Role In Ww2

Role of United States in World Wars and the Consistent Failure of Totalitarianism Governments

The increased energy gained by the North Atlantic Region can be attributed to a number of different sources. However, there are two crucial factors that stand out above the rest. Both events fall between the time of the United States entry into World War I in 1917, and end a few years after the World War II immediate repercussions are resolved, in about 1952. The role of America throughout both World Wars is the most important in regard to the energy shift. Without America providing an impossible number of soldiers the Germans weren’t able to match in WWI, it could have gone on much longer and of course could have had an alternate ending. The other
important factor is the consistent failure of the very brief rise of fascism. We don’t see a whole lot of fascism, (or totalitarianism), until the Second World War. However, by the beginning of WWII, there were three countries with intimidating armies trying to expand their land ownership in other countries. At no point did the United States have intentions on entering WWI, as was reiterated by the president on a number of occasions. They were conducting trades with Great Britain while their share of the war against Germany was taking place, and some thought the U.S had been aiding Britain secretly. The German use of their U-Boats and the sinking of the ship, the Lusitania, in 1915 (which held 128 U.S. passengers), brought out a response from President Wilson and he issued Germany a formal warning about their conduction of the U-Boats. For a couple years Germany halted the use of the boats, but went back to using them as they were beginning to lose their edge in the war. Wilson again reiterated the U.S. will not tolerate the use of unauthorized Submarine warfare. The determining factor that brought the U.S. into the war, 7 sunk U.S. ships later and a letter recovered by U.S. government officials from Germany sent to Africa and Japan, asking if they will go to war with the states with German assistance forthcoming, the U.S. enters WWI in April 1917. The Germans knew that once the U.S. entered against them, they would be overwhelmed.
Woodrow Wilson presents document called the “14 Points”, to Congress in January of 1918, in hopes that the U.S. presence in the war can end the war resulting in a peace treaty. Finally in early November of 1918, the Germans backs were against the war and a cease fire was implemented, ending the war on November 11th. Only a few of the ideas for peace reflected in Wilson’s 14 Points were used in the Treaty of Versailles. It was never Wilson’s intention to cripple Germany after the war, but the allies had different ideas. They told Wilson he wasn’t as close to Germany as they were and they needed that country to be significantly weakened. Wilson eventually complied with their ideas and the punishment on Germany was a crippling shot indeed. Germany was told they must pay massive reparations for being instigators in the war. Another consequence was the effects on their military. They could only have an army of 100,000 soldiers, were not allowed to have an air force, and other impositions posed on them that would make another attempt at war seemingly impossible. In a proud Germany, the punishments imposed on them by the League of Nations, (which the U.S. never officially entered, although Wilson was a major voice in its construction), were unacceptable and they felt they were treated much too harshly. With many groups of former German soldiers, unemployed office workers, and many other groups, they all had a similar mindset in common, “We didn’t fight all of these years for this weak state”. (Reilly, 949) They were desperate for a charismatic leader to lead them back to the top.
Adolf Hitler had many phobias and a “constant fear of foreigners”, (Reilly, 949). Many that knew him since he was young would agree that the combination of his many phobias can contribute to his radical stances and decisions in the upcoming years. In 1933, Hitler becomes Germany’s chancellor, and immediately after the death of their current president, he announces his new position as the Fuhrer of Germany. Hitler was very open about his position and often reminded that the position of the National Socialist Party “is very brief: Annihilation and extermination of the Marxist world view”. (Reilly, 947)
During the years leading to WWII, we see a number of Socialist, (Fascist) leaders.
In Italy, there is Benito Mussolini. Germany, of course is Adolf Hitler, and perhaps one of the biggest threats to the United States, is Japan. Japan was newly revolutionized and had seen a new form of government take place. It was comprised of many military personnel in high ranking political positions now. They held a substantial amount of influence over the current emperor and were able to persuade him of the actions they deemed necessary for their expansion. Besides Germany’s need for a dramatic rebuild of the state, the main goal of all of these regimes was
expansion.
Japan’s first stop, in their attempt to expand was in China, which arguably was the start of the war with the invasion of Manchuria.
The Germans saw this and deliberately broke the Versailles Treaty and invaded Poland. Neither, Britain, France, nor the United States, felt the need or didn’t want to use resources to take action against Germany, from that point on weakness is seen in the League of Nations and all havoc breaks loose. The similarity between all of these regimes is that they all made controversial decisions that didn’t hold the support of all of its citizens, (i.e. Germany exterminating Jews, and Japan torturing non-military citizens of China). At one point, there was a plot by citizens to assassinate Hitler, and many Japanese deny the Rape of Nanking to this day. As history shows, aggressive Totalitarianism repeatedly fails in government. The goals always seem to be very controversial and unattainable, causing others to take notice and intervene. All of these regimes fell shortly after the war ended and they never bothered to reform that type of
government.
One final argument on behalf of the role of the United States when they become involved in these two wars is that, an interesting factor to look at is when they decide it’s time for these wars to end, there is no hesitance, in both cases. Just from them entering into WW1, the Germans knew they were overmatched and probably couldn’t stay a threat much longer; nonetheless it was over less than a year later. What may be the most controversial military decision for a non-socialist state could have been the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. After Japan’s unannounced attack on Pearl Harbor, their radical training of soldiers, and their recruitment process, (requiring any males from age 17-40 had no choice but to serve 3 years minimum active duty), who knows what would have come next had a devastating blow not been released upon them. Japan was simply out of control, with the mindset that any one human life is worthless, that allowed them to carry out methods of torture that were so sickening that “the Nazis in the city were horrified” (Reilly, 970).
After the war ended, Japan was in a powerless state, and was never to be given a chance at war again; they, at the time, and currently have just enough troops just to maintain peace in their country. The U.S. helped rebuild Japan and what was formerly West Germany and saw to it that they both acquired a responsible form of government. Germany went on to join the much improved program to attempt to keep world peace, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Many think the lack of U.S. involvement in the League of Nations led to the failure of the program. NATO has been very strong since its construction and provides great benefit to the world. In conclusion, the involvement of the United States in WWI and WWII had great effect to each wars outcome. The League of Nations was not a great program, and it’s interesting to reflect if things would have been different if Wilson’s full “14 Thesis” had been accepted by the allies. The League of Nations could have been a bill U.S. Congress would pass, thus avoiding WWII all together. Recapping another strong example of this, the United States dropping of the Atomic Bomb arguably saved many lives, but without a doubt ended Japans reign of terror. Finally, with the three aggressive Totalitarian governments uprising at once, their greatest chance at success was during the period of WWII, when they were allies with one another, (for the most part). It is proven to not be an acceptable form of government as aggressive expansion attempts and such radical, controversial behavior will not be accepted by the United States and its allies. The bottom line is that we see in both wars, the United States has a great influence in the outcomes of these wars, thus making the U.S. a world power.