World War II History .

Running head: WORLD WAR II HISTORY
World War II History
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WORLD WAR II HISTORY 2
World War II History
Selected Case Study:
Following the First World War, the United States retreated into isolationism rejecting
the Treaty of Versailles and electing Warren G. Harding president in 1920 who pledged to
put “America First.” However, events during World War II convinced a sizeable number of
Americans that they should abandon isolationism in favour of creating a new world order.
Introduction
The first world war taught the United States numerous lessons. It is said that wise
people do not repeat their own mistakes. After world war 1, the United States of America
decided to isolate itself from international wars (Hook and Spanier, 2018). They concluded
that it was best to leave the Europeans fight their own battles without involving the United
States. Most citizens agreed with this position and did not want the country to support any
war as it had done in the first world war (Lyons, 2016). To make sure that this was ensured,
the congress made the neutralism law which made the United Sates a neutral party in
international wars. Both the political class and the citizens were convinced neutralism was the
best position to take as a country.
Things do not always turn out exactly as we may want them too. Sometimes, certain
things might happen and lead us to change our stands. This is what happened to the United
States. Although they had made a decision to be neutral and not to be involved in any
international way, they could not keep quiet any more after Japan attacked the pearl harbour
killing thousand of United States’ military personnel (Russett, 2018). After this attack, the
congress met and unanimously agreed to declare war on Japan. The second world war is
therefore a seminal event in the United States history (Tanaka, 2017). This war played a great

WORLD WAR II HISTORY 3
role in influencing the policies that the US had concerning foreign war. This paper is going to
focus on the second world war and why it was a seminal event in the history of the United
States.
Neutralism after the Second World War
After the first world war, most Americans concluded that participation of the US in
the first world war had been one of the greatest mistakes that the US had ever made. They
decided that the best way to establish worthwhile and long-lasting peace was to isolate
themselves from international war. Throughout the 1920s, the United States employed a
policy of neutralism where they decided to distant themselves from any international wars
(Tsurumi, 2015). As a result, the US established a very good relationship with Latin America.
Latin America was under Hoover, who was an antiimperialist. Therefore, Roosevelt, the then
president of America, developed what was called the good neighbour policy with Latin
America. The policy stated that the America region would altogether not be involved in any
international war. To show his commitment towards this endeavour, Roosevelt withdrew all
the American forces from the Caribbean. This led to establishment of a very good
relationship between the United States and Latin America.
At around the same time, the state of the Europe countries especially Britain and
France became tenser. Even with this, the United States continued to hold on to its
isolationist policy. Most of the American population believed that it was best for America to
stay neutral. Many of the polls conducted on the issue revealed that American citizens would
not digest the idea of their country being involved in an international war again. To ensure
that the US fully adopted the neutralism policy, a series of laws were enacted towards the
same. With laws in place, it was evident that the US was determined to remain neutral. The