The United States of America Emergency as a Post World War II Superpower - Article Example

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA EMERGENCY AS A POST WORLD WAR II SUPERPOWER By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date United States of America Emergency as a Post World War II Superpower Introduction1 The United States emergence as a post world war II superpower assisted in changing its acuity in the world.  According to Murphey (2012, 97) Europe had been destroyed by the war, while countries in South America, Africa, as well as Asia that were still under colonial oppression were set free to follow their own destinies.  Ultimately, Fedman and Karacas (2012, 311) posit that it is this total transformation that differentiated the US from other countries across the globe. Besides that, the Soviet Union was also a superpower, but the industrialist, broad-minded US was viewed as the superlative country on worldwide.  Locally, there existed an abundant passion concerning the possibilities as well as promise of the American Dream. What’s more, the US soldiers that returned home subsequent to trouncing the Axis of Evil and Hitler, they trusted in the idea of being capable to offer a comfortable life to women who waited for their come back.  The post- war economic boom in America permitted the country to redefine their future from a material point of view and this assisted to transform how Americans considered themselves as well as their world. The paper seeks to provide a critical insight why US emergency as a post world war II superpower. The US participation in World War II 2The United States participation in World War II started in 1941 and went on up to 1945. During this period, the U.S. was compelled into the war in consequence of the Pearl Harbor air attack by the Japanese, which took place on 7th December, 1941. Dalton et al. (2012, 612) posit that it was a day which will which will never be forgotten by the Americans owing to the disastrously fatal, unpredicted occurrence given that more than 3500 people lost their lives in a span of less than two hours. The subsequent day, the then US president Roosevelt waged war on Japan, ceasing impartiality and marking the U.S. entry into the global conflict. Olesen (2008, 192) claim three days afterwards, that Italy and Germany waged war on the United States; thus, the U.S. were compelled to fight a two front war by fighting in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. After the Pearl Harbor attack, the U.S. started rallying for war, and more than ten million men were signed up by means of the Selective Service System. In addition, Britain’s Prime Minister, Winston Churchill and US president Franklin D. Roosevelt teamed up and worked mutually to develop war strategies to overpower the Axis powers. Foremost they concentrated on the Battle of the Atlantic since it was imperative to protect shipping lanes estimated to be 3,000 mile long from America to Great Britain since Hitler had told German submarines as well as U-boats to sink every Ally ship so as to avert war and food supplies from reaching the Soviet Union as well as Britain. For an extended period of time, Reed (2003, 1325) posit that it seemed as if Hitler could be successful in his mission for the reason that defenseless American ships were simple targets for the Germans and they had by then sunk more than 600 Allied ships. In return, the Allies arranged their cargo ships into escorts which generated joint defense and by 1943 the tide had turned on the side of the Allies. 3Comparison of World War II and I The United States entered the First World War in 1917 to end it, while in the Second World War the United States entered to survive. According to Ashfaq and Hussein (2014, 147) Japan and Germany were militarized so as to bring tyrannical authorities to the leadership of the world. In 1917, the United States managed to slowly mobilize its soldiers to be successful in the war. In World War II the U.S. begun with smaller number of soldiers as compared to Belgium, but managed to mobilize over ten million men to fight in the World War II. Subsequent to the First World War the U.S. returned to a country that was unbiased in its foreign affairs participation. However, in 1941 the U.S. started to mobilize and ultimately produced a armed forces of 22 million troops and finished the war as one of two world’s super power. USA and Japan Conflict United States and Japan relations turned out to be progressively tenser following the Manchurian Incident as well as after China seizure by Japanese military between 1937 and 1939. US anger concentrated on the Japanese attack on the United States gunboat that was in Chinese waters toward the end of 1937, but Japan had made an apology. The US possessed an authoritative navy in the Pacific Ocean, and it was closely working with the Dutch and British governments. Therefore, when Indochina (currently Vietnam) was seized by Japan btween1940 and 1941, the United States, together with the