HIST-405N Week 6 Discussion 2: World War II – Treaty of
Versailles, The Lend Lease Act, Japanese expansion and the
bombing of Pearl Harbor
For the initial post, consider three (3) of the following events:
• Treaty of Versailles
• Rise of fascism, militarism and imperialism
• Failure of the League of Nations
• Hitler and the Nazi Party
• The Lend Lease Act
• Japanese expansion and the bombing of Pearl Harbor
Then, address the following and craft a response as a whole for your selections:
• Assess if the United States foreign policy during the 1930s helped to promote
World War II. Could the United States have prevented the outbreak of World War II? If
so, how? If not, why not?
• Explain if the United States, despite neutrality, aided the Allies against the Axis
powers.
• Analyze if the use of atomic (nuclear) weapons to defeat enemies in war is a
setback for democracy (President Truman's decision to drop the atom bomb on
Japan).
Isolationism was largely a reaction against the United States' involvement in World War I.
Isolationism was a political and foreign affair policy that was implemented by many countries,
which for took them to not be involved with any happening of other countries and keep their
affairs at a distance, this would help concentrate on one's nation state and its affairs instead
[ CITATION Offnd \l 1033 ]. In the 1930's the recent events of the world pushed the United
States to take into application the isolationism policy which was owing to the Great Depression
and the defeat suffered in World War I (Openstax, 2019). Thus, I believe that no matter what we
would have been brought into World War II. I think that even if the Pearl Harbor bombing didn't
happen we still would have been brought into this war no matter what. Things were so crazy and
there were so many other places that could have attacked us from. I just believe it was impossible
for us to avoid this war.
Moreover, the neutrality acts that were passed created loopholes that allowed them to send aid
to Britain without fighting the war. The Neutrality Acts of 1935 and 1937 “banned selling arms
to belligerent nations (to avoid taking sides) [ CITATION His191 \l 1033 ].” However, they
realized they needed to send more help and came up with the Neutrality Act of 1939. This one
said that belligerent nations could buy guns, but they had to pay in cash and use their own ship
which was called the Cash-and-Carry Policy (Openstax, 2019). After, the US passed the Lend-
Lease Act which said that the US could lend support to Britain in the form of arms or other aid
without immediate payment. Hence, the US still declared neutrality to avoid warfare, but the
Axis Powers were actually fully aware of the US's unofficial alliance to Britain. They didn't
declare war simply because they didn't want to fight the US yet.
This study source was downloaded by 100000849840424 from CourseHero.com on 07 -15-2022 22:01:21 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/45074650/WEEK-6-DISC2docx/
Versailles, The Lend Lease Act, Japanese expansion and the
bombing of Pearl Harbor
For the initial post, consider three (3) of the following events:
• Treaty of Versailles
• Rise of fascism, militarism and imperialism
• Failure of the League of Nations
• Hitler and the Nazi Party
• The Lend Lease Act
• Japanese expansion and the bombing of Pearl Harbor
Then, address the following and craft a response as a whole for your selections:
• Assess if the United States foreign policy during the 1930s helped to promote
World War II. Could the United States have prevented the outbreak of World War II? If
so, how? If not, why not?
• Explain if the United States, despite neutrality, aided the Allies against the Axis
powers.
• Analyze if the use of atomic (nuclear) weapons to defeat enemies in war is a
setback for democracy (President Truman's decision to drop the atom bomb on
Japan).
Isolationism was largely a reaction against the United States' involvement in World War I.
Isolationism was a political and foreign affair policy that was implemented by many countries,
which for took them to not be involved with any happening of other countries and keep their
affairs at a distance, this would help concentrate on one's nation state and its affairs instead
[ CITATION Offnd \l 1033 ]. In the 1930's the recent events of the world pushed the United
States to take into application the isolationism policy which was owing to the Great Depression
and the defeat suffered in World War I (Openstax, 2019). Thus, I believe that no matter what we
would have been brought into World War II. I think that even if the Pearl Harbor bombing didn't
happen we still would have been brought into this war no matter what. Things were so crazy and
there were so many other places that could have attacked us from. I just believe it was impossible
for us to avoid this war.
Moreover, the neutrality acts that were passed created loopholes that allowed them to send aid
to Britain without fighting the war. The Neutrality Acts of 1935 and 1937 “banned selling arms
to belligerent nations (to avoid taking sides) [ CITATION His191 \l 1033 ].” However, they
realized they needed to send more help and came up with the Neutrality Act of 1939. This one
said that belligerent nations could buy guns, but they had to pay in cash and use their own ship
which was called the Cash-and-Carry Policy (Openstax, 2019). After, the US passed the Lend-
Lease Act which said that the US could lend support to Britain in the form of arms or other aid
without immediate payment. Hence, the US still declared neutrality to avoid warfare, but the
Axis Powers were actually fully aware of the US's unofficial alliance to Britain. They didn't
declare war simply because they didn't want to fight the US yet.
This study source was downloaded by 100000849840424 from CourseHero.com on 07 -15-2022 22:01:21 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/45074650/WEEK-6-DISC2docx/
