Lesson # 11The USA

in World Wars

Course: American Civilizations, IRIM, Moldova

Instructor: Pomazanovschi Irina

A Century of Growth1800

• 16 states• 6 million people• Lived on farms and in

small villages

1900• 45 states• 76 million people• > Half lived in cities• Worked in offices and

factories

1800 1900

1800 1900

1800 1900

Meetings and marches to get the women the right to vote

Suffragist Movement

Elizabeth Stanton Susan B. Anthony

The Spanish –American War1898

Cuba was a Spanish colony that was fighting for its independence.

Many Americans sympathized with

the Cuban patriots. + USA invested 100mln.$ in the

Cuban sugar industry.

• Wanted to avoid war;• Sent the battleship Maine to protect Americans and their property in Havana

• Spanish rulers welcomed Americans;• On February 15th, 1898 the battle ship Maine exploded;• 260 American sailors killed;• Spanish denied their involvement;• USA blamed the Spanish

In April 1898 Spain and the USA went to war.

In 10 weeks the war over.

USA-Spain Peace Treaty

• Cuba became an independent nation;• USA gained control over Puerto Rico,

the Philippine islands, and the island of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.

USA Expands

• 1867 USA bought Alaska from Russia• 1898 USA took control of Hawaii

The USA goes to War

Congress: law

All men between 18 and 45 to register

for the armyBy 1917 – 3 million

Americans in the Armed forces 2 millions sent to fight in Europe

Austria-Hungary

surrendered

Germany surrender

ed

After the World War I

• President Wilson supported

In 1920 women all the country voted for the 1st time in the presidential

elections.

MARCHING FOR SUFFRAGE After the war, President Wilson supported woman’s suffrage.

After the World War I

• Blacks faced discrimination

Riots in Chicago and Washington D.C.Dead and hundreds wounded

JAZZ Louis Armstrong (above left) was a famous jazz artist.

Mid 1920’s: Ku Klux Klan renewed

• Attracted people who did not like Black Americans, Jews, Catholics and Foreigners

• 4-5 million members

Presidential Elections 1920

Promised “Return to Normalcy”

1920 – 1930: Roaring Twenties

- 1925 every 10 sec. new Model T car = 260$

- New ways: - To dress;- To talk;- To have fun (Charleston, radio, cinema-no sound, then “talkies”; records in sport, new home appliances)

- No demand for goods; - Factories closed;- unemployment spread

Great Depression

“Government would be responsible for helping people in hardships”

Brain TrustBest minds in Government

Labour experts

College professors

Economists and Businessmen

Franklin Delano

Roosevelt

Relief for the suffering during the

depression

Help to farmers and businessmen

goals

How did the New Deal help Americans?

USA in World War II

What political changes took

place in Germany, Italy and

Japan in the period

between the 2 world wars?

Pearl Harbor

What happened to Japanese Americans

during the war?

Why do historians call

the action of the US government a sad mistake?

The atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan were conducted by the United States during the final stages of World War II

in August 1945. 

The two bombings were the first and remain the only

use of nuclear weapons in wartime.

The Marshall Plan was the

American initiative to

aid Europe, in which the United

States gave economic

support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II in order to

prevent the spread of Soviet Communism.

The United Nations (UN) is

an intergovernmental organization established on 24 October 1945 to promote international co-

operation. 

Additional sources:

• US History Overview 3 - WWII to Vietnamhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2eKaxU-8kA • BOMBING OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI http://

www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bombing-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki

• Marshall Plan - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan

• United States and the United Nations - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_the_United_Nations