WWII - Rise Of The Superpowers Essays - International Relations

WWII - Rise of the Superpowers Rise of the Superpowers (USA & USSR) from events prior to and during WWII World War II: the process of superpowerdom It is often wondered how the superpowers achieved their position of dominance. It seems that the maturing of the two superpowers, Russia and the United States, can be traced to World War II. To be a superpower, a nation needs to have a strong economy, an overpowering military, immense international political power and, related to this, a strong national ideology. It was this war, and its results, that caused each of these superpowers to experience such a preponderance of power. Before the war, both nations were fit to be described as great powers, but it would be erroneous to say that they were superpowers at that point. To understand how the second World War impacted these nations so greatly, we must examine the causes of the war. The United States gained its strength in world affairs from its status as an economic power. In the years before the war, America was the world's largest producer. In the USSR at the same time, Stalin was implementing his ?five year plans' to modernise the Soviet economy. From these situations, similar foreign policies resulted from widely divergent origins. Roosevelt's isolationism emerged from the wide and prevalent domestic desire to remain neutral in any international conflicts. It commonly widely believed that Americans entered the first World War simply in order to save industry's capitalist investments in Europe. Whether this is the case or not, Roosevelt was forced to work with an inherently isolationist Congress, only expanding its horizons after the bombing of Pearl Harbour. He signed the Neutrality Act of 1935, making it illegal for the United States to ship arms to the belligerents of any conflict. The act also stated that belligerents could buy only non-armaments from the US, and even these were only to be bought with cash. In contrast, Stalin was by necessity interested in European affairs, but only to the point of concern to the USSR. Russian foreign policy was fundamentally Leninist in its concern to keep the USSR out of war. Stalin wanted to consolidate Communist power and modernise the country's industry. The Soviet Union was committed to collective action for peace, as long as that commitment did not mean that the Soviet Union would take a brunt of a Nazi attack as a result. Examples of this can be seen in the Soviet Unions' attempts to achieve a mutual assistance treaty with Britain and France. These treaties, however, were designed more to create security for the West, as opposed to keeping all three signatories from harm. At the same time, Stalin was attempting to polarise both the Anglo-French, and the Axis powers against each other. The important result of this was the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact, which partitioned Poland, and allowed Hitler to start the war. Another side-effect of his policy of playing both sides was that it caused incredible distrust towards the Soviets from the Western powers after 1940. This was due in part to the fact that Stalin made several demands for both influence in the Dardanelles, and for Bulgaria to be recognised as a Soviet dependant. The seeds of superpowerdom lie here however, in the late thirties. R.J. Overy has written that ?stability in Europe might have been achieved through the existence of powers so strong that they could impose their will on the whole of the international system, as has been the case since 1945?.? At the time, there was no power in the world that could achieve such a feat. Britain and France were in imperial decline, and more concerned about colonial economics than the stability of Europe. Both imperial powers assumed that empire-building would necessarily be an inevitable feature of the world system. German aggression could have been stifled early had the imperial powers had acted in concert. The memories of World War One however, were too powerful, and the general public would not condone a military solution at that point. The aggression of Germany, and to a lesser extent that of Italy, can be explained by this decline of imperial power. They were simply attempting to fill

What is AP English Writing Tip: The Extra Content

What is AP English Writing Tip: The Extra ContentWhen you're writing an AP English sample essay, it's not always clear whether you should start your final draft with a similar premise or go in a completely different direction. It's one of those crucial decisions that will decide whether you have a great writing style and are likely to make excellent use of the AP writing tips you read in this guide. Not, that there's anything wrong with sticking to the AP writing guidelines, but it's important to recognize that there are some things that will need to be left out. So here's a little bit about how you can get that additional AP English content in your class work.All this extra AP content is sometimes actually better than not having it, because it can change the way your class work flows. In essence, that means that instead of writing down an AP English subject, you will be able to write down a sentence that relates to it. For example, if you had spent a considerable amount of time work ing on a narrative essay about a crime in a small town, then you would probably be better off starting it out with a statement like 'A man was beaten to death by a mob of men.' On the other hand, if you've worked on an essay that involves the history of an archaeological dig, you might have started with something like 'Archaeologists found a large amount of treasure buried deep within the earth.'Just 'cause you've worked on a particular topic doesn't mean that your writing style will be restricted to that specific topic. Often, you may want to use a theme from the beginning, as a way of getting the content flowing. However, don't leave out your theme too soon, since the essence of AP writing is to communicate the idea effectively. After all, there's no sense in crafting a compelling essay that fails to demonstrate how it's made to communicate your point of view.As far as using extra content, that's a fine choice, too. After all, you should be allowed to do the things that you want t o do and not just a board member who's been forced to write a paper for one day. However, always keep in mind that AP content will be able to affect how you write and can help you make connections between your text and the concepts and themes that you have already discussed.For example, if you're reading a piece by a literary critic who has written about a piece by an author from the same genre, you'll certainly want to be able to identify the similarities between the two works. What's more, you'll be able to compare them both and to see how their characters and story lines react to the events that they're going through. If you're using AP English as a teaching tool, all that extra material will make those connections much easier.Likewise, if you're writing an essay that doesn't necessarily focus on a certain area, but is more general in nature, you'll find that writing in AP English can help you to think outside the box and to use examples that have no particular relationship to yo ur subject. As such, you'll find that you have a lot more free rein to express yourself creatively, which makes for a better writing experience. The amount of freedom that comes with the AP English content will, in itself, help you to get better.So, although you may be tempted to just start the assignment with an extra content, you should resist the temptation. Instead, try to incorporate a good piece of extra content into your draft as early as possible in the process. Whether you use it in the beginning, in the middle, or at the end, keep it in mind when you're working on your AP English essay.