Neutrality Period in the USA - Literature review Example

USA, From Total Neutrality to Total War INTRODUCTION The impact of war has long been viewed to provide major effects on the economic and political conditions of global nations. In general, the effects of World War 1 and World War 2 also had triggered radical changes and uncertainties within the economic and political conditions of various global countries. Owing to such devastating effects, the United States of America (USA) followed a neutrality movement in the post World War 1 period. In this regard, the USA enacted different Neutrality Acts in order to protect the country from various revolts and turbulent situations caused due to the nation’s participation in World War 1. Moreover, the primary purpose of the Neutrality Acts amended by the USA government had been to keep the nation safe from various external threats and insurgencies, which might be caused due to the involvement of the nation in the European wars (Freidman & Schwartz 25-199). Emphasizing different subjects and amendments conducted within the US Neutrality Acts to avoid various impacts from the World War 1 and World War 2, the primary objective of this report is to reveal the factors and consequences which ultimately transformed the USA’s perception towards total war. Moreover, the paper will briefly describe the economic and political scenarios of the USA and European nations during the period of World War when the USA had made up its view to follow complete neutrality to participate in the war, but ultimately it became a major participant in it. In this regard, the discussion will further encompass different factors affecting the economic and political conditions of both the USA and Europe in order to justify the transformation of the USA from total neutrality to total war. NEUTRALITY MOVEMENT OF THE USA The Neutrality Movement was performed by the USA in the year 1935 after World War 1, when the nation realized the tragic effects of participating in a war. The neutrality law enacted by the government of the USA was basically focused on protecting the country from different potential European insurgencies. In this regard, the American government barred shipments associated with delivering of war materials to the belligerent nations and forbid the American citizens to travel to various European belligerent nations. In this context, it had also been witnessed that the demand for enacting Neutrality Act cropped up from the opinions of a large number of US citizens which postulated that the consent of America into the World War 1 had been a mistake causing terrible effects on the socio-economic structure of the nation (Bronx Engineering and Technology Academy, “United States History Regents Review Packet”). The Neutrality Act of the USA further focused on forbidding loan facilities to the belligerents, which was included during the amendment of the Act in the year 1936. In this context, the US government focused on implementing severe regulations concerning the prevention of granting loans to the belligerents. Moreover, the country was also focused on isolating the supply of various destructive elements to the European nations in order to protect the USA from suffering any further drastic effects of wars. Contextually, the neutrality laws were further extended to encompass the civil wars with an amendment in the year of 1937. This amendment enabled the US government to obtain adequate control of the nation in terms of defending Americans from the impact of belligerent regions (Woodland Hills School District, “World War 1: 1914-1918”). During the year 1939, the Neutrality Act was revised for supplying the warring regions with the principles of “Cash-and-Carry”. However, the American vessels were prohibited from the insurgent nations. The US citizens were also banned from sailing through the belligerent vessels. These stipulations were elevated by the integration of the amendment in Neutrality Act that was conducted in the year 1941 and formulated the establishment of ‘Lend-Lease’ policy (Freidman & Schwartz 25-199). ECONOMIC SCENARIO OF U.S.A AND EUROPE DURING THE PERIOD OF TOTAL NEUTRALITY TO TOTAL WAR United States of America The economic conditions of both the USA and Europe experienced a radical fluctuation since the ending of World War 1 till the beginning of World War 2. In this regard, the neutrality period had been facilitated by the government of US to protect Americans from belligerents or defending US citizens from various adverse impacts as a consequence of the insurgencies, mainly initiated by the European nations. In this period, the country had to experience radical changes in its socio-economic performances due to the inclusion of different provisions within the Neutrality Acts. During the World War 1, the integration of Neutrality Acts had significantly reduced the capabilities of the USA to conduct different economic transactions with the European nations. Consequentially, the economic conditions of the USA faced significant barriers to acquire adequate development during the period of neutrality as initiated by the USA (Woodland Hills School District, “World War 1: 1914-1918”). Moreover, the amendments within the Neutrality Acts further created significant problems for the USA traders due to the inadequate supply and terrible movement of trade operations with the European nations. Owing to the stated concern, the radical fierceness along with rebellious circumstances observed within Europe had reduced different trade facilities in the aftermath of World War 1. This further caused significant barriers for the US to strengthen its economic position globally. The federal government had been observed to support the economic position of the country by strengthening the national industrial sectors. Consequentially, during the period of US Neutrality, a significant increase in demand had been observed within the country in terms of exporting different products to the