American history since 1876
Wars often have a significant impact upon the domestic development of a nation. Every nation at one point or the other has experienced a war of some sort and this has gone a long way in shaping economic, political and social lives of citizens. United States in particular had a fair share of wars especially looking back at the last two or so decades. The World War and the Cold War were very instrumental in shaping what the United States of America is today.
This discussion looks at how these two wars brought about changes in the political, social and economic arenas (Martin, G.S. 2004). The Second World War commonly referred to as World War 2 was conflict in the military that was felt throughout the world by all nations. The Cold War on the other hand was subsequent to the Second World War and it was a conflict between the western region of the world led by U. S and the Soviet Union. The effects of the world war were evident in many countries and United States was no exception. The effects were both negative and positive. They were negative in the sense there was a lot of destruction of property and many lives were lost.
However there are also many positive effects in that many developments were achieved. The first notable development was in the area of technology. It is during the world war that the forerunner was developed which would later bring about the development of television. This paved way for the growth of the economy of what was later to become the world’s superpower. It was not all about growth. As already mentioned the Second World War also had far reaching negative effects.
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One of the greatest economic devastations that have always been associated with the Second World War was the Great Depression where banks closed unemployment soared as factories closed down, people starved, there were long queues for bread and the rural folks lost their mortgages. It was due to deteriorated housing conditions, unbearable working conditions and unavailability of essential commodities that is said to have brought the economic growth down. The government’s ability to control the economy through control over spending and consumption emerged during the great depression.
It is thus believed that the Great Depression did contribute indirectly to the growth of the economy of the U. S. It is also clear that the Cold War left the U. S as the only super power with Russia having collapsed (Martin, G. S. 2004). The World War 2 and the Cold did also have effects on the social and cultural life of the Americans. It was evident that after such a long period of war American citizens were finding it hard to adjust to the ordinary life. It took them a couple of years before they could adjust but finally they were able to.
However from research conducted there are clear indications that the general living standards of American citizens improved. In conclusion it is clear that the Second World War and the Cold war did have a great impact in the international community and United States in particular. The effects were both positive and negative. However in most cases the positive effects are more visible as America emerged as the world’s super power due to these wars.
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