US Entry Into Ww2 Essay Research Paper

U.S Entry Into Ww2 Essay, Research Paper

US ENTRY INTO WORLD WAR II US ENTRY INTO WORLD WAR II The United States entered the war for one main reason the attack on Pearl Harbor but a number of events led the United States to ally itself indirectly with Britain before the attack on Pearl Harbor despite its initial convictions to stay neutral. Events Before US Entry The United States ADOPTED POLICIES TO KEEP ITSELF FROM BEING FINANCIALLY and militarily INVOLVED WITH THE war. Since loans they had made to countries in Europe during World War I were not paid back they decide to prevent this from happening again. Japan did not formally adopt fascism, but the armed forces’ powerful position in the government enabled them to impose a similar type of totalitarianism. The Allies trying to avoid war tried to appease Hitler by giving him what he wanted but that did not stop him he continued to expand. The attack on Ethiopia by the Axis resulted in a slap on the administered by the League on the Axis. A similar action was taken when Germany took the Sudetenland. The U.S passed three neutrality acts from 1935 -37 they prohibited actions by U.S. Citizens from aiding foreign belligerents. This was done so both sides would see them as neutral. The U.S. had severely impaired its ability to act against aggression by passing a neutrality law that prohibited material assistance to all parties in foreign conflicts (Encarta 97). The nation’s moral climate was completely against Germany and Japan’s actions but at this point they were not willing to go to war over it. Japan used the Mukden incident as a excuse to attack China despite the fact the League protested against it. In 1937 a boycott was set on aggressive nations. The United States took every means necessary short of war to impede the progress of countries with totalitarian dictatorships. They did this in order for democracies or at least more democratic governments to be set up in Europe. They did not want to become directly involved in the war but they sided with allies and they needed to do something to aid them before they fell to the Axis powers. They gave the right for France and England to purchase U.S. arms in attempt to aid them. In 1940 fifty-year-old U.S. destroyers were leased to England in exchange for bases on western British colonies, which was called the Lend Lease Act. The success of Germany prompted the United States to strengthen its defenses in fear they may have to join the war. $18 billion dollars was used to raise an army of 1.2 million and build up a strong navy and to prepare American industry for a war (Encarta 97). One cause for the United States to join the war was the defeat of France. The Germans began their attack on France on May 20th and by the 26th they had pushed French and English forces to narrow strip of beach .On June 25th of that year France signed an Armistice with Germany. Germany then set up a puppet government in France, which was controlled by Germany. At this point Germany was defeating the Allies and it seemed that the Allies cause to stop Hitler might be doomed. Now that only weakened England and Russia were the only ones with any chance of stopping Hitler’s progress the U.S. feared a victory for the Axis. The U.S. shocked at the fall of France began its first peacetime conscription. That year Hitler deployed it’s main forces to the East and allied with countries from the southeast of Europe and Finland against Russia. Yugoslavia was asked to join Hitler when they refused to join Germany’s forces they were then made a target. In June of 1940 Germany decided to cut off the lifeline from Britain and it’s colonies using submarine warfare. Germany had bases in both France and Finland. This sea battle was called the battle of the Atlantic. They then decided to take the war to a new level and attack Britain they decided to fight in the air (Battle of Britain) but they underestimated Britain who had radar. Germany attacked cities along the coastline but Germany had to withdraw and the attack was postponed. Italy Germany’s ally took the war to the Balkans and into Northern Africa. England then began to repel Italy’s forces when Hitler sent German troops to aid Italy . Romania and Hungary joined the Axis powers in 1940 and in 1941 Bulgaria joined Germany. Up to this point in the war the United States tried to stay neutral and not involve itself in the war. The reason behind this isolationism was the result of World War I which cost the U.S. a great deal of money and lives so we no longer wanted to be entangled with European affairs. Then they abandoned this ideal and began giving aid to Britain. Germany continued to use unrestricted submarine warfare. In January of 1941 the United States and Britain began to strategize the entry of the United States. This strategy entailed that the Allies would focus on Germany and deal with Japan later if needed. For they felt Japan would not be hard to defeat and Hitler was the main problem and fear. Germany then attacked Russia with a force of three million troops. They focused their attack on three key areas Moscow, Leningrad and Kyyiv (Encarta 97 ). The US decided to lend aid to Russia to help them with their struggle with Germany. The United States believed it would all be over in a month or so. Initially the Germans had success and in the Russian winter the Russians went on the counteroffensive and had regained some of the territory Germany took over. But Germany still had