Studs Terkel believes he knows this answer and that Americans saw themselves as liberators of an oppressed world fighting for the just war which can be concluded from his famous volume, The Good War. Of course one person’s beliefs should not be believed as easily just by reading a book. A person should base their opinions on something much more analytical than that. In order to decide whether some Americans actually thought that World War II was a just war, a thorough analysis should be done of American life looking at all the facts found. Beginning with American experience before the war then analyzing the experience of the war and the home-front itself and finally ending with the analysis of America after World War II a conclusion can be made regarding the American point of view.

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.