C.C EEUU about WARS

The United States in the World War I. Since the beginning of World War I in 1914, the United States, under President Wilson, had maintained neutrality. By the time of Wilson’s reelection victory, the war had left millions dead, cities and economies in ruins, and no decisive victory in sight for any side. In 1916, Wilson sent diplomatic notes to the governments of every nation involved: Germany opened immediate peace negotiations; France, however, responded by launching a new attack against the Germans in Verdun; and British Prime minister rejected Wilson’s initiative directly. In 1917, Germany announced that it was authorized to sink all ships that they provided aid of the Allies. In response, President Wilson broke off diplomatic relations with Germany.  Although Wilson tried hard to keep the United States neutral, by 1917, the situation had changed significantly, and he requested a declaration of war. U.S. troops were ferried across the Atlantic, first to Britain and then on to France. In 1918, President Wilson gave a speech before the U.S. Congress in which he defined necessary requirements in order to restore and maintain peace in Europe and the rest of the world: Wilson’s “Fourteen Points”: the final point called for establishing a “general association” of the world’s states, with each to have equal representation regardless of size or strength. There was a large time gap between the U.S. declaration of war and the actual entrance of U.S. troops in combat on the front, although it remained an independent participant.

The United States in the World War II: Although the United States remained officially neutral during the first two years of World War II, Roosevelt’s administration was not indifferent to the conflict: the United States provided material support first to Britain and later to the Soviet Union. American people also paid close attention to the events developing in the Pacific. U.S. officials knew that the Japanese were planning something against them, especially Admiral Turner, who had been concerned that the Pearl Harbor base was particularly vulnerable to attacks. The attack on Pearl Harbor killed 2,402 Americans, destroyed 8 battleships and 180 aircraft, and sank 11 warships. After Roosevelt went to request a declaration of war against Japan, the United States was at war with both Japan and Germany and into alliance with Britain.

American view of World War II. Americans are taught from early that World War II was all about Pearl Harbor, that they went in to Europe, and then had no choice and blew up two entire cities in Japan. However, the reality is that the United States’ allies suffered brutality. Germany was taking over Europe, except the few neutral countries and Great Britain, which eventually had no choice but defend itself. Finally, Roosevelt realized there was no choice but to enter the war. Many nations (large and small) came together to fight against tyranny during World War II, and their commitment and sacrifice to that cause were enormous. After conquering Europe, Hitler would have attacked North America. Fortunately, this never happened.

Pearl Harbor. The war in the Pacific began in 1941, when warplanes from Japan launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. By this time, Japan had already been at war with China for several years. After the Pearl Harbor attack, Japan began a massive campaign of expansion throughout the Southeast Asia–Pacific region, and it provoked a declaration of war by the United States on Japan the very next day. The next year, the United States and Japan engaged in a series of naval battles, such as the Battle of Midway, in which Japan suffered a catastrophic defeat. The “Manhattan Project” was the code name for the U.S. government’s secret program to develop an atomic bomb. After a difficult decision by President Harry S Truman, U.S. forces dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

Dwight D. Eisenhower. A U.S. Army general who held the position of supreme Allied commander in Europe. Eisenhower was best known for his work in the Allied invasion of Europe. After the war, he was a very popular figure in the United States and was elected to two terms as U.S. president, taking office in 1953.

Harry S Truman. The 33rd U.S. president, who succeeded Franklin D. Roosevelt when he died in 1945. Truman, who led the country through the last few months of World War II, is best known for making the controversial decision to use two atomic bombs against Japan. After the war, Truman was crucial in the implementation of the Marshall Plan, which greatly accelerated Western Europe’s economic recovery.

Cold War - Early Years

The cold war began with the struggle for control of the politics of these nations. The Western democracies, led by the United States, were determined to stop the spread of communism and Soviet power. While not being able to stop the Soviets in Eastern Europe, the U.S. and Britain were determined to prevent communist regimes from achieving power in Western Europe. During the Second World War, communist parties throughout Western Europe had gained popularity in their resistance to Nazi occupation.

Truman succeeded Roosevelt as president before the end of the war, but had little experience in international affairs.

The first and most difficult case was Poland, the eastern half of which had been invaded and occupied by the USSR. Moscow demanded a government subject to Soviet influence; Washington wanted a more independent, representative government following the Western model. Relations deteriorated from that point onward.

Public statements defined the beginning of the Cold War. In 1946 Stalin declared that international peace was impossible "under the present capitalist development of the world economy." Former British Prime Minister Churchill delivered a dramatic speech, with Truman sitting on the platform. Churchill said, "an iron curtain has descended across the Continent." Britain and the United States, he declared, had to work together to counter the Soviet threat.

