...influential nations of the time: the United States. Although attempting to remain neutral in the war, in actions but not in thoughts, until it was eventually forced into action by the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Even without such an antagonizing act by the Japanese, it was inevitable that the US would have to join the battle. Due to the attitudes of the citizens at the time, the history of the conflict, and the nature of the axis powers, United States involvement in WWII was unavoidable....
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...During the early 1960s, the US witnessed the Cuban Missile Crisis unfold. The incident started in the middle of a nuclear arms race. Because Russia was trying to get nuclear missiles set up in Cuba, the US did not appreciate that as it threatened Americans security immensely, and launched a counter measure to try and stop the warheads from entering Cuba. This ordeal frightened America greatly, as the threat of a nuclear war was high. By now, Americans have bomb shelters everywhere, and have been practicing what to do in the situation of a bombing on American soil. The American people were terrified and losing hope, thinking doom was just around the corner. The incident lasted just about two weeks, but was a major role in the cold war. These few days were the closest the US has ever been to a nuclear war, and the victory from standing our ground to a superpower was an immense boost in pride for America. After this, America saw a surge in confidence and renewed faith in eliminating the world of communism. The 1960s also saw the involvement of the US in the Vietnam War. This created a lot of disagreement and conflict between the American people and also the government, causing countless protests against the government and the war. The US saw many violent attacks on the American people from the government and its enforcers. The US also saw the emergence of the hippy movement among Americans, which was needed...
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...World War II Through the 1970’s Stephen Lundert Dr. Mel Albin HIS 105 Contemporary US History Strayer University 2 June 2013 This is the Baby Boom Generation. The period runs from the beginning of WWII thought the end of the 1960’s. The Vietnam War period was a very tumultuous period for the United States and a counterculture was created. This was also a period of great social unrest. The economic upturn that began at the end of WWII came to an end. The US participated in 3 wars; World War II, Korea, and Vietnam during this period. Women and minorities continued to make advances and even had some victories in the Civil Rights arena. There were several major tuning points that occurred during this time period but, I selected WWII and the Cold War because I believe they had the greatest impact. The first turning point to be discussed will be World War II. The war prompted a tremendous mobilization of America Resources, at a level not seen since the Civil War. The American Economy ramped up from that of the low-production Great Depression years to the most powerful economy in the world. The economy showed the most remarkable improvement, Wartime mobilization boosted production, increased demand for labor, and rescues the economy from the depression. World War II initiated the most significant federal management of the economy in American history. When the war began, President Roosevelt implemented the War Production Board (WPB) to steer the economy into...
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...around such as liberty bonds, the citizens were thrilled and excited to go to war. Though not all citizens felt the same, those who went to war and and came back to their everyday lives were forced to live with traumatic shock , handicaps/injures and changed attitudes. Americas rise to promoting war decreased with rise of the Kellogg-Briand Pact,isolationism, and a variety of neutrality acts. The Kellogg- Brain Pact was assured for America and other nations to not use war as a threat of dealing with one another. A set of neutrality acts followed; not being allowed to provide weapons to nations undergoing war, banning loans to one another and finally, not being able to trade with fighting nations. 3.America had both direct and indirect involvement in World War II. President Roosevelt insisted we get involved when Germany invaded Poland. Both the U.S and Roosevelt felt it was their duty...
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...to their countries, which was the exact opposite intent of the declaration of the Fourteen Points from President Wilson that promoted peacemaking and reparations. In 1919 the Treaty of Versailles was set in place to put the blame on Germany and punish them for their expansion of the war globally. Germany is not credited with starting the war but they are credited for making it larger than what it should have been. The conference in Versailles was to dish out punishment to the Germans through a non-conflict act and the Germans agreed to pay reparations and reduce the size of their military “Article 159. The German military forces shall be demobilized and reduced as prescribed hereinafter” (fordham.edu). Eventually though in the beginning of WWII Adolf Hitler broke nearly all of the rules the Treaty set in place for Germany, “On the 15th of March 1935, Hitler starts to form his German air-force or Luftwaffe, even though he is acting directly in contradiction to the Treaty of Versailles. On the 16th of March, the next day, he introduces military conscription. A year later Hitler feels confident enough for the second step; on the 17th of March 1936 German troops re-occupied the Rhineland, again breaking the Treaty.” (histoforum.net). Hitler broke the agreements of the treaty and...
