Question
Unit VIII Article Review
Using the America: History and Life with Full Text database, find an article on the U.S. Naval strategy during thenineteenth century.
Within your article review, connect the concept of the U.S. military during times of peace and war and how the concept of the United States as an imperialist power in the twentieth century developed.
- Write a summary of the article. Include the purpose for the article, how research was conducted, the results, and
other pertinent information from the article.
- Discuss the meaning or implication of the article. Include your opinion of the article. Discuss any flaws you found
in the article, how you think it could have been better, and what you think it means.
- Discuss how the author could expand on the topic, what the article’s information means in the big picture, and
AMERICAN MILITARY HISTORY
In the world today, the American military is known to be one of the most effective military forces, but this was not until the First World War. America did not wish to enter and join the First World War for various reasons primarily because it did not wish to interfere with European affairs. However, this was not the case and towards the end of the war, America joined the Allied forces to help fight the German on the basis of provocation.
The First World War took place between 1914 and 1918 and mainly it was between the British and the French on one side and the Germany on the other side. At the time, America interests were not affected despite heavily relying on the British naval control of the Atlantic for economic gain. However, Germany continued threats and interference of the trade cost the world giant economy lots of money, but this was not enough reason to join the war (Vance, 2011). With time, Germany continued its provocation, and it started sinking an American ship, and this did not go down well with America and the American citizens in general. Considering that American’s value life than economic gain, they had to join the war to prevent further loss of Americans lives by the Germans. This event marked the entry of American in the First World War and the European affairs in general.
American entry into war
In 1917, the United States officially joined the war in the attempt to end all wars and joined the allies. This entry gave the allies a much-needed boost considering that they had exhausted their militaries regarding manpower and materials. Moreover, the British economy was on the verge of collapsing considering that Germany captured most of their ships in the ports which were meant for economic trade. American entry into the war shift the balance of the war into the allies favor considering that the American sent almost 270,000 American soldiers to Europe and with no time, there were over for million American soldiers fighting in the war. This entry took the German by surprise. Although the Germany administration expected the Americans to join the war, they had estimated that the Americans would take at least two years to prepare for the war which would give the Germans an advantage. However, seven months after the sinking of Lusitania an American ship where more than one hundred American lives were lost, America was more than ready for war.
Despite the change of tactics by the Germans after realizing that they could not win the water warfare, their plan did not work. The German command thought by turning on the land campaign; they would win, but this was not the case with America General John J launching the first major American attack on the war in 1918 while General William Billy Mitchel went for an air strike which started as observations but later turned to bombing forces. At the same time, the Navy exploited aviation in its anti-submarine war, and this crippled the Germans and with time, Austrian and Turkish allies surrendered after realizing that they could not win the war despite their efforts and commitment (Brock, 2015). Eventually, the German government accepted the terms of the peace at the Versailles peace conference, and this marked the end of the war on November 11, 1918. Despite the American late entry into the war they suffered from 53,000 loss of men as a result of war and further 63,000 as a result of diseases and epidemics.
References
Brock, P. (2015). Pacifism in the United States: From the Colonial Era to the First World War. . Princeton University Press.
Vance, J. F. (2011). Death so noble: memory, meaning, and the first world war. . UBC Press.
Related: Examine the innovations and technological advances directly related to the U.S. military.