Truman was the first American president to fight the Cold War. Marshall was the principal American military architect of Allied victory, and special representative of the president to China. He returned to Washington to propose a strategy that concentrated on Europe.

In 1947, the Truman Doctrine was a plan to give money and military aid to countries threatened by communism. "It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." The Truman Doctrine effectively stopped communists from taking control of Greece and Turkey. In 1948 the Marshall Plan provided financial and economic assistance to the nations of Western Europe, and the popularity of communist parties declined.

During the closing months of World War II, Soviet military forces occupied all of Central and Eastern Europe. Moscow used its military power to support the efforts of the Communist parties in Eastern Europe and crush the democratic parties. The process concluded in 1948.

The conflict came to center on the future of Germany. The Soviets blocked all ways into the western part of Berlin, so President Truman ordered military planes to fly coal, food, and medicine to the city, receiving help from Britain and France.

Cold War in the 1950s

The United States dominated global affairs in the years immediately after World War II. Victorious in that great struggle, its homeland undamaged, the nation was confident. US leaders wanted to maintain the democratic structure they had defended at tremendous cost and to share the benefits of prosperity as widely as possible. But gradually some began to question dominant assumptions. In the 1960s, politically active students protested the nation's role abroad, particularly in the corrosive war in Vietnam.

The passing in 1953 of Soviet leader Stalin gave the new American president, Eisenhower, a chance to deal with new Soviet leaders. Eisenhower became the first Republican president in 20 years: a war hero rather than a career politician, he had a natural touch that made him widely popular. After serving as Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Western Europe during World War II, Eisenhower functioned as a strong public spokesman.

Eisenhower proposed that the Americans and Soviets agree to let their military bases be inspected by air by the other side. After all, the leaders of the world's most powerful nations had shaken hands. Rather, a more aggressive policy of liberation was necessary.

Eisenhower's basic commitment to contain Communism remained, and to that end he increased American reliance on a nuclear shield. The United States had created the first atomic bombs. In 1950 Truman had authorized the development of a new and more powerful hydrogen bomb. In practice, however, the nuclear option could be used only against extremely critical attacks.

Cold War tensions increased over the years. The changes came as both sides actively tried to influence political and economic developments around the world. For example, the Soviet Union provided military, economic, and technical aid to communist governments in Asia. The United States then helped eight Asian nations fight communism by establishing the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization. In the middle 1950s, the United States began sending military advisers to help South Vietnam defend itself against communist North Vietnam.

The Cold War also affected the Middle East. The Suez Crisis was a political victory for the Soviets. When the Soviet Union supported Egypt, it gained new friends in the Arab world.

Cold War in the 1960s

Kennedy followed Eisenhower as president in 1961. During his early days in office, Cuban exiles invaded Cuba. They wanted to oust the communist government of Castro. The United States failed to send military planes to protect them during the invasion, and their mission failed.

In Europe, East Germany's communist government built a wall separating the eastern and western parts of the city of Berlin. Guards shot at anyone who tried to flee by climbing over.

During Kennedy's second year, America discovered Soviet missiles in Cuba, but Khruschchev agreed to remove the missiles if the United States agreed not to interfere in Cuba. Relations between east and west also improved when Nixon was president.

The new Soviet leaders began to provide substantial military and political support in the war against the US; Mao Tse-tung reacted by adopting an even more extreme position because he was unwilling to cooperate with the "modern revisionists".

Cold War in the 1970s

Determined to achieve "peace with honor," Nixon ordered strong American offensive actions, and this led to another round of protests and demonstrations.

By the fall of 1972, although American troops departed, the war lingered on into the spring of 1975, when Congress cut off assistance to South Vietnam and North Vietnam consolidated its control over the entire country. The war left Vietnam devastated and left the United States traumatized.

The "Shanghai Communique" signed during that visit of Nixon to Beijing established a new U.S. policy: that there was one China, that Taiwan was a part of China, and that a peaceful settlement of the dispute of the question by the Chinese themselves was a U.S. interest.

He held several cordial meetings with Soviet leader Brezhnev in which they agreed to limit stockpiles of missiles, cooperate in space, and ease trading restrictions.

Not opposed to African-American civil rights on principle, Nixon was wary of large federal civil rights bureaucracies. Nonetheless, his administration vigorously enforced court orders on school desegregation even as it courted Southern white voters.

In foreign policy, Ford adopted Nixon's strategy of detente. Perhaps its major manifestation was the in which the United States and Western European nations effectively recognized Soviet hegemony in Eastern Europe in return for Soviet affirmation of human rights (1975).

The 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan killed the treaty.