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...Syllabus College of Humanities HIS/125 U.S. History 1865 to 1945 Professor Jewell gjjewell@email.phoenix.edu 843-863-0102 Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2007 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. Course Description This course provides an overview of the social, political, economic, and global events affecting U.S. history from the Civil War through World War II. Policies Faculty and students will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents: University policies: You must be logged into the student website to view this document. University policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies at the beginning of each class. Policies may be slightly different depending on the modality in which you attend class. If you have recently changed modalities, read the policies governing your current class modality. Course Materials Schultz, K. M. (2012). HIST2, volume 2 (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. All electronic materials are available on the student website. Week One: Reconstruction and the New South Details Objectives 1.1 Evaluate the outcomes of Reconstruction. 1.2 Summarize the economic, political, and social characteristics of the New South. 1.3 Explain the populist response to late 19th-century developments. Read the course description and objectives. Read the instructor’s biography and post your own. Read Ch. 16 of HIST2, Volume 2. Read pp. 318–325 in Ch. 19 of HIST2...
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...In 1933, on the 4th of March, Franklin Delano Roosevelt became the 32nd president of the United States. Roosevelt won the election against Herbert Hoover, the previous president, by a landslide. Because of Hoover’s failure to help the US during the Great Depression, the people disliked him. Though FDR was chosen due to process of elimination, he proved he could successfully lead the US. Roosevelt is known for serving the longest time as president, helping the US overcome the largest recession in history, connecting with the citizens of the US, and leading America close to the end of World War II. FDR left his precious country’s side and died during his fourth term as president. His death shocked the nation and he was unable to see his prized...
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...There were many reasons that contributed to Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War. These consisted of a fear of communism, the need to support the USA and other allies and the views of Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies. While none of these had a great enough influence themselves, the combination of multiple factors were what brought about Australia’s association with the Vietnam War. The most prominent reason for Australian involvement in the Vietnam War was the country’s fear of communism. This was most clearly demonstrated through the use of effective and persuasive propaganda that depicted communism as a disease, or leaders such as Stalin as a spider with a web capturing the countries falling prey to communism. This government propaganda was helpful in gaining support for the war by the Australian public who learned to fear communism themselves. Australia was also opposed to the idea of the country falling to communism because of what it would bring. It would mean totalitarian rule, in which the country would come under the rule of a dictator, freedom of assembly, media and speech would be revoked and censored and the social classes would be obliterated. This would mean people were no longer able to work for their money or own a business, which consequently could bring about uprisings and protests as people struggle to grasp their new ways of equality. The increase in rules and regulations would come as a rude shock to the Australian public who had lived in a democratic...
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...on June 28, 1919. This was negotiated among Allied powers with little participation by Germany. Boundaries and assigned liability for reparations with the five years of enforcement, the French assented to the modification of important provisions. The provisions were that Germany agreed to pay reparations under the Dawes Plan and Young Plan. However this was canceled when Hitler rise to power and destructions. What events brought the use into WWII there were a couple of things leading up to the involvement. One would be Germany had a plan to try to prevent Britain from getting their supplies for war by using unrestricted submarine ware force or known as the German U-boats. Allied ships were the only ones being sunk by this however, the “Lusitania” held large amount of passengers and many of them died. At this time the US threatened to go to war but due to Germany backing down. Germany attempted to bargain and started up sinking ships however, this time was allied and neutral ships. Another event leading up to the involvement was the economy downfall due to the stock market collapsing in the 1900’s. With the problem it just increased the tensions which lead up to the fight between Communist and Nationalist. With Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist (Nazi) party coming into power which we lead was ruthless and cold hearted. However Hitler there was more than those issues that gave him the spark it was also the racist and anti-Semitic ideologies and seeking to remake Europe...
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...Vietnam: A History By : Stanley Karnow | April 4 2012 | This paper is about Vietnam: A History a novel on America’s involvement on the war in Vietnam and the policies and feelings surrounding the war. | Book Report | Works Cited Karnow, Stanley. Vietnam: A History. New York: Penguin, 1997. Print. The Vietnam War was not just of interest to the government but the world took great interest as a whole. It was like trying to figure out a magician’s illusion. Before reading this book I only had vague general knowledge of the Vietnam War and how the conflict transpired. I knew about the communist insurgents, the Gulf of Tonkin, Saigon and Ho Chi Mihn. I knew about Presidents Johnson and Nixon, posttraumatic stress disorder and demonstrations. What I did not fully understand was why. Why were the North Vietnamese so resilient? Why did the US make such poor judgment? Why were we really there? What was Vietnam's history prior to our arrival? “History is an organic process, a continuity of related events, inexorable yet not inevitable.” (pg 11) The roots of America's involvement in Vietnam were nurtured by what Professor Daniel Bell has called America's concept of its own “exceptionalism.” George Berkeley, an Anglican bishop and philosopher stated in 1726 as he departed from England to America, “Westward the course of empire.” The phrase, “manifest destiny”, was coined...
