Arnold A. Offner writes “The Origins of the Second World War” in order to examine the responsibilities, possibilities, and limitations of America’s international policies during the interwar years. Throughout this book, Offner introduces the readers to a new idea that states America may not have fought in the war until 1941, but America was a huge contributor before and during the beginning. He asserts that the way the United States handled international affairs between 1916 and 1940 played a huge role in the starting of another war to “end all wars”. Moreover, he accomplishes this feat by presenting each explanation in a way that all possible “causes” of the war seem as important or unimportant as the rest. Ultimately, Germany may have been blamed for World War II, but not a single great- or rising- power was innocent. Offner supports his idea using treaties and conventions that occurred between the years 1917 and 1941 that illustrate the foreign and …show more content…
This research includes the book The Great Departure: The United States and World War I, 1914-20 by Daniel M. Smith. Using this source, he was able to better explain Wilson and his aide’s views on the start and more importantly the benefits of World War I. Smith’s book also allowed Offner to further explain America’s overwhelming need to protect her self-interests and her response to the world’s unacceptable challenge of her status as a Great Power. Another source that strengthens Offner’s viewpoint is After Imperialism: The Search for Order in the Far East, 1921-1931 by Akira Iriye. He uses the information stored in this book to highlight Asia’s role in international relations and negotiations between the great powers on military size. This is found primarily when he talks about the Washington conference and resulting Four-, Five-, and Nine-Power