WWI
The incident
meant little to most Americans, but it would have great consequences for them
as for much of the world. On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the
throne of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire, was shot and killed by a young Serbian nationalist at
Sarajevo in the Austrian province of Bosnia. WWI was a result of leaders'
aggression towards other countries which was supported by the rising nationalism
and imperialism. Soon two camps
emerged: Central
powers with Germany and Austria-Hungary x Allies with
Great
Britain, Russia and France. Early they got engaged
in an armed conflict that would soon engulf the rest of the Europe.
Preoccupied
with domestic problems, most Americans saw no reason why they should be drawn
into an overseas war they barely understood. Yet disruption of international trade
threatened the US economy. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed America's neutrality, however,
when ocean liner Lusitania was sunk by German submarine in 1915
it resulted in anti-German mood. Zimmermann Telegram was in 1917
a diplomatic proposal from the German Empire to Mexico to make war against the United States. However, the proposal
was revealed, made Americans angry led to US declaration of war in April 6.But
even before the Congress declared war, thousands of Americans had volunteered.
With Selective Service Act all men
between 21 and 30 years had to go to military service.
WWI ended on November 11th
1918 with Armistice and the defeat of Germany and Kaiser Wilhelm II
abdication. Versailles
Treaty was signed on May 1919 and also Paris Peace
Conference took place from January to June, represented by David Lloyd George
(GB Prime Minister), George Clemenceau (France) and Woodrow Wilson.
Germany was stripped of its colonies, had to pay 5 billion dollars of
reparations and was not permitted to new League of Nations formed in 1920
to ensure lasting peace.
However,
Wilson did not agree with such reparations, insisted that United States was fighting
not against German people but against their warlike leaders and presented his 14 Points:
no more secret agreement, free navigation of all seas, an end to all economic
barriers between countries , reduction of weapons. They were accepted but only
with some compromises.
Between two wars
Dawes Plan was an attempt in 1924
to collect war reparations debt from Germany by banker Charles Dawes. Proved to be
unsuccessful, it was replaced by the Young Plan in 1929 with reduced payments,
schedule and an international loan. In 1928 Herbert Hoover, the first president of German
ancestry, was elected. However, the Great Depression ruined it all and opened a
path for Hitler and his National Socialist Party (Nazis) and his book Mein Kampf.
Refugees from
Nazi Germany included Albert Einstein
and Marlene Dietrich. In 1933
Adolf Hitler
came to power, established gestapo (military police in long coats), SS
for offence attacks and SA for defence but after the Night of Long
Knives when some leaders were killed because there were creating
wrong picture of new Germany (leader of SA was gay), SS became military force. In
September
1938
Munich
Treaty about us without us
a great part of Czechoslovakia of Sudetenland
was sacrificed to calm Hitler. Nevertheless, 1 September 1939 Hitler he
attacked Poland anyway and WW2 began.
WW2
Already
shaken by the experience of Great Depressions, most Americans refused to
believe that the USA might become involved in another war. As the law still required,
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt invoked the Neutrality Act but tried to persuade
the Congress to assist Britain in its lonely fight against Hitler. In 1940 Germany, Japan (emperor Hirohito) and Italy (Benito Mussolini) signed Tripartite Pact and became known as Axis Powers.
Allies
were Great
Britain (Winston Churchill) and France.
On June 1941 Hitler decided to invade Soviet
Union so Roosevelt transferred the US Navy’s Pacific fleet base to Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii. Before, Americans continued to sell large quantities of scrap metal,
steel, cooper, oil, lead and machinery to the Japanese. Yet to address the
growing Japan threat, Roosevelt imposed
embargo on Japan. This reacted with a surprising assault on Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941.
Next day the Congress declared war on Japan, thus the US finally entered the
war.
In 1942 Germany attacked Russia by operation
Barbarossa so Russia joined Allies. June 1942 American naval victory at Battle of
Midway marks turning point in Pacific War, the most important naval
battle of the Pacific Campaign where Japan lost naval superiority. On 6th June 1943 D-Day (D
= deliverance) Allies disembarked in Normandy under operation Overlord with supreme
commander Dwight
Eisenhower. On April 30th 1945 Hitler committed suicide.
Throughout
the war, Allied leaders met constantly to plan strategy and conduct diplomacy. Stalin, Roosevelt
and Churchill
met at Yalta
Conference in February 1945 and made decisions about the
multiple administration of Berlin, the partitioning of Germany and trials of
war criminals. These decisions would be confirmed at the Potsdam Conference in July and August
1945 with Stalin, Clement Attlee (new British PM) and Harry S. Truman
(new US President).
The European
war ended but Japan was still struggling. However, the USA had its Manhattan Project – development of
atomic bombs (first nuclear device ever detonated was at the Trinity test in New Mexico). By
executive order of new President Harry S. Truman, the USA dropped the nuclear
weapons on Hiroshima
(Little Boy,
August 6)
and Nagasaki
(Fat Man,
August 9).
10th
August Japanese surrendered but their condition was they wanted to
keep Hirohito
as emperor.
Germany was
divided into four parts – Soviet, British, American, French but later rather
two parts – communist East lead by Russia and capitalist West. Nuremberg War
Crimes Trials began. In 1948 the Marshall
Plan puts Germany on a path to economic recovery.
Korean War (1950-1953)
During WW II
the Allied powers had agreed that Korea, occupied by Japan, should be made
independent. Although both the USA and Soviet Union favoured a united Korea,
mutual suspicion and the unwillingness to accept unification under Communist or
anti-Communist control led to the establishment of separate regimes. Korea wad divided
into communist
North (People´s Republic of Korea) supported by
Soviet Union and capitalist South supported by USA, UK, France and Canada
and ruled by USAMGIK
(United
States Army Military Government in Korea). With the partition, many Koreans
were separated from their families.
