Introduction
War changes a lot of things. Every time a country goes through a war, some of the major changes take place in that country. Two big wars of all time in the world history are World War I and World War II that brought significant changes in the dynamics of the world. The effects of these two world wars were felt even in the United States. The country experienced both good and bad impacts from these wars. From the time of George Washington’s presidency, the US followed a policy of neutrality to the issues in mainland Europe. George Washington was clearly against the involvement of the United States in the European wars, and the US followed this policy successfully for 150 years. After the commencement of World War I in 1914, the United States maintained the same stance of neutrality. Woodrow Wilson, the then president of the United States, was also committed to the “non-entanglement” or non-involvement tradition. Initially, the maintenance of neutrality was easy as the United States was geographically separated from the actual war zone. However, as the war progressed, USA started getting involved in the warfare directly or indirectly. Firstly, the US business houses got involved as the war presented a slew of business opportunities. Then by 1915, Germany started a U-boat warfare technique in the Atlantic Ocean. It warned the United States that any American sailing in British boats was not safe and was susceptible to German U-boat attack. However, Americans ignored the threat and continued their business with Britain. In 1915, the Germans capsized the liner Lusitania, a British American ship, in the mid-Atlantic, killing 1,198 people at once. About 128 Americans, who were passengers in the ship, got killed. A war cry started growing in America, but the president’s office still held firm with the neutral position. After the re-election in 1916, Wilson came under severe pressure from the Republicans to take stringent measures against Germany that was violating the international trade laws by attacking passenger ships. Wilson realized that USA needed to play a role in the war for maintaining peace in the future. Finally, in 1917, America formally joined the war and supported the allied forces against Germany. This essay will discuss the effects of World War I on the American economy, politics, women, races, society and religious beliefs and how these altered the future of America.
Economic Impact
World War I made a huge positive economic impact on the industry and the overall economy of the United States. As the war broke out in 1914, the overall demand for industrialized output went up. There was a need to produce goods at a faster rate. As Europe got itself mired in war, the European industries were not able to meet the demands fully, and their growth stopped. The American industrialists grabbed the opportunity and started fulfilling the demands from the US. This led to an array of effects on the US economy. Firstly, USA witnessed a whopping demand for labor requirement as industries needed to produce more goods within a short span of time for supplying to Europe. As products were needed quickly, a host of new technological advancements in both machinery as well as production process were invented. This triggered a mini industrial revolution in the United States in 1915 and 1916. USA went into war in 1917. Almost four million American soldiers participated in the World War I. As many went abroad as soldiers, the industrial sector faced a huge labor shortage. To meet the labor demands, women started working alongside men in the industries. Also, the US government created new laws to import cheap labor from Mexico and Caribbean countries. World War I opened the door for the US to penetrate the industrial market of the mainland Europe. The overall industrial output went up significantly between 1914 and 1918. However, after the war came to an end, from 1919 onwards, the US troops started returning home, and the product demand dwindled drastically. This created a problem in the US economy due to the availability of excess labor in the market. This resulted in rising unemployment problems in 1920s, and the problem lasted even after the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Politics
Women
Women were one of the benefactors of the World War I. As many soldiers went to war in Europe, the American industries faced labor shortage. This shortage of labor prompted the industries to recruit women. Women started working alongside men even in the industrial shop floors. Thus, the economic independence of women increased to a great degree. Almost 6.3 million women entered the workforce between 1916 and 1919. Before the First World War, most of the women were homemakers with their primary responsibility being as child bearers and dutiful wives and mothers. However, that image changed drastically during and after the World War I. Not only women earned a position in the society as an equal bread earner of the family, but also showed to the world that they could do what men could do.
Furthermore, during the First World War, many women volunteers worked side by side with men in war fronts as nurses and also in the Red Cross. Thus, women made a huge contribution and helped refurbish their image outside that of homemakers.
The American women fought for the universal suffrage for over 70 years before World War I. Though some of the states gave them right to vote, most of the US states denied to recognize women suffrage. The US federal government never passed a law for women suffrage. Men cherished the notion that if women suffrage was allowed, then women would make the prohibition of alcoholic beverages their number one priority. These issues kept the women suffrage bill at bay over a few decades. However, during World War I, the Wilson government passed a law. The 18th amendment of the US Constitution authorized the Congress to ban transport and the sale of any alcoholic and intoxicating beverage. This law was primarily passed for the soldiers. It was believed that if soldiers were not permitted to be intoxicated, then they would perform better in the battle fields. The 18th amendment actually helped the women suffrage. The 19th amendment of the US Constitution was passed in 1920 awarding women with the right to vote. This was definitely one of the positive outcomes of World War I.
