The Role Of Isolationism In The 1930's

Before the 1920’s, the first World War occured. At the beginning of the war, when it first broke out around the world, President Woodrow Wilson declared American neutrality, in which American people would not trade with other countries involved in the war. However, the neutrality did not stay consistent, because soon after, the United States was split because of the different ethnic groups who favored their original countries. The use of propaganda became significant because of the uses to sway the opinions of the American people.

At a time when America was recovering from the worse economic decline in its history, a new crisis was on the horizon, World War II. In the beginning of this crisis many countries, including America, practiced isolationism and made sure to steer clear of political matters that were of no concern to them. However, as more countries were targeted, it seemed clear that whether or not the country went to war, America would be impacted some way or another. President Frankin D. Roosevelt knew how devastating the impact would be on the recovering American economy and wanted to protect in any way he could tried to make known the danger that lay ahead. He prepared and delivered two speeches that spoke of the problems to come and could be done to prevent

Roosevelt states, “...the tempo of modern warfare could bring into our very midst the physical attack which we must eventually expect if the dictator nations win this war” (15). Roosevelt says this in the way he did because at this point in time he didn’t want to physical fight but he knows if the country needs to we will. Roosevelt knows that wars do not solve the problem which is why he simply wanted to aid countries and not physically fight with them, causing the loss of many lives. Roosevelt had four basic freedoms that he wanted to be conserved and saved.

The distrust throughout the countries led to treaties pledging that certain countries would defend each other, which separated the countries outside of the pledges further (Adelblue “Setting the Stage for War”). This only increased the tension, as each country began taking sides, and set the stage for the war. Eventually, Germany began to fear that the French were seeking revenge from a previous war, the Franco-Prussian War. Germany knew that France wouldn’t attack alone, so they quickly took action and formed the Triple Alliance. Germany signed a treaty with Austria-Hungary and Italy, enforcing the fact that each country was beginning to take sides (Adelblue “Setting the Stage for War”).

If Germany were to be invaded by the Allies, it would’ve been very difficult for them to defend themselves since they had been weakened by the war. Furthermore, Germany hadn’t taken part in the Paris peace conference; only the winning countries had been allowed to participate. When Germany had signed the armistice in 1918, they had thought they were accepting the fourteen point peace plan formulated by the USA President Wilson. Since this peace plan was based on fair and democratic ideas, Germany thought the Treaty would also be honest, but when, the 7th May 1919, the Treaty was put ahead of the German government, their expectations were proved

In 1796 George Washington gave his Farewell Address. Washington urged Americans to avoid excessive political party and geographical distinctions. George Washington was afraid that the parties would continue to grow seeking more power than other groups and eventually splitting the country in two. Washington was aware that other governments viewed political parties as destructive because of the temptation to manifest and retain power, but also because they would often seek to extract revenge on political opponents. So, in Washington’s Farewell Address warned the Americans to not have political parties and to be in union.

Address in Favor of the League of Nations: In his speech, Wilson was urging Congress to approve American’s involvement in the League of Nations and whether or not the Treaty of Versailles should be ratified. And though Wilson went on a tour around the country to gain support of the League of Nations, it was ultimately rejected by Congress. In his speech he starts out by stating that the League of Nations had nothing to due with his reputation, but was basing upon the world’s crisis, where Germanys wrong-doings were too big to ignore and that action was required.

‘The concept of total war originally emerged in the ideological and political context of the interwar period. It was not designed as a precise tool of academic analysis, but as a rhetorical’ During the Interwar period, the concept developed into ideas on how to prepare for a possible new conflict, especially in Germany there was a sense of that the country had not been willing to go far enough. ‘Eric Ludendorff saw ‘total war’ as the Great War done right.’ ‘Total war’ was to Ludendorff during the interwar period becoming an ideal where Germany could succeed if followed until the hostile nation was crushed. ‘He was convinced that to succeed, the nation would need a military dictatorship, and that ‘total war’ was total mobilization of all human material resources. ’

Foreign affairs were points of serious contention in the Early Republic. Though the US had treaty obligations to France, Washington decided to avoid joining their war with Britain when conflict began in 1793. His “Farewell Address” later put great emphasis on avoiding foreign alliances. All the while, Britain was still flooding American markets with cheap goods and represented the vast majority of the young nation’s foreign trade. As the Anglo-French conflict escalated in Europe and then the North Atlantic, neither nation respected American claims for neutrality of the seas.

The League had already failed to assist China during the Manchurian Crisis in 1931 and the invasion of Abyssinia by Italy was a key moment for the League to prove itself however, it didn’t. The League could have taken effective measures such as closing the Suez Canal to stop Italy from getting supplies like oil and coal, but it didn’t as Britain and France feared to provoke Mussolini. . This made it obvious that major members of the League like Britain and France put their self-interest prior to the League’s objective of ‘collective security’ and maintaining world peace. Being the Leagues’ second betrayal of a member country in the League questioned the organizations’ necessity to exist and its credibility to protect weak

By the 1900s, America had become the world’s leading economic power, but due to the idea of isolationism, America remained off the international affairs. The change in the World War II pulled America into the war. Acting as the supply warehouse of the war made America grew economically and militarily. By end of WWII, America inevitably became the superpower that dominated the world politically, economically, culturally and militarily. America’s foreign policies for the second half of 20th century and early 21st century were drafted to meet the ultimate goal of spreading freedom, democracy and capitalism.

As U.N. Forces advanced north of the 38th parallel, they found themselves facing Chinese forces. MacArthur wanted to start the war with China, Truman was against this. Douglas MacArthur stated, “It seems strangely difficult for some to realize that here in Asia is where the communist conspirators have elected to make their play for global conquest, and that we have joined the issue thus raised on the battlefield; that here we fight Europe 's war with arms while the diplomats there still fight it with words; that if we lose the war to communism in Asia the fall of Europe is inevitable, win it and Europe most probably would avoid war and yet preserve freedom. As you pointed out, we must win. There is no substitute for victory.”

The American people in the 1930 's were very much isolationist. The United States just concluded World War I, a war that the people never really wanted to enter. With the help of world events, President Roosevelt and the American people, slowly moved from isolationism to intervention.

Britain had to find a new way of controlling the Colonies. Before the war, England pursued

Another factor is american involvement, which also had a great impact on the the world, but it also had great impact on the war. They gave supplies, and were a major factor like the soviet union. This is where I begin talking about america’s involvement. America had tried to stay out of this was because of World War I. "With the memory of World War I still fresh, Americans preferred a policy of total non-involvement and neutrality in world affairs."