A 11. World War I and the usa. Isolation and Prosperity of the 1920’s. Great Depression.

During the World War I president Witson urged a foreign policy of neutrality. But German submarines sank all American ships. In April 1917 Congress declared war on the Central Powers. Over 2 million American soldiers were sent to Europe, mainly to France. A few American divisions has assisted the French and the British before the Central Powers surrended in 1918.

After World War I there was a period of isolationism in the USA.it was a contradictory decade. In 1919 a series of terrorist bombings produced what became known as the “Red Scare”. Raids of political meetings were conducted, arrests were made, many foreign-born political radicals were deported. The decade witnessed the “Harlem Renaissance”: a flowering of black literature and music. It was the age of Prohibition, but drinkers avoided the law in ellegal bars. Gangsters made fortunes by supplying illegal liquor. For business, the 1920s were the golden years of prosperity. Plenty of money was available for investment, but much of that capital went into speculation.

October 24, 1929 was the beginning of Great Depression. In New-York Stock Exchange there was a collapse of share and security prices. Thousands of banks broke. Industrial production was cut in half, farm income feel by more than half. Wages decreased by 60%. President Roosevelt promised “a new deal for the American people”. He rushed through Congress a great number of laws to aid the recovery of the economy. Millions of jobs were created in the construction on roads, bridges, airports, parks, public buildings. Full recovery was brought about by the defense buildup prior to America’s entering World War II.

A 12. World War II and the usa. Cold war.

The US, effectively neutral during the World War II’s early stages after Nazi Germany’s invasion in Poland in September 1939, began supplying material to the Allies in March 1941 through the Lend-Lease program. On December 7,1941, the Empire of Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, prompting the USA to join the Allies against the Axis powers as well as the interment of Japanese Americans by the thousands. The US , having developed the first nuclear weapons, used them on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August,1945. Japan surrended on September 2, ending the war.

The US and Soviet Union jockeyed for power after the World War II during the Cold War, dominating the military affaires of Europe through NATO and the Warsaw Pact, respectively. While they engaged in proxy wars and developed powerful nuclear arsenals, the two countries avoided direct military conflict. Resisting leftist land the US often supported authoritarian governments. The 1961 Soviet launch of the first manned spaceflight prompted President John F. Kennedy's call for the United States to be first to land "a man on the moon", achieved in 1969. Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear showdown with Soviet forces in Cuba. Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, expanded a proxy war in Southeast Asia into the unsuccessful Vietnam War. As a result of the Watergate scandal, in 1974 Nixon became the first U.S. president to resign, to avoid being impeached on charges including obstruction of justice and abuse of power. The Jimmy Carter administration of the late 1970s was marked by stagflation and the Iran hostage crisis. The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 heralded a rightward shift in American politics, reflected in major changes in taxation and spending priorities. His second term in office brought both the Iran-Contra scandal and significant diplomatic progress with the Soviet Union. The subsequent Soviet collapse ended the Cold War.

A 13.The USA in the 1990`s. The 1990s brought a new president, Bill Clinton (1993-2000). A moderate Democrat, Clinton declared that the era of "big government" was over in America. He pushed to strengthen market forces in some sectors. He also joined Republicans to reduce welfare benefits. Still, although Clinton reduced the size of the federal work force, the government continued to play a crucial role in the nation's economy. Technological developments brought a wide range of sophisticated new electronic products. At the beginning of the 1990s, the U.S. economy was still fairly strong. Continued growth in the stock market helped increase the amount of money some people had to spend. Demography: The country's population grew 13 % over the last decade from 249 million people in 1990 to 281 million in 2000. Throughout the 1990s, the United States has been going through a process of "Latin Americanization" that is changing the ethnic makeup of the population.

It was also a period that saw Islamic Terrorism rise against American control of the Middle Eastern oil. The United States became involved in different wars between Serbs, Croats, Bosnians and Albanians NATO bombing of Yugoslavia the Southern Serbia