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...1960s was arguably one of the most important decades for the USA. After experiencing victory in WWII and the postwar booms in both economy and birth in the 1950s, a lot of American believed that they were at a golden age at the beginning of the 1960s. Knowledge wise, this was the time where rational choice theory initially started from taking different assumptions from other theories, with social exchange theory included during the 1960s. Homans (1958) first proposed that when a person requires to make an exchange, he would usually seek equilibrium to a balance, where gives would be a cost, while what he gets would be a reward. It is a nature act for a person to maximise its profit, with it being the least behaviour change impacted by the exchange....
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...offers a good example of this, since it is the center of a politicized debate between those preferring Persian Gulf and those preferring Arabian Gulf. Although this debate will not be further explored in this paper – it was decided to use the term “Persian Gulf” as it is most commonly used – this paper will delve deeper into the transition from British to American hegemony in the Persian Gulf and review how various aspects of this are described and interpreted in the literature. This paper will deal with this transition between the years of 1945, the end of the Second World War, and 1971, the year that the British completed their military withdrawal from the Persian Gulf. Even though the Americans were interested in the area before the WWII, the year 1945 was chosen as a starting point because the war had severely altered the power equilibrium between the great powers the United States of America and Britain were considered as at that time. During the Cold War, which started in 1946 the importance of the region was on the rise, both because of the oil and because of the containment policy against the Russians. The relevance of the region was on the rise for America in particular because the power of Britain was waning in the post-war era. Britain, faced with economic hardship, imperial fatigue, and events of humiliation such as the Suez Crisis of 1956-57, was entering the dawn of its empire, something that was slowly sinking in with both London and Washington. The process of...
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...western democracies feared communism due to the spread in East Asia. In 1948, China had become the People's Republic of China, people believed if China had fallen under communist rule, other neighbouring countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Burma, India, and then possibly Australia would also fall under communism. This fear of communism spreading was called the domino effect. It was pictured that the East Asian nations were acted as a row of dominoes, if one country fell to communism, the others would follow. Consequently, the United Nations would take action if the whole of Korea would fall under the communist rule. After WWII, Korea resulted in a geographical as well as a political split diving the country....
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...Everyone wants to out-weapon the other to gain the upper hand against their opponent. This war contained many different battles. In one of the battles of WWII, the TANK was introduced amongst many other new weapons like machine guns. Machine guns and TANKS led to the modernization of weapons such as a nuclear bomb. The non-aggression pact was a pact that prohibited war that Germany and Soviet Union signed. The Soviet Union saw the pact as a way to build their military while keeping peace with Germany. On the other hand, Germany saw the non-aggression pact as a way to invade Poland unopposed. The German-Soviet Nonaggression pact fell apart in 1941 when Germany’s Nazi forces invaded the Soviet Union, which is one of the primary causes for WWII. The Nonaggression pact led to Soviet control of Poland. The whole pact stated that Germany and USSR will be at peace but also prevent Germany from engaging in any war. When WWII started, Poland was invaded and captured by Germany. This resulted with the soviet’s control of Poland. Assassination of arch Duke Ferdinand, June 28 1914, was one of the major causes of WWI. When arch Duke Ferdinand visited Sarajevo, Bosnia, there was an anarchist group opposed to his country called the Black Hand. He and his wife were killed by Princep while...
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...Truman believed that the U.S should be world police and prevent the spread of communism. As the U.S tried to fight against the spread of communism the power of Communist rebels in South Vietnam kept increasing. As a result president Truman felt obligated to send more and more military advisors until finally in 1965 Truman sent a large number of American combat troops into Vietnam to prop-up South Vietnam. This war was obviously between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States of America and other anti-communist countries. The United States played a big role taking the side of the South Vietnamese army but failed to have the support of the American people. The involvement of the United States into the Vietnam War was obviously not justified for many reason which I will talk about in the following. Since the American people didn’t support the U.S getting involved in war with communist North Vietnam it clearly went against and interfered directly with people’s pursuit of happiness. As well Americans believed that the intervention in south Vietnam interfered with the “ Self-determination” of the United States. According to the United States, the pursuit of happiness is defined as: "...one of the "unalienable rights" of people enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, along with "life"...
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