(World War Ii) How America Came To War Essays -

(World War Ii) How America Came To War How America Came to War By James A. Gillmore Introduction On December 29, 1940 Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave a speech to the country that was like a ?fireside chat? but was not. Roosevelt talked about in his speech statements about Germany's plans to engulf the world during World War II: The Nazi masters of Germany have made if clear that they intend not only to dominate all life and thought in their own country, but also to enslave the whole of Europe and then to use the resources of Europe to dominate the rest of the world.? This speech was one of many that FDR gave to put an end to the isolationism of the 1920's and 30's. Although most of Europe was battling in World War II during the late 30's and 40's, America was convinced to stay neutral. Despite the fact that most Americans did not want to go to war, FDR thought war was inevitable. The US did not enter the war until they were truly directly affected by the war. But many countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Pacific were fighting in the war to defend their countries against the aggressive powers. The aggressive powers were called The Axis; they included Italy, Germany and Japan. Those countries formed an alliance because of their similarities: they were all ruled under a totalitarian government , they shared the same goals, they were very aggressive and ambitious countries in search of new land and its resources, and they at around the same time all began conquering parts of the world near to them. The question is how did the war get started? First, the war was ignited when the separate countries of the Axis began to fulfill their ambitious dreams to conquer land for themselves. They did this with aggressive actions against other countries. For example, Germany under their dictator Hitler attacked Czechoslovakia, Poland, Austria and other small countries around Germany early in the war. Now when three different countries are attacking many other different countries around the world, little wars sprout up all over the place. For Germany, the harsh circumstances left from the Versailles Treaty of World War I planted seeds for a future war. The Versailles Treaty was really just a chance for the Allies to get revenge on Germany, not solve the problems of the past. Consequently, many problems and conflicts were left over from World War I for Germany and Italy. So at that time those three aggressive powers began building up their military again although they were not allowed to according to the Versailles Treaty. They then began to expand their individual empires, which kicked in the alliance system again because countries like Britain and France backed the invaded countries, thus starting a new World War. Between Wars (WW I and WW II) Twenty-one years before World War II began World War I ended. The Central Powers lost against the Allies and were severely punished. Germany alone was in debt for 33 billion dollars. In total, 10 million soldiers and civilians were lost their lives in World War I. World War I was caused by great tension between many closely packed nationalistic, imperialistic and militaristic countries which were in need of ?living space.? Unfortunately these problems were not solved by the war and were carried on to World War II. According to George Washington in 1796, ?Europe has a set of primary interests which to us [America] have none or very remote relation.? That was the beginning of what we call isolationism. America lived by that precedent until World War I when the US felt it was legitimate to mediate the situation in Europe. After World War I, the United States went back to their old principle, ?We shun political commitments which might entangle us in foreign wars,? as FDR said in 1936 during the Great Depression . This was America's strategy in the 1930's because Americans had their own problems to deal with, not affairs across the world that did not concern them. The United States went through a lull between the wars, from 1918 to 1939. First, the twenties were a time of prosperity. The twenties were called the ?Roaring Twenties? because of the booming