Essay On Us Involvement In Ww2

From 1939 to 1945, World War II was fought between the Axis Powers and the Allied Powers. The three main Axis Powers were Germany, Italy, and Japan; and the main Allied Powers were England, Russia, France, and The United States. In the beginning of the war, America did not want to be involved in another country’s war, especially after the drastic damage from the First World War. Congress even passed a series of neutrality acts to keep America out of the war. However, the United States broke out of neutrality and joined the Allied side because the U.S. was indirectly involved in the war, protecting itself from being invaded by Axis powers, and had the sense of American moral obligation to obtrude on European affairs. It appears that the U.S.

A huge trigger that provoked the U.S. government to declare war was the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941. Japan bombed a U.S. naval base that killed and injured thousands of Americans, as well as damaging plenty of American ships. One day after the attack, the U.S.A. declared war on Japan, thus entering the Pacific War. This event caused the public opinion to shift towards involvement in war for revenge; joining the Second World War would showcase American resilience, and secure the U.S. from attacks. However, there were claims that Roosevelt was not motivated to declare war because of revenge for the damage done to the civilians; FDR was more outraged by how Japan threatened potential American Markets- when other countries threaten the advancement of imperial interests of the U.S., then involvement is necessary. The United States had to protect itself because German U-boats began attacking and sinking American ships. In May 1941, Robin Moor, a US merchant ship, was sunk by a German U-boat. The event angered more American civilians, thus strengthening the public opinion of entering the European war. After another German submarine attack on a US warship, FDR ordered the ‘shoot on sight’ policy, the US navy requirement to shoot at all enemy ships, on Germans or Italian battleships. This policy created an undeclared naval war with the German and Italian fleets.

Since the beginning of the Unites States’ existence, Americans believed it was their duty to spread democracy and instill US values and ideals from the Constitution onto other countries. Entering the war and defeating the Nazis dictatorship would defeat fascism as well, for democracy and fascism cannot co-exist. The US felt like their way of government was the best form, and imputing democracy would save the world from people like Hitler. There was an obligation of spreading the ideals: liberty, opportunity, democracy, rights, and equality in order to have a more peaceful and just society. However, some historians believe that the US government’s main goal wasn’t to better the world, it was for US imperialism. America wanted to be the strongest, and most powerful country in world- economically and military wise. In addition, there was another American obligation to stand up against racism and discrimination against Jews. As stated before, one of the US founding ideals was equality. America couldn’t sit back while millions of Jews were being treated poorly and discriminated based on religion, it was unconstitutional. However, it was very hypocritical of the U.S. to fight against racism while there was still discrimination and segregation in America. How is the prosecution of Jews by the Germans any different than the centuries of enslavement of