Mahan thought that the country with the most powerful navy would control the earth. He believed we should build a canal, and to protect the canal by controlling Hawaii and Cuba, which he thought was a necessity. During this time, thoughts of Anglo-Saxon superiority were a common "excuse" for imperialism. The political scientist and professor of Columbia University, John Burgess said the Anglo-Saxon races were "particularly endowed with the capacity for establishing national state, they are entrusted with the mission of conducting the political civilization of the modern world." Even before McKinley's presidency, he showed interest in foreign markets for the surplus of American products.
The goals of the United States were to rebuild a war-devastated region, remove trade barriers, modernize industry, and make Europe prosperous again. The act was named after Secretary George Marshall. The Marshall Aid was so important because it was used to restrict the Soviet “sphere of influence” from expanding as European countries preferred the idea of being rich instead of having to share their wealth with others. Many countries that were unofficially owned by Stalin were more interested in joining the USA with the Marshall Aid, but Stalin managed to “persuade” them to protest against Truman’s methods. Despite this, the Marshall Aid was a success and it bolstered the armies of Europe significantly, which put Stalin in a more vulnerable position.
The main reason for the Marshall Plan as a turning factor was in its forthrightness. It can be seen as the United States throwing down an economic gauntlet to the Soviet Union, challenging its authority in Eastern Europe by offering economic aid to countries under the USSR. Despite altruistic claims of helping states grow, the United States was really engaging in dollar diplomacy, attempting to harness the developing economies for their own use. Due to the continual expansion of their own economy, the Americans needed to find emerging markets through which they could both import and export goods, and found them in the Eastern European states. This, however, was seen by the Soviet Union as a form of economic expansion through which the Americans were bringing Eastern European states into their own sphere of influence, and was a direct challenge to their authority.
Chancellor Bülow kept a 'free hand' policy - that is, one that kept Germany out of commitment to other states. What is more, there were plans for the creation of a central African empire to enlarge the country’s colonial power and prestige. Finally the Germans wanted to dominate the European economic zone scheme and create a railway from Germany to Baghdad. As the Kaiser said “Germany had great tasks to accomplish outside the narrow boundaries of the old Europe” although there was no specific plan and many officers were not sure about how to pursue this goal. The reason why Germany needed the Weltpolitik is that it craved to became a World Power.
The war had created the division of two superpowers; The Soviet Union and The United States. After 1945, the United States had become the leading power due to it’s military strength and economic advantages after the war and Soviet Union play it’s role to challenge the state’s power (Young & Kent: 2) due to it’s ideology of communism and wanted to expand their influence globally, in which the United States wanted to prevent this from happening because their idea was absolutely conflicted with the Soviet Union; capitalism (Young & Kent: 6). These two countries reshaped Europe and the world. In contrast, World War II also weakened Britain’s and France’s powers because both of these countries faced a devastated loss by the war especially Britain. Likewise, both of the powers had to dismantle their colonies and ended their overseas and territorial empire.
Was the policy of appeasement justified? The arguments for appeasement: We can understand why the British and French appeased Germany: 1. The desire for peace. It was perfectly understandable that Britain and France would want to find peaceful solutions to Germany’s problems, and so avoid another war. Memories of the First World War were still strong.
Stalin’s view is supported by Admiral D Leahy, who in his memoirs writes ‘we had adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages’ This quote holds a substantial amount of weight to my argument due to Admiral D Leahy’s position as Roosevelt and Truman’s chief of staff, it would be expected for a man of such status to hold a view in support of America’s actions. Nevertheless, it is apparent that while Leahy may have condoned the dropping of the bomb to shorten the war, he would make no attempt to justify his country’s and his President’s actions. The moral implications were made apparent on the British mission to Hiroshima. Not only did the bombs claim the lives of over 200,000 civilians, the
Modern European History – David Welch Evidence of anti-Semitism being propagated by powerful interest groups before 1914, such as the Pan- German League, helps to substantiate the argument put forward by historians that stresses the role of traditional elites and the continuities in social structures and ideology linking imperial Germany with the Nazi era. Kaiser Wilhelm’s claim that G had become a world power on the basis of an imperial fleet that could challenge the Royal Navy was enthusiastically received. However, his successes in foreign policy were li8mt, and the price paid in the self-inflicted isolation of G and the forming of an alliance by its rivals- Britain, France and Russia. On the surface, France, which remained the sole republican state among the great powers of Europe, presented a picture of political instability. For many, general Boulanger provided the focus for a new sense of nationalism based on military glory, he advocated that Alsace- Lorraine (surrendered by France to German empire- 1871) should be returned to France.
Therefore, Bismarck had a great deal of independence. An aim of his which contributed to the unity of the German states was to redirect focus from liberals onto focusing on nationalism. Liberalism is the idea that favoured representative government, which would give the middle class/ factory owners a say but was not full democracy. Through nationalism; Germany could unite as a nation without liberals seeking greater power which could have possibly overthrown the king. Bismarck used wars against other European nations to lure and cause national unity within the German states and German people.
His famous quote was “speak softly and carry a big stick”, which meant that you should negotiate in matter that both sides win, but if not in agreement then you should persuade the matter and use force if necessary. Roosevelt was known as the trustbuster to break up the big businesses of the United States, which have acquired too much power. He was a champion of the Progressive Movement and promised all Americans a Square Deal, of equal treatment to everyone, also proposed the new Federal Reserve Standard and was a champion of labor and environmental