Events in Europe & How the US European Reacted O’Brien

Theater US II CP Annotation In the years after World War I many Americans quickly reached the conclusion that their country's participation in that war had been a disastrous mistake, one which should never be repeated again. During the 1920s and 1930s, therefore, they pursued a number of strategies aimed at preventing war. Having experienced the horrors of modern war during one world war, many Americans in the 1920s concluded that there must not be another. A number of antiwar organizations had existed even before the war, but during the interwar period pacifism became the fastest-growing movement in America.

At first the major players in this effort were American peace societies, many of which were part of larger international movements. Their agenda called for large-scale disarmament and an international treaty to abolish war. Their efforts were successful, as 1922 saw the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty (aka 5 Power Treaty) - a major agreement among the great powers to reduce their numbers of battleships. Six years later most of the world's nations signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928), in which the signatories pledged never again to go to war with one another.

Most Americans applauded both of these measures, but by the early 1930s there was a growing sense of pessimism regarding the ability of arms control and Kellogg-Briand to stop wars from breaking out. Militant nationalist regimes in Japan and Germany both announced that they would no longer be bound by prior agreements on disarmament, and in 1931 Japan invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria. As the critics of Kellogg-Briand had predicted, there could be no ―outlawry of war‖ without effective enforcement.

These disturbing developments led most American Congressional members to move away from international efforts to prevent war and toward measures designed to ensure that the United States would remain neutral in any foreign wars that might occur. In this they had the wholehearted support of American nationalists, who rejected pacifism but opposed a repeat of World War I, when the country eventually was drawn into an overseas conflict that they believed had not served any vital American interest.

By the early 1930s Americans were becoming increasingly pessimistic about the possibility of preventing the outbreak of wars through international cooperation. Basically, the treaties mentioned above did not succeed in stopping international violence. They instead turned toward measures designed to prevent the United States from intervening in any foreign war that may occur. The result was a series of neutrality laws passed in 1935, 1936, and 1937—laws that sought to avoid the reappearance of circumstances that most Americans believed had drawn the country into World War I, namely arms sales and loans to belligerent countries.

Guiding Question: Did the neutrality laws of the 1930s represent an effective U.S. response to world affairs?

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Activity 1 (HW): Merchants of Death?

The public’s demand for neutrality surged in 1934 with the publication of Merchants of Death by H.C. Engelbrecht and F.C. Hanighen. This book, an examination of the international arms industry, quickly became a best-seller, but its most talked-about chapter concerned the United States from 1914 to 1917.

Directions: Read the following, carefully considering the authors’ thesis of why the United States entered World War I. After you have done so, answer the analysis questions.

H.C. Engelbrecht and F.C. Hanighen, Merchants of Death: A Study of the International Armament Industry http://greatwar.nl/frames/default-merchants.html

In 1934, H.C. Engelbrecht and F.C. Hanighen published Merchants of Death, in which the authors argued that the weapons/arms industry had played a significant role in starting World War I. The book quickly became a bestseller, but Americans were particularly interested in Chapter XIII, which discussed the role played by arms dealers and bankers in bringing the United States into the war on the side of the Allies.

CHAPTER XIII: THE WORLD WAR — ENTER OLD GLORY WHEN … World War began in 1914, the President of the United States advised his fellow countrymen to remain neutral even in thought. When the … [war ended] 1918, there were 21,000 new American millionaires, Du Pont stock had gone from $20 to $1,000 a share, and J.P. Morgan was said to have made more money in two years than the elder Morgan made in all his life.

At the outset, Europe was convinced that the war would not last long and that it would be able to supply its own ammunition for the duration of the conflict. For almost a year Europe did manage to fill most of its needs from its reserves. When it became evident, however, that a long war was probable, new sources of supply were eagerly sought.

The one great power which had remained neutral was the United States. Theoretically, according to international law and the Hague Convention of 1907, both sides in the conflict were permitted to buy from a neutral, and the neutral was privileged to sell. It was not a new situation. In many wars the neutrals had sold to both sides.

Now, however, a new factor entered the picture. Germany was blockaded… the Allies would not permit neutral commerce to pass the blockade… and, despite the irritation of the United States, the Allies persisted in this policy. In reality, therefore, the United States was arming and supplying only the Allies.

There was no … buying of war materials in the United States by the Allies until the second half of 1915. Then the … [trading] began … The Allies established a central purchasing bureau in the States which soon spent on the average of $10,000,000 a day. Between August, 1914 and February, 1917 more than $10,500,000,000 worth of goods were shipped out of America.