belligerent nations. Moreover, the belligerent countries had to pay excess amount in exchange of the goods exported from the USA. In this context, the belligerent countries were forced to purchase products at a higher price from the USA (Freidman & Schwartz, 198-200). In accordance with the employment scenario, when the USA had been focused on neutrality, it had been observed that the American unemployment rate averaged 13.3%. During the mid of 1940s, it had also been identified that around 5.3 millions of the US citizens were unemployed which was remarkably lower than the amount experienced by the country in its prior neutrality stage. In this context, the unemployment rate witnessed during the pre-neutrality period, i.e. 1929, was approximately 11.5 million in the USA. Despite the dismal statistical report of the USA economy, the nation was observed to be competently prepared for war like situations. However, the wide range of planning regarding ‘New Deal’ representations signified that the American government was noticeably more cautious regarding the augmentation of its economic and social developments (Freidman & Schwartz, 198-200). European Nations The European nations were also severely affected by World War 1 which caused the rapid and large volume elimination of physical and natural resources across the different territories including Britain, Germany, France, Soviet-Union and other nations. During the crisis condition within the different European countries, a large number of physical capitals were destroyed through six years of continuous bombing and ground battles. In accordance with the neutrality approach taken by the USA, the European countries were focused on instigating new industrial movements developing different commercial sectors (Florence School District One, “Europe after WW1”). According to different scholars, it has been identified that the economic position of the European countries was under devastating conditions due to the cruel effects of World War 1. These countries, during the USA’s Neutrality approach, were highly focused on improving their political and economic conditions by performing different trade related activities. However, the beginning of the World War 2 had fiercely affected the economic and political positions of each territory within Europe. The countries were then, highly focused on increasing their spending in terms of procuring armaments from different nations and building strategic road networks. However, a few of the major European nations were merely focused on investing huge amount of economic resources to build adequate infrastructure for producing oil along with other substitute products of the same kind. Additionally, the stronger European countries were mostly focused towards utilizing a huge volume of wealth in order to ensure the effective instigation of the fierce insurgencies. Therefore, a relentless loss of wealth along with severe affects on the macro economic factors had been observed due to the higher investment in developing the resources into the war related activities. The macro-economic conditions of the European countries had also been identified to be severely affected due to the great economic depression, which had been a major incident during the World War 1 (Freidman & Schwartz, 198-200). POLITICAL CCONDITION OF U.S. AND EUROPE DURING THE PERIOD OF TOTAL NEUTRALITY TO TOTAL WAR During the years after the end of World War 1, the US government agreed that their participation in the war had been an unfortunate mistake, which resulted in devastating effects. As a corrective measure, during the period of 1920s and 1930s, the federal government enacted a wide range of political strategies in order to mitigate the conflict persisting among the European countries and their allies to prevent war. At the preliminary stage of the era, when the USA had been depicting its total neutrality to war, the political leaders along with the different peace societies of the nation played a lead role in supporting neutrality so as to avoid war and build a stronger relationship with countries (Slideshare Inc, “The World After WW1: On the Path to Another War”). When assessing the political role of the USA, the Cold War can be identified as one of the major political as well as diplomatic issues that had taken place during the first half of the twentieth century. During the Cold War, the major players were the US and Soviet Union. The war preliminary commenced during the period of Russian Revolution in the year 1917 and had been noticeably growing since the commencement of World War 2. Political neutrality had been viewed as significantly practice by the USA federal government through passing different regulations and policies. In relation to the political conditions of the USA during the period of neutrality, the country was further viewed to make certain major amendments within its Neutrality Acts ensuring a substantial reduction in the potential insurgencies when being allied with the European nations and thereby, protect the Americans from different external threats. Moreover, the political support of the US had also focused on providing adequate support to the Allies with the intention of minimizing insurgencies within the European countries (Owens, 41 & 42). In the similar context, it has been observed that various intentions of the governments of different European nations were to strengthen their political power through the formulation of treaties with global traders. In this context, the Treaty of Versailles can be considered as one of the major concerns wherein the political leaders from Britain, France, Italy and the USA had met to decide upon the crucial points associated with the World War 1 in the year 1918. As a consequence, a great depression took place within the political system of Britain. The relentless economic crisis along with demolishing industrial environment and extremely increasing unemployment rate within the country raised