On 25 June 1950
North Korean forces invaded South Korea, beginning a three-year war since Kim Il-sung
wanted to unify Korea under his authority. Upon the border on 38th parallel,
President Harry S.
Truman ordered US forces to give South Korea support. The US forces
pushed across the parallel and pressed on toward the Yalu River, the boundary between
North Korea and China. Chinese threatened to intervene if American troops
approached their border.
Being
ignored, Chinese forces moved into Korea and inflicted heavy casualties on American
and South Korean troops and pursued the fleeing armies back below the 38th
parallel. The armistice on 27 July 1953 restored the pre-war division at
the 38th parallel. The war did not solve
anything, country is still divided. Ironically,
both sides claimed victory. China showed that America is not undefeatable
and USA “proved” that there’s no use fights against her. Crazy.
Vietnam War (1955-1975)
The longest
war in American history and the most unpopular with demonstrations on college
campuses since the horrors were filmed. Americans were divided into 2 groups: pro-war hawks
and anti-war
doves. Many Americans still wonder whether this war had any sense at
all. Vietnam was former French colony
and fought for independence. By Geneva Conference country was divided into two
parts: North
Vietnam (Democratic Republic
of Vietnam) supported by Soviet Union and North Korea and South Vietnam
(Republic of Vietnam) supported by
USA and South Korea.
North was led
by Ho Chi Minh
(who stole his speech of independence from Declaration of Independence and
renamed city Saigon as Ho Chi Minh City), South with elected
president Ngo
Dinh Diem. President Dwight Eisenhower felt that the USA should help
South Vietnam. However, South Vietnamese generals murdered President Diem and
overthrew his government.
Viet Cong was an army in South Vietnam and
Cambodia that fought against the USA. It had both guerrilla and regular army,
as well as network that organised peasants. The Vietnam War was one of ambushes
and sudden attacks. After an attack, the Viet Cong would melt away in jungle or
hide between villagers. American soldiers grew frustrated and begun burning
down villages suspected of sheltering Viet Cong soldiers. NAPALM and chemical weapons (Agent
Orange) were used.
Tet Offensive in 1968 turned many Americans
against the war as many cities were assaulted, including capital city Saigon = Saigon massacre.
President Lyndon
B. Johnson was bothered by saying: „LBJ, LBJ, how many kids have you killed today?“ As a result, the
next president Richard
Nixon presented Vietnamization = process of withdrawing
American troops from Vietnam that began in 1969. However, his attempt to slow the North
by sending American forces to destroy Communist supply bases in Cambodia in 1970 was a violation of
Cambodian neutrality provoked antiwar protests.
Easter Offensive in 1972
was not meant to win the war but aimed to gain as much territory as the North
could to improve its position at Paris Peace
Accords in 1973. In 1975, South Vietnam surrendered to the North and Vietnam was reunited under
the communist rule. As a political result, the Congress enacted the War Powers Act,
requiring the president to receive explicit Congressional approval before
sending American forces overseas.
The Gulf War (1990-1991)
Even if the
Cold War was over, the Middle East was no closer to peace with Palestinians
continuing to struggle for an autonomous state in territories occupied by Israel.
On 2 August
2 1990, after a long unresolved border dispute, Iraq invaded and annexed the
oil-rich Kuwait.
Ironically, Iraq’s military capability had been partly financed by American government
in an effort to moderate Saddam Hussein’s behaviour and improve relations
with Iraq.
The United
States along with its Western allies, denounced the invasion of Kuwait as a threat
to regional stability and to a principal source of world’s oil. 41th President George Herbert Walker Bush dispatched
more than 400 000 troops to the Persian
Gulf to forge an international diplomatic and military coalition to drive
the Iraqi army from Kuwait. The United Nations imposed economic sanctions on
Iraq and authorized the use of armed force if Iraq did not withdraw from Kuwait.
When the
deadline passed and Iraq’s forces remained in Kuwait, a coalition of military powers,
dominated by the United States and financed by Saudi Arabia launched a massive
air bombardment of Iraq and assault that quickly liberated Kuwait and occupied
large portions of Iraq in April 1991 = Operation Desert Storm. United
Nations inspection teams sought to make certain that Iraq’s ability to wage
nuclear or bacteriological warfare had been destroyed.
The
popularity of the war manifested in an outburst of patriotic celebrations upon
the return of the troops with the fact that the war cost very few American
lives (less than 100 soldiers died), proving America’s military power. The devastation
persisted long after the war because Iraqi army set fire many 5 hundred oil
wells and destroyed infrastructure and business in Kuwait. Kuwait had been
liberated but the ruling family restored to power remained as repressive as it
had been before the war, making little of promises of democratic reform.
The Iraq War (2003-2011)
The Iraq War or
the Second
Gulf War or Operation Iraqi Freedom was a conflict of Bush Doctrine
because 43rd President George Walker Bush
expressed his beliefs that the United States had the right to prevent any
hostile enemy. Prior to the war, the USA and the UK governments claimed that Iraq's alleged possession of
weapons of mass destruction. Also some accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
of supporting Al-Qaeda but no evidence of a meaningful connection was ever
found.
Other proclaimed reasons for the invasion
included Iraq's financial support for Palestinian suicide bombers, human rights
abuses and an effort to spread democracy
to the country. Hussein was eventually captured, his regime fell and he was
hanged in 30
December 2006 but the execution was
improper and humiliating. Also Iraq owning nuclear weapons was not proved. President
Barack Obama
announced that all U.S. troops would leave Iraq by the end of 2011
and they actually did after first democratic elections.
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