Hyrum Portlock HIST1700 11/13/2017

Neutralism

World war one was the beginning of the United States coming out of neutralism. Treaties that

were singed with other country's became fairly weak since it became hard to pick sides without making

the other country mad. It was truly a World War since everyone was fighting for them selves and for

world gain it soon to become. I will be discussing what the war was about, how Germany merely

pushed us out of Neutralism and into the war, and discuss the aftermath of the war and how it played its

part in the United States.

Its interesting to think that all this blood shed of war began with the assassination of Franz

Ferdinand of Australia on June 28, 1914. In this immediate cause it triggered a series of events which

brought much war to others through alliances with certain countries. Many countries at war were

merely fighting other countries that were just in alliance and really had nothing to fight for since they

are just protecting themselves. The United States decided that because they were just coming out of the

gilded age and progressive ere they were actually starting to do well and wouldn't be able to handle

another war just yet. Much business was striving due to large monopolies and oligopolies making

capital goods and more consumer goods. Many would state that I didnt raise my Boy to be a soldier

and this ended up becoming a song per the Declaration of Neutrality by Woodrow Wilson. I think

that since this new generation of young people that didn't know what it was like during the civil war

were eager to battle and jump in while those who did fight in the civil war new how bad it was and

tried to keep the whole nation out of it. President Wilson also stated that Every reform we have won

will be lost if we go into this war I think what he meant by this is that every alliance with other

countries that we have built up will be lost if we battle and we would be targeted by many and fall.

Thus The United States must be neutral in fact per Wilson

 Throughout the 3-4 years that the world was at war and The United States being Neutral called

the war the Great war since the economy was booming for them, they didn't have much of an

unemployment rate and much consumption of good was going up since people made a lot of money.

Well we all know what happens when things like this happens, the Tulipomania concept or in other

words the speculative bubble. When the goods are going up they have to stop at some point and

thats when the aftermath of the war took its place. During all of this Germany was playing a bit dirty

with the United States attacking any boats that were near there enemy since The United States was

doing really well selling material to anyone that would buy it. I feel with whats going on Germany does

have there say in the situation because they are at war and technically they were loosing, they weren't

making much progress and needed to make themselves seem more ferocious and that we would

actually notice them, they couldn't let their enemies be helped. Since American lives were at hand with

the situation The Unites States wrote a letter of warning Germany letting them know that this was not

good. Germany on the other hand kept sinking any ship in sight regardless the Flag. The United States

Joined the War in 1917, 18 months before the war officially ended. This brought much death and

grievance to many as many more lives had been lost.

Now that the war was officially over on November 11, 1918 The United States hit a big drop

due to many jobs not hiring and much European immigrants flooding into the United States. This is one

of the factors of the Great Depression and what led to very bad aftermath of the war. I think what

Woodrow Wilson is feels as if he knows what might happen to the economy once the war is over. Im

sure he feels as if he isnt quite adequate and successful as other Presidents have been.

In conclusion with neutralism of the United States, Technically we were never neutral only

for a small period of time. The war starts with an assassination that led to millions of deaths just to
Justify alliances with other countries and obligations to help. This didn't help the world at all it merely

paused its growth for a little bit and tore apart families and loved ones. It led to much hatred and

deceiving among-st many nations and again is one of the contributing factors that led up to World war

two. Germany is the main factor in which brought the United States out of being neutral and into the

war because they couldn't stop sinking every ship that got into their way. The United States could have

stayed out of the war and continued to stay neutral if they only held on just a little bit longer. The

aftermath in conclusion is that what seemed to be a speculative bubble of products turned into an

overproduction of consumer goods which led many businesses to lay off their employees. World war 1

is definitely a time in history to always remember.

 Citation page

Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2016). Declaration of Neutrality . Digital History ID 3889 .

Retrieved 11/12/2017 from

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=3&psid=3889

Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2016). War Message. Digital History ID 3899 . Retrieved

11/12/2017 from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?

smtID=3&psid=3899

Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2016). Strict Accountability Digital History ID 3890

Retrieved 11/12/2017 http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?

smtID=3&psid=3890