Munitions [supplies, weapons, and ammunition] played a prominent part in this traffic. In 1914, exports amounted to $40,000,000, in 1915, they totaled $330,000,000, and in 1916 they pyramided to $1,290,000,000. From 1914 to 1918 the Allies bought $4,000,000,000 worth of munitions in the United States. But munitions were by no means the only item of commerce. In a long list of exports, the following are included: Iron and steel, explosives, cotton and cotton manufactures, wheat, copper, brass, leather, chemicals, firearms, automobiles, wheat flour, metal-working machinery, corn, horses, wire manufactures, shoes, railway cars, mules, barley, wool manufactures, tires, airplanes, motorcycles, etc.

…There was only one cloud on the horizon: the war might end. Every time there was talk of peace, munitions stocks went down … 5 to 40 per cent. War had brought prosperity, peace threatened to bring calamity [misery – meaning loss of tremendous profits]. Gradually other worries began to trouble American industry and finance. Suppose the Germans won-what then? No, that could never happen. We have the word of A. D. Noyes, financial editor of the New York Times, that Wall Street picked the Allies to win at the very start and never wavered [backed down] in this firm belief.

Still, one could never tell. The Germans were making an astonishing stand and in many ways they had a decided military advantage. Suppose the war should end in a stalemate suppose a ―peace without victory‖ should be concluded? Thoughts like that made Wall Street shudder. American finance had placed its bet on the Allied horse, and if that should fail … the stakes were so enormous that none dared even think of what might happen.

The terrible years wore on. The seas were crowded with vessels rushing supplies of all kinds to the Allies. Then another nightmare began to trouble Wall Street. How were the Allies to pay for these goods? The credit of the Allies was virtually … [gone]. The United States had grown from a debtor nation [owing money] to one of the greatest creditors [lenders] of the world. … No wonder Wall Street was worrying. All the beautifully … [IOU’s] which it held might turn out to be just so many ―scraps of paper.‖ …

But this hour of darkness was also the beginning of the dawn. On April 6, 1917, the United States entered the conflict, and the heart-beats of the war traffickers [US arms dealers] became normal again. It is not contended here that the United States fought in the World War solely because of its armament makers and their financiers. There were many other factors in the situation. Yet the question of Hamilton Fish, Jr., is more pertinent than is generally admitted: ―Is it not a fact that the World War was started by the shipment of munitions? Was not the cause of the war our continued shipping of munitions abroad?‖ American commitments with the Allies were so enormous that only our entry into the war saved the country from a major economic collapse.

In 1917 on the floor of Congress it was charged that as early as March, 1915, [J.P.] Morgan …had organized and financed a huge propaganda machine, including 12 influential publishers and 197 newspapers, for the purpose of ―persuading‖ the American people to join the Allies. Furthermore, the French historian and politician, Gabriel Hanotaux, tells in his history of the war that in 1914 he and a member of the Morgan firm had drawn up plans for a great war-scare campaign in the United States in order to … [get] the country in war. He adds that France was ready for peace in 1914, but that the Morgan partner dissuaded French leaders from talking peace at that time.

.. Hardly had the news reached Wall Street, when, according to the New York Times, ―Wall Street was bright with the Stars and Stripes floating from banks and brokerage houses. Figuratively, the street gave a concerted sigh of relief.‖ On the Produce Exchange 300 brokers sang The Star-Spangled Banner. And stocks went up immediately.

The United States was in the war from April 7, 1917 to November 11, 1918. During this period it spent $22,625,252,843 and advanced another $9,455,014,125 to the Allies. Just as important for Wall Street was the absolute guarantee of Allied credit by the American government. All the reckless financing of the war years was now saved …

…Exactly what the profits of the American arms merchants and their allies and financiers were in the war will never be accurately known. They realized very shortly that it would never do to let even the approximate amounts of their net gains be known. The Federal Trade 5

Commission characterized the business methods of these groups as ―… greed and barefaced fraud.‖ It ―exposed many tricks of bookkeeping by the great corporations... Costs were fictitiously enhanced by account juggling. Officers’ salaries were increase … Inventories were manipulated.‖

Despite all this, the profits reported were simply colossal. Du Pont paid a dividend [profit to its stockholders] of 100 percent … in 1916. … In 1916 … [the United States Steel Company] reported earnings … [of] $70,000,000 [more] than the combined earnings of 1911, 1912, and 1913. Bethlehem Steel paid a stock dividend of 200 per cent in 1917. U.S. Treasury figures show that during the war period 69,000 men made more than $3,000,000,000 over and above their normal income.