Races
At the time when World War I was taking place and even after that, the color discrimination was a big issue. There was a huge population of African Americans living in USA, but they were not considered equal to the whites in the society. In fact, during World War I, the navy and army refused to recruit any black soldier, but due to the high requirement of soldiers in the battle, later African Americans were recruited. However, there were no mixed regiments. There were African American battalions led by white commanders. Also, during World War I, General Pershing refused to directly help the British and the French by breaking up the US units. The only unit sent to the French as reinforcement was the African American combat regiment.
The hatred for African Americans was always there, but the feelings of animosity, which were suppressed after the Civil War, emerged afresh in the minds of general public during World War I. It was evident that the mainstream American society did not cope well with the idea of an equal society for all. After the war, some black leaders started campaigning for equal rights. However, it took almost 40 more years for the African Americans to obtain a statewide equal opportunity law.
Society
The American society witnessed some significant changes during and after the First World War. The public opinion about joining the war was highly divided. There were some influential German Americans who were against the US participation in the war. They wanted USA to remain neutral. Even during the early days of the war, many German Americans and Scandinavian-Americans wanted to list themselves in the German army. Though Irish Catholics were not against joining the war, they were strongly opposed to the idea of USA helping the Great Britain. This was mainly because of the incident of Easter Uprising in 1916 in Ireland. Even the protestant church leaders wanted the United States to remain neutral from the war conflicts. Most of the Women leaders like Jane Addams were also against the US joining the war. Henry Ford, one of the most prominent industrialists of that time, was also against the idea of joining the war. In fact, Henry Ford personally financed a peace ship to Europe with the intent to negotiate, but that effort failed. Although the public opinion mostly remained against the US joining the war before 1916, slowly it changed. The German atrocities in Belgium and the attack on the passenger ship Lusitania were the major trigger points for the change in public opinion. The Wilson government also wanted to play a key role to make the world in the future a more peaceful place. In order to mobilize the US citizens towards the war sentiment, the Wilson government started propaganda. George Creel, the head of the Committee on Public Information, started a pro-war campaign to polarize public sentiments against Germany. A number of cult public figures were hired to give pro-war public speeches at thousands of public gatherings. Many communication campaigns disclosed the ruthlessness of German soldiers and tragedies faced by families who were being attacked by Germany.
The differing public opinions and the communication campaigns created a number of problems inside the United States. German Americans were often criticized and even attacked by the media as traitors. German-Americans were often not recruited in the military as some part of the government believed that they might help Germans upon reaching the mainland Europe. Also, the German Americans were forced to buy “Weapons for Liberty USA bonds” to show their loyalty towards America. World War I created a social division, based on race, for some time. This hatred towards German Americans continued for the next 30 years.
Preparedness
In 1916, when the US was deliberating on the participation in the World War I, it was unprepared. The Democratic government was more focused on self-determination and democracy than economic strength and military muscle. During that time, USA had only 100,000 army men and 112,000 guardsmen. On the contrary, Germany, at that time, had 4 million regular military force. Also, due to its neutral stance, USA was unaware of the modern warfare and war tactics. The national guard of the USA was of very small size, ill-trained and even not properly armed. National Guard was seen more as a political gimmick than a real military need. However, after entering the First World War, the United States understood the importance of military preparedness. Subsequent years of USA, after the World War I, saw massive expansion in both army and navy. The overall size of the army almost tripled between 1920 and 1930. The defense budget increased hugely, and the numbers of national guards were also increased. These preparedness initiatives, which started after World War I, are still maintained today. This preparedness movement keeps the army relevant and ready for any emergency situations and security needs. In fact, when the US participated in World War II, it was very well equipped and prepared than it was during World War I.
Conclusion
World War I was one of the biggest wars in the human history. The United States maintained its neutral stance during the First World War between 1914 and 1916. However, after German U-boats started attacking the US passenger boats on the Atlantic, the then US president Wilson started mulling over the prospect of joining the war against Germany. The final trigger points that led to the decision of the Congress to join the war were the German atrocities in Belgium and the loss of 128 American civilian lives after a U-boat attacked a British American ship called Lusitania. There are several short and long term impacts of World War I on the US. World War I witnessed a huge technological advancement in the manufacturing industry that enabled the overall manufacturing output. However, after the war came to an end, the soldiers returned from the battle fields, and the unemployment problem escalated. During the war, due to the unavailability of male workers, women started working in factories. Women also earned the universal suffrage law passed in 1920. On the other side, the unequal treatment of the African American soldiers during and after war came into notice. The color discrimination remained in the American society for the next 40-50 years. German Americans were harassed in USA during and after the war. Often they were not allowed in the military and were forced to buy the US bonds to show loyalty. Finally, the World War I made the US government realize that it is important to remain prepared with military forces even during peacetime. It helps not only during the wartimes but also helps maintain peace.
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