Dutch, Britain and the Australia, government, 4embargoed Japan through a trade restriction. They disconnected 90 percent of oil supply to Japan, leaving Japan with only two options: relinquish China or start a war with the United States, Britain, and China to obtain the oil (Dalton, et al. 2012, 615). Before the Pearl Harbor attack, the relations between Japan and US had been tense for years, and this is because Japan believed that Western powers had ill motives towards it. The association between the two countries was as well damaged for the reason that the US resisted expansion of Japan and demands of Japan were not being realized through mediation. This prompted Japan to attack the Pearl Harbor, which was the US navy base. In reaction, the US waged war on Japan, which marked the start of a war between the two countries. Axis allies of Japan, which included Italy and Germany, also declared war on the US; thus, drawing the US into World War II. Through material production, hopping from one island to another, and heavy bombing of Japan major cities (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) as well as overpowering Japanese-seized areas, the US together with its allies coerced Japan to admit defeat, as a result ending the conflict (Fedman and Karacas 2012, 307). Cold War After the World War II, the USSR and the United States surfaced as the world’s super powers. They as well happened to take part in the Cold War, which according to Duffy and Frederking (2009, 340) was a state of enmity (other than direct military hostility) between the 5USSR and US. The conflict had unfathomable basis, dating back to the 1917 Russian Revolution, when following the Bolshevik win, the US, together with Japan, France, and Britain sent soldiers to Russia to offer backing to the anti-Communists. During the Second World War, both the USSR and the US were vaguely allied; however, they differed on approaches as well as on postwar strategies. Subsequent to the war, the two countries relationship got worse. According to Olesen (2008, 193) the USSR and the United States had distinct ideologies, and notably they distrusted one another. On one side, the Soviet Union panicked that the US, who were the capitalist world leader, wanted the collapse of Communism. While on the other hand, the US felt endangered by Soviet expansionism in Asia, Europe as well as the western hemisphere. Both countries differed over postwar policy in Eastern as well as central Europe, whereby the USSR sought to disarm Germany to avert a further war; to have power over Poland to prevent any future attack from its west; as well as to control Eastern Europe (Pavlov, Radzicki and Saeed 2005, 495). World War II according to Orr 1998 (427) restricted the products that buyers could purchase, but ultimately, buyer demand stimulated the postwar economy. Towards the end of 1950s, 60% of American families had their own homes, and 75% had their own cars. According to Patman 2006 (970) Americans obtained more private debt after the credit cards introduction as well as repayment plans. Conclusion In conclusion, it has been argued that for US to become superpower, it had to possess a firm financial system, a strong military, vast global political authority as well as, strong nationwide principles. It was World War II, in addition to its outcomes, which lead to US to experience such power prevalence. Prior to the war, the US was robust to be defined as great power, but scholars argue it could be incorrect to articulate that US was superpower then. To comprehend how the World War II influenced US so very much, we had to analyze the causes of World War II and the Cold War. The US obtained its power in global affairs from its economic power status and in the years prior to the war, US was the leading producer in the world. After mobilizing its soldiers to end First World War and win Second World War, it is obvious that the world saw US as the world superpower, since it was powerful politically and economically. The Japan Bomb attack in Hiroshima and Nagasaki proved how far US could go to protect its people and economic status; thus, after Second World War it managed to attract more allies than enemies. Bibliography Ashfaq, Ayesha, and Adnan Bin Hussein. 2014. "Superpower Syndrome: The Enduring Debate on Pro-Americanism and Anti-Americanism in Foreign Media." Asian Social Science 10(3): 145-158. Dalton, Lauren, Pauline Sullivan, Jeanne Heitmeyer, and Ann DuPont. 2012. "Robertson's model: A framework for exploration of World War II conservation consumption policy influence on fashion in the US." International Journal of Consumer Studies 36(6): 611-621. Duffy, Gavan, and Brian Frederking. 2009. "Changing the Rules: A Speech Act Analysis of the End of the Cold War." 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Journal of Economic Issues 39(2): 491-500. Reed, John. 2003. "The GI War against Japan: American Soldiers in Asia and the Pacific during World War II." The Journal of Military History 67(4): 1325-1326. Read More