The Main Causes of the First World War - Essay Example

Part one Causes of WW1: the main causes of the First World War included imperialism, militarism, nationalism and crises. The war began in August 1914 having been directly triggered by the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, an Austrian archduke by Bosnian revolutionary (Foner 26). Mutual Defense Alliances was another contributing factor to the war. Over time, countries allover Europe made mutual defense treaties that would pull them on battle. Thus, when one nation got attacked, allied nations remained bound to support them. Before WW1, the following alliances existed: Germany and Austria-Hungary, Russia and Serbia, France and Russia, Japan and Britain, Britain and France and Belgium. The Treaty of Versailles involved a peace agreement signed after First World War had ended in the late 1918 and in the gumshoe of the Russian Revolution among other events in Russia. Versailles treaty got signed at the massive Versailles Palace close to Paris - hence its name - between Germany and Allies. Present was David Lloyd George, Woodrow Wilson and Georges Clemenceau. Many wanted Germany, led by Friedrich Ebert, shattered - others, like Lloyd George, remained privately more cautious. Ku Klux Klan, regularly abbreviated KKK and informally called “the Klan”, is the name of 3 distinct present and past far – right organizations in the US which have supported extremist reactionary currents such as white nationalism, anti - immigration and white supremacy, historically expressed through terrorism. The first Klan thrived in the Southern US in the late 1860s; it then collapsed by early 1870s. Members embraced white costumes: robes, conical hats and masks, designed to be odd and terrifying, and to conceal their identities. The second KKK thrived countrywide in the mid and early 1920s, and embraced the same code words and costumes as the first Klan, however, introducing cross burnings. Lusitania was a ship that sunk in the First World War by German U - boats. The ship was an English ship made by the Cunard lines and is considered by many people as a major motive the USA engaged in WW1. It used to be a passenger vessel and hence should not have involved as a military target; however, it got suspected that England used the ship to illegally sneak in explosives from America into the country. Over 1000 people died the night of the sinking many of them being Americans and that remained one of the causes that made US go to war in Europe. Pearl Harbor got attacked by the Japanese Imperial General quarters as a surprise military strike directed by the Japanese Navy against the US naval base at the Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in December 7, 1941. The attack aimed at preventing action in order to have the American Pacific Fleet from interfering on military actions by Empire of Japan in Southeast Asia against foreign territories of the United Kingdom, the United States itself and the Netherlands. The Bonus Army was a popular name of a collection of some 43,000 protestors - 17,000 WWI veterans, their families, and allied groups - who congregated in Washington, in the 1932 spring and summer to demand cash - payment reclamation of their service certificates. The organizers called it Bonus Expeditionary Force to ricochet the name of WW1s American Expeditionary Force, whereas the media named it the Bonus March. Walter W. Waters, a former Army sergeant, led the Army. The Holocaust was genocide of approximately 6 million European Jews during WWII, a program of systematic state - sponsored killings by Nazi Germany, steered by Adolf Hitler, through all Nazi - occupied territory. Of all the 9 million Jews who resided in Europe before this Holocaust, approximately two - thirds died. In particular, over 1 million Jewish children got killed in the Holocaust, approximately 2 million Jewish women and 3 million Jewish men. The term D - Day got employed for the day the Normandy landings, alias Operation Neptune, were the landing processes of the Allied Normandy invasion, in Operation Overlord in the course of WWII. The landings commenced on 6th June 1944 (D - Day), from 6:30 am (GMT+2). In planning, as for the majority of Allied operations it was dependent on final approval. The landings got conducted in 2 phases: an airborne attack landing of 24,000 American, British, Free French and Canadian airborne troops just after midnight, and another amphibious landing of Allied infantry and armored divisions on the France coast starting at 6:30 am. Amazement was achieved due to intemperate weather and a comprehensive trickery plan implemented months before the landings and Operation Bodyguard, to confuse German attention from the likelihood of landings in Normandy. The Manhattan Project remained a research and development programs, led by the US with participation from the UK and Canada that made the first atomic bomb in the course of