Analysis Questions:

1. When WWI began in 1914 why was there not much arms dealing between the U.S. and the Allies or Central Powers?

2. Are ―neutral‖ nations allowed to trade with nations at war? Briefly explain.

3. Overall – between 1914 and 1917 how much had the U.S. (i.e. Wall Street) traded with the Allies?

4. Even though the U.S. was legally allowed to trade with both nations – what was true?

5. List the items the U.S. traded with the Allies?

6. What was the motivation for the war to continue?

7. Why was the U.S. (i.e. Wall Street) worried about the Allies winning the war?

8. According to Congress, what role did J.P. Morgan (a private businessman) play in getting the U.S. in to WWI?

9. Briefly describe some of the record profits mentioned in the final paragraph.

Activity 2: The Neutrality Acts in Action – 1935, 1936, 1937

Directions: Consult the interactive timeline “America on the Sidelines,” located at http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/neh/interactives/neutrality/, and examine the events that took place in Europe from 1933 through 1939. For each event read the overview and complete the following 2 requirements:

1. The chart located below lists the events you need to analyze. 2. For each event (from 1933-1939) you are to list a summary of the event, the official US reaction, and a description of US reaction. Timeline 1

Date European Event Official US Reaction Description of US Reaction

Event 1 - October 1933

Germany withdraws from Disarmament talks

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Event 2 -

March 1935

Hitler Repudiates Versailles Treaty

Event 3 -

October 1935

Mussolini Invades Ethiopia

Event 4 -

March 1936

Germany Occupies the Rhineland

The Neutrality Act of 1936, passed in February of that year, renewed the provisions of the 1935 act for another 14 months. It also forbade all loans or credits to belligerents.

However, this act did not cover "civil wars," such in Spain, nor did it cover materials such as trucks and oil. U.S. companies such as Texaco, Standard Oil, Ford, General Motors, and Studebaker used this loophole to sell such items to fascist rebel Franco on credit. By 1939, Franco owed these and other companies more than $100,000,000.

The Neutrality Act was approved in 1937.

Event 5 -

July 1936

Civil War Breaks out in Spain

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Event 6 -

March 1938

Germany Annexes Austria

Event 7 -

September 1938

Czech Crisis and Munich Conference

Event 8 -

October 1938

Hitler Threatens Poland

Event 9 - March 1939

Germany Dismembers Czechoslovakia

End Annotation The question of how involved the United States should become in the European war deeply divided the country. On the one hand, Roosevelt and the so-called "internationalists" claimed that a program of aid to Great Britain and other countries fighting against Germany would make actual U.S. participation in the war unnecessary. On the other side stood those who were called "isolationists," who believed that the president's policies were making it increasingly likely that the country would end up in another disastrous foreign war. This debate was still raging when Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. At this point it was clear that, like it or not, the United States would be a full participant in the Second World War. * We’re skipping event 10 – Italy invades Albania.

Activity 3: The Neutrality Acts in Action - 1939 (aka Cash and Carry)

Annotation In September 1939 Hitler unleashed his military forces against Poland. Great Britain and France, honoring guarantees they had earlier made to the Polish government, declared war on Germany, thus marking the formal start World War II in Europe. Immediately Americans were placed in a dilemma. On the one hand, they were determined to stay out of the war; indeed, they had passed the Neutrality Laws in the mid-1930s to ensure that the United States would not be drawn into another conflict like World War I. On the other hand, World War II had begun very differently, the result of direct German aggression against neighboring states. Thus while there was almost no support for actual U.S. involvement in the war, Americans were practically unanimous in hoping that Great Britain and its allies (collectively known, as in World War I, as the Allied Powers), would win. This was undoubtedly the attitude of the Roosevelt administration, which in September 1939 sought a revision of the neutrality laws that would allow U.S. arms makers to sell their products to the belligerents FDR prevailed over the isolationists and on November 4th the Neutrality Act of 1939 was passed, allowing for arms trade with belligerent nations on a cash and carry basis, thus in effect ending the arms embargo. Furthermore, American ships were barred from entering war zones designated by the President. In the early months of the war most Americans were confident that the Allies would win. Hitler's government, they believed, was not genuinely popular, and when it failed to deliver a quick victory it would either be forced to surrender its conquests or face a revolution at home. These hopes, however, were dashed in the spring and summer of 1940, when in a series of rapid offensives German forces managed to conquer Denmark, Norway, the Low Countries (i.e. the Netherlands and Belgium), and finally France, all in rapid succession. Great Britain now stood alone against Germany and its allies. Both the German army and air force were far larger than their British counterparts, and even though the Royal Navy was far more powerful than that of Germany, German submarines were able to exact a terrible toll against British shipping. Thus by late 1940 the British Isles were being subjected to withering attacks from the air and the sea, while the possibility of a German invasion loomed on the horizon. These are the events you will eventually research on the interactive timeline.