various questions to the British government, which was then led by David Lloyd George in the post World War 1 period. The political system of Britain had also faced cruel effects with regard to the higher rate of debt in the economy along with higher postwar tariffs as a consequence of the global allies when importing goods to the other territories (Owens 41 & 42). Additionally, the political system of France had also been viewed to face different challenges due to the continuous devastation on its economic position. The government of the country had also experienced drastic uncertainty within the political system due to the devastating effects from the World War 1. In accordance with the Treaty of Versailles, it had also been observed that George Clemenceau imposed major amount of wealth to Germany due to its brutal effects on the France economy. In this context, the country also claimed to hold back Alsace-Lorraine, which was captured by Germany during the year 1870. The political system of France had also been observed to strengthen its governance regulations by developing different policies in order to cope with the devastated economic conditions (Slideshare Inc, “The World after WW1: On the Path to Another War”). JUSTIFYING EFFECTS OF THE U.S. NEUTRALITY The provision of protecting US citizens along with maintaining effective balance of the economic and social conditions within the economy had been witnessed as the major aim of the US Neutrality Acts. According to the political and economic scenario of the US during total neutrality to total war, it can be justified that the federal government along with American peace societies had played a major role in terms of building a strong and effective regulatory process, which could avoid war like situations in a diplomatic and intellectual manner. However, the political leaders of the US, who had been witnessed to adopt neutrality during the World War 1, did not aim to isolate US citizens from the external part of the world. Despite, the economic and diplomatic environments of the USA were quite strong as compared to the other global nations during the period of World War 1 due to the nation’s overwhelming economic and military strength. Hence, it can be stated from scenario observed during 1920’s to 1930’s that the economic and military capability of the US was considerably developed as compared to the other global nations across the world. Therefore, the commencement of Neutrality Acts within the country had provided more benefits to the government in order to obtain better control along with adequate capability to build strong economic and military power (Owens 41 & 42). The commencement of neutrality within the US governance policies had also played a crucial role in terms of mitigating different potential threats and war effects to the nation. The provision for Neutrality Act and adequate amendments had also facilitated the federal government to build effective relationship with the global countries after World War 1. During that period, the federal government was highly focused on eliminating secret treaties and emphasizing international agreements to strengthen the global economy. Moreover, the federal government when enacting Neutrality Acts had also considered reducing customer barriers and artilleries among the different global nations. The neutrality initiatives of the US were also focused on promoting the autonomy of the nations and the states, which had been captured by foreign troops during the invasion in World War 1. In this context, the federal government had also put significant emphasis on self-determination of the people residing in Eastern Europe by permitting different nationalities along with adequate right to build their own independent governing system (Owens 41 & 42). CONCLUSION With reference to the different political and economic scenarios of both the USA and the European nations, the above discussion stated that the integration of Neutrality within the governance system had provided adequate capability to the US government to protect the nation from various insurgent incidents. The regulatory process along with different amended policies within the Neutrality Acts provided adequate support to protect the political and economic conditions of the country from the great depression caused in the aftermath of World War 1. Moreover, the provision of Neutrality within the American regulatory process had also played a major role for the USA to strengthen the nation’s economic and military capabilities, which had further enabled the nation to strengthen its governance system. In contrast, it has also observed from the study that during the period of total neutrality in the USA had also imposed negative impacts on the nation in terms of mitigating the insurgencies within the then belligerent regions. In accordance with the brutal effects caused due to World War 1, the commencement of the ‘Lend-Lease’ policies during the year 1941 had further improved the relationship of the participant nations in World War 1, with other global territories. The policies had significantly facilitated the economic and political relationships of the USA with Britain and Soviet Union, which was later extended to China. Works Cited “United States History Regents Review Packet.” Independence Movement/Revolutionary War (American Revolution). Bronx Engineering and Technology Academy, n.d. Web. 26Jun. 2013. . “Europe after WW1.” Documents. Florence School District One, n.d. Web. 26Jun. 2013. . Freidman, Milton and Anna Jacobson Schwartz. A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960. USA: Princeton University Press, 2008. Print. Owens, Richard H. The Neutrality Imperative. United Kingdom: University Press of America, 2009. Print. “The World After WW1: On the Path to Another War.” Postwar Britain. Slideshare Inc, n.d. Web. 26Jun. 2013. . “World War 1: 1914-1918.” American Neutrality. Woodland Hills School District, n.d. Web. 26Jun. 2013. . Read More