WW1: US Emerges as Superpower After Global Conflict - Essay Sample

Introduction

World War 1 was a global catastrophe that triggered a conflict among the nations around the around, and it started in July 1914 to November 1918. The occurrence of the war enables several countries in the world to become a superpower. The United States is one of the nations that greatly benefitted economically, politically, and socially when it joined the war in 1917. The fact that the country believed that the world needed to be safe for democracy to prevail and the notion triggered the financial stability in the world when nations, such as the United States, intervened to stop the conflict. The position of a superpower cannot be released without a strong economy, have immense political power in the world, strong political ideologies, and an overpowering military. It is often believed that the United States joined the war to save the European industry's capitalist investments.

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The country was offering economic support to the European allies, such as Britain and France, and this enabled it to widen its sales during the war period. When the war continued to cause destruction and havoc among the participating nations, France and Britain had accumulated a lot of loans that they were using to keep their activities afloat. A significant issue that sustained the war was the American supplies that it was offering the European countries during the First World War. Armaments, food, and dollars were the main elements that these states were getting from the United States. These provisions enabled the country to widen its financial resources due to the massive sales it was making. It is important to note that before the war started, the country was in recession, but this changed when the conflict started. The nation had a wide market for its products. The factories during the war period had converted from the civilian to military production, with a significant number of farmers growing food to feed the countries at war (Frum). Therefore, much of the economic activities that were happening in the United States were supporting the war and the countries that were buying them were not utilizing the resources to build their economy, but rather to engage in activities that of no economic benefit. Therefore, the United States managed to surpass them and build a strong economy. The issue of supplying resources to the states at war led to a momentous shift on the part of global might. For a long time before the First World War, the British Empire had a great influence on the world economy for more than a century, but the United States surpassed its output.

An important issue to note when the United States entered the war, its main objective was economically motivated. American investors had amassed a lot of wealthy by 1916, a move that contributed to the economic development and expansion of their country's system. According to the information given by Tooze, "By the end of 1916, American investors had wagered $2 billion on an Entente victory." When the Washington Naval Conference was happening in 1921, countries, such as Italy, Britain, and France owed the United States amounts totaling to $9.8 billion. For the first time in their history, the United States had become a creditor, a move that stabilized its economy and enabled it to surge far beyond other states in the world.

Most nations in Europe that took part in the First World War, encountered political, economic, and social differences when the conflict needed in 1921. However, for the United States, it emerged from the war more powerful than before, enabling it to become a superpower. It is claimed that the United States is the country that won the First World War, considering that it is the only nation that seemed to benefit from the existence of the conflict. Other nations were in debt, their economy at total point of destruction, and they had to rebuild from zero.

The United States is one of the global superpowers that benefitted from participating in the First World War. The size of its army was growing each year, and the move led to the growth of the economy through massive production of weapons. A significant number of nations in Europe lost land, their leaders, and industries to the war. Therefore, the United States took the initiative of giving them loans and placing people in power to facilitate the rebuilding process. The issue made American great among other nations. Therefore, new states were forced with the old ones abolished. The new regimes established no longer followed the cultural, political, and social orders that they had relied on for a long time. They had an influence on the American way of doing things, and they had to rely on this country to growth their economy leading to the transformation of the country into a superpower.

The First World War had a great effect in Africa, for it led to the creation of an element of nationalism, an issue that triggered anti-colonial movements and independence wars. A significant number of Africans that fought during the war were defending the interest of their colonial masters. The defeat experienced by countries, such as Germany, meant that they also lost control over their colonies on the continent. The move may have triggered economic depression as the regions lost their men to the war. A significant number of the states in Africa experienced deaths in large numbers as women and children could no longer manage to feed themselves. Additionally, the war may have triggered the destruction of the farms as a measure of ensuring that the communities were weakened through lack of food. These were the same problem encountered in Asia and the Latin America regions. The declaration of war raised significant and adverse disruption to the business process in the continent. There was a significant decline in the process of commodities sold from Africa. Some of the regions, especially the ones under the Germany regime, were blocked from the trading process, and this led to a decline in their economic power.

Some of the challenges that were experienced by the Latin American States when the First World War started include the economic collapse due to the inability to conduct any meaningful business process. The loss of European markets led to a rise in unemployment, a rise in rates of inflation, and a shortage of goods. These countries had the responsibility of supporting their armies fighting in Europe, and it is critical to note that these countries did not benefit in any way from war. The nations suffered the same fate as the one experienced by France and Britain. The Entente's war efforts relied mostly on the supplies from the Latin American region. When Germany was defeated, it lost control over the various colonies it had controlled around the world. Therefore, it could not manage to get resources from them. However, things were different from the areas under its control in Latin America. Germany could still manage to access resources from the Latin American countries, and this means that these nations continued to lose their resources to their colonialists despite the end of the war.

The massive problems that were triggered by the occurrence of the First World War led to the Latin American countries opening their economy to foreign superiors to ensure that they managed to achieve modernity. French, Britain, German, and the United States were some of the nations that had an interest in making investments in the region. The history of the First World War enables learners to understand how conflict adversely impacted the Asian region. The losses encountered in this area were staggering with armies decimated and land destroyed. It is important to note that some of the adverse effects experienced during the Great War are visible presently.

Conclusion

To sum up, the First World War triggered several states to become superpowers in the world. At the beginning of the conflict, the United States supplied the European allies with weapons and other resources. Previously, its industries were on a downward trend regarding the production process, but the emergence of the conflict meant that they could not be used to produce weapons. Despite some nations managing to become superpowers, others in Latin American, Africa, and Asia experienced massive destruction with death and damage to the economy, some of the adverse issues that arose.

Works Cited

Tooze, Adam. "The Deluge: The Great War, America and the Remaking of the Global Order." 1916-1931 (New York, New York: Viking Penguin, 2014).

Frum, David. "The Real Story of How America Became an Economic Superpower." The Atlantic, 24 Dec. 2014, www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/12/the-real-story-of-how-america-became-an-economic-superpower/384034/. Accessed 22 November 2019.