Timeline 2 -

Date European Event Official US Reaction Description of US Reaction

Cash and Carry Event 11 -

Germany Invades Poland – WWII Begins

September 1939

Event 12 -

German Invades Denmark and Norway

April 1940

Event 13 -

Germany Invades Low Countries and France

May 1940

The VOID – website is Destroyers misleading. The for Bases Event 14 - Lend-Lease Bill Agreement

(50 destroyers from wasn’t approved by France US, in exchange for UK Surrenders possessions in Congress until Carribbean and Canada) March 1941. A

different Agreement

June 1940 is being referred to

(see adjacent

column).

Event 15 - VOID - The website

is misleading. The

Lend Lease Bill was

Start of the already presented Blitz before Congress in September 1940 December 1940,

and was being

debated.

Event 16 -

Italy Invades Greece

October 1940

End Annotation FDR knew that the American people, as worried as they might have been about the prospects of a German victory, still had no desire to enter the war. However, in early December 1940 [after the events you researched on the interactive timeline] —only a few weeks after Roosevelt was elected to a third term as president—Prime Minister Churchill sent him a long letter in which he spelled out Britain’s prospects for 1941. He assured the president that his government had no intention of surrendering, but noted that British losses—particularly at sea—were taking their toll. The country’s cash reserves were almost entirely depleted, and within a few weeks Britain would no longer be able to afford to purchase arms and other essential supplies from the United States. If this happened, Churchill warned, there was little chance of defeating Germany. Roosevelt’s response to this request would be known as Lend-Lease, a policy which he unveiled to the nation at a press conference on December 17. The defense of Great Britain, he told listeners, was essential to the security of the United States. The British were not asking for Americans to enter the war, only to provide them with the materials that they needed to defeat Germany on their own. The United States, therefore, must produce weapons that would be loaned to Great Britain for the duration of the war. He likened the situation to that of a homeowner whose neighbor’s house was on fire. Surely, he told reporters, it was in the interests of the homeowner to lend his neighbor a garden hose to help him fight the fire, lest the flames engulf the entire neighborhood. The Lend-Lease Act marked the official end of U.S. neutrality and sparked a massive political debate, both in Congress and throughout the country. The conflict focused not only on whether the United States ought to be in the business of providing direct aid to a foreign country at war, but also on the broader question of what role the country should play in world affairs – a debate still alive and well today!!!!. The essential point is that by the end of 1940 Roosevelt had successfully redefined the term ―neutrality.‖ No longer would it be interpreted in a strict sense, as a desire to remain completely aloof from foreign wars. The new concept of neutrality, which the president would call ―non- belligerency‖ and which would govern the U.S. approach to both Europe and Asia right up to Pearl Harbor, was not only compatible with public sympathy for the Allied cause, but also with a foreign policy that openly assisted Britain and its allies against Germany.

Activity 4: Lend Lease Act and the United States enters WWII

Timeline 3 (Final European Theater Timeline)

Date European Event Official US Reaction Description of US Reaction Lend Lease Act (March 1941)

Event 17 -

British Gold Reserves run Low

January 1941

Event 18 -

Germany Invades Yugoslavia and Greece

April 1941

Event 19 -

British Suffer Staggering Losses At Sea

May 1941

Event20 -

Germany Invades Soviet Union

June 1941

FDR and Winston  The 2 leaders state that they have no imperial interest (i.e. no desire for land, colonies, or power resulting from the Churchill war) release the  The 2 leaders declare that they will respect the self-determination of ALL colonies following the war to ―choose the Atlantic form of government under which they will live.‖ Charter  Do not forget this – it looms large when we get to the Vietnam War – because 2 weeks after this public announcement, we promised France that they could keep their colonies after the war!!! August 1941

 FDR lied about the Greer naval incident to the Event 21 -  Less than a month after the Atlantic American public, saying that the Germans had fired first Charter without provocation, when in reality the U.S. destroyer

had chased the U-boat.

 President Franklin D. Roosevelt seized this occasion to

make another of his famed "fireside chats", one in which Greer Incident he brought America nearer to outright involvement in

the European war. Declaring that Germany had been September guilty of an act of piracy, 1941  President Roosevelt in effect unleashed an undeclared

war with Germany

Event 22 -

Kearny Incident

October 1941

Event 23 -

Germany and Italy Declare War on the US

December 1941