Spanish American War, Until the Current Conflict Term Paper

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Spanish American War, until the current conflict in the Middle East, why does the United States move from relative isolation into an international role

At the time of the Spanish American War the United States went from relative isolation to increased global involvement because of the need to develop new markets for its products (and, at the end of the Second World War, to protect its largest foreign consumer market, the European market), because of the need to protect U.S. interests in the international arena, and to protect U.S. values, such as free market and fundamental human rights, in a global context.

The consequences of this increased global involvement on American society were greater exposure to international things and, as a consequence, greater interest in what went on in the world. A second consequence of greater involvement was that the American society was forced to change or to adapt because of this exposure.

Perhaps at no moment was the need to protect markets more obvious than by the creation of the Marshall Plan, at the initiative of then U.S. Secretary of State, George C. Marshall. The Marshall Plan recognized the strong and intricate economic relations between the United States and the European countries and committed an important amount of funds in order to support the reconstruction of Europe after the Second World War

There are at least three arguments that can be brought forth in support of the Marshall Plan and the first one, of an economic and commercial nature, comes to defend the thesis that one of the causes of U.S. involvement in the world was to protect markets. The European countries had been devastated by the war. The economies had been mostly destroyed, in many of the important economic powerhouses such as Germany or France, which resulted in high unemployment and decreasing purchasing powers for the citizens. The United States would thus lose the most important of its foreign markets, because the American products would see a decreasing demand on this market, due to the economic conditions. The aid from the Marshall Plan comes to help rebuild these economies, to make them resume consumption and become viable target markets once again.

The Marshall Plan also has an ideological motivation. The alternative to the American capitalism is the Soviet Communism. At the end of the Second World War, given the overall conditions in Europe, this appears as a plausible alternative. In countries such as Italy and France, Communist parties, with Soviet backing, win an important number of votes in national elections. Unless support is given, many of these people, in a terrible economic situation, will tend to migrate towards the Soviet Union, something very dangerous from a geopolitical perspective.

Finally, beyond protecting its markets, the Marshall Plan also has an ethical component. People in Europe suffered tremendously during the Second World War, while for the U.S., other than the human loss in battle, the Second World War was a profitable enterprise, with the economy restarting after a decade of slow economic growth following the Depression. From an ethical perspective, helping the Europeans rebuild their countries became a requirement.

An increased global involvement of the U.S. also came from the need to protect U.S. interests in the international arena. Before the end of the 19th century, one can note a particular regionalism in the world. The European countries were mostly involved in fighting wars on the continent. These had no immediate impact on the U.S. At that time, since the U.S. continued its policy of isolationism.

With the 19th century, European countries, as well as Japan, start to look outwards, for markets and resources. An accelerated period of colonialism and imperialism begins and the U.S. interests begin to be more and more affected, because there is a direct competition for markets and resources to which the U.S. needs to participate. The U.S. society is a capitalist society and, as Lenin argued in his writing, the export of capital is both a characteristic of the latest stage of capitalism and a cause of imperialism and colonialism

So, becoming a colonial power should not be interpreted as something that the U.S. had to do because other countries were doing it, but because increased global competition affected its interests.

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This translated in a competition over markets and resources and this was clearly emphasized, for example, by President William McKinley as a justification for annexing the Philippines after the U.S.-Spanish war.

President McKinley argues that the U.S. "could not turn them over to France and Germany-our commercial rivals in the Orient-that would be bad business and discreditable"

. This competition is understood by the U.S. In terms of economic and commercial opportunities that the U.S. needs to ensure before other countries do.

During the Second World War, the primary reason why the U.S. enters the war is because its interests are directly attacked. Beyond the actual attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. cannot see with good eyes Germany taking over much of Europe or the increased influence, to the point of occupation, that both Italy and Germany have in Northern Africa. The explicit danger is for Italy and Germany to dominate Europe and Africa and Japan to dominate Asia and the Pacific.

In order to counter these strategic threats, the U.S. has no choice than to become involved, even if obtaining the approval of Congress is not necessarily an easy undertaking. It takes more than two years following the beginning of the war in Europe before Roosevelt declares the United States to be a combatant. However, it is interesting to see how strategic interests again determine how the U.S. involvement manifests itself: the Allies agree that victory in Europe will be sought first, before defeating Japan in the Far East, as it was more strategically important to do so.

At the end of the Second World War, U.S. interests in the world are under threat from the Soviet Union, which is why its involvement in international affairs continues. There are several aspects to be discussed here. First of all, the U.S. has won the Second World War in an undisputable manner. The war has left things change forever and the U.S., as one of the Superpowers, cannot simply pull back and leave everything in a vacuum-like environment.

Second and perhaps more importantly, the Second World War has confirmed the Soviet Union's statute as one of the two Superpowers. Disengaging on the part of the U.S. would mean leaving the Soviet Union to take over spheres of interest and influence. To better understand this threat, it is important to better understand Soviet ideology, as it is explained in George Kennan's long telegram, one of the fundamental documents that created U.S. policy towards the Soviet Union.

According to Kennan, one of the basic features of Soviet outlook at the end of the Second World War is that the Soviet authorities believed that "USSR still lives in antagonistic "capitalist encirclement" with which in the long run there can be no permanent peaceful coexistence"

. The Soviet Union believes in the existence of two worlds, capitalist and socialist, which will eventually come into conflict.

Kennan makes five recommendations and the fourth one is useful in understanding how he proposes the U.S. involvement to be in the relationship with the Soviet Union. In his opinion, U.S. involvement should offer security in Europe and "guidance rather than responsibilities"

. So, these should be, in his opinion, the general coordinates of U.S. involvement abroad in a post-war context.

Kennan builds on many of these ideas in his work "The.....

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