WWII. From 1942 - 1946, the project remained under the management of Major General Groves Leslie of the Army Corps of Engineers of the US. Japanese internment camps involved the internment and relocation by the US government in 1942 affecting about a hundred thousand Americans with Japanese origin and Japanese habiting the Pacific coast in the US to camps referred to as "War Relocation Camps," during the rise of the Imperial Japans Pearl Harbor attack. The internment of the Japanese living in American was applied unfairly throughout the US. All who resided on the US West Coast got interned, whereas in Hawaii, where over 150,000 Japanese Americans composed more than a third of the total resident’s population, an estimated 1,200 - 1,800 got interned. Of those interned, 63% were American citizens (Foner 77). Part two Essay (a) The 1932 United States presidential election took place in the middle of the Great Depression that ruined the assurances of President Herbert Hoover of bringing about a new age of prosperity. Economics was overriding, and the likes of cultural matters that had dominated the previous elections - such as the Ku Klux Klan in 1924 and Catholicism in 1928 - were inactive. Prohibition was a preferred Democratic target, as little Republicans tried to support it. There was an escalating demand to end prohibition to bring liquor and beer back, and the subsequent tax revenues. The theme of campaign used by Franklin Roosevelt was a complete attack on Hoovers economic letdowns, with the incumbent hard pushed to defend himself. Roosevelt blamed the Great Depression responsibility on Herbert Hoover, and his protectionist strategies. Roosevelt lashed out at his contender: "I accuse the current Administration of being the biggest spending Administration in peace time, in all American history"(Foner 220). Roosevelt succeeded remarkably well against his opponent. Although he succeeded to become the president of the US, Roosevelt used opportunistic political strategies to force himself to power. As many economics theorists asserts, the Great Depression could not be controlled by the president. Essay (b) The worst economic failure in U.S. history unlocked the way for a deluge of legislation in 1933. Virtually immediately after taking office, President Roosevelt called on Congress to convene and initiated what would be called “the Hundred Days”, which lasted up to June 16, 1933. The major consequence of the Great Depression towards America was expanded government intervention to new areas of economic and social affairs and the creation of extra social assistance interventions at the national level. Relationship between the people and the national government changed hugely. The government held a grander role in the everyday economic and social lives of the citizens. At this time, the government now got dedicated to providing at least minimum assistance to the deprived and unemployed; defending the labor unions rights; stabilizing the banking system; building low - income housing; regulating financial markets; subsidizing agricultural production and doing many other projects that had not been previously federal responsibilities. The New Deal programs by Roosevelt also generated a liberal political alliance composed of labor unions, religious minorities, blacks and other ethnics, intellectuals, the poor, and farmers. These groups came to be the mainstay of the Democratic Party for several decades following the Great Depression. The New Deal measure was influential and visionary, leading to the domestic initiatives of John F. Kennedy New Frontier, and Lyndon B. Johnson Great Society and War against Poverty. This New Deal measures also have an influence on the present Obama administration, in its efforts to stimulate the dynamic economy. Part three Nationalism as an ideology is an enlightenment concept while exceptionalism is distinct from nationalism as it involves a sense of originality and uniqueness. Nationalism is a political philosophy that involves a solid identification of individuals within the same nation. Nationalism can be easily noticed in international games and sports. American exceptionalism is used to describe the conviction that the US is an extraordinary country with an exceptional role to play in humanity history; a nation that stands not only distinctive but also superior. The elementary idea of exceptionalism is that there stand historical facts that make US exceptional in the civilization history. Each and every society has its exceptional quality, something that can make it unique. Therefore, the theory of American exceptionalism should provide a rational theory of “the exceptional” otherwise it becomes an ordinary placeholder for nationalistic passion. Either America is exceptional due to something it does, or it may be exceptional just because it is American. Works Cited Foner, Eric. The New American History. New York: Temple University Press, 1997. Read More