War Breaking Out On American Soil - 1470 Words

Today it is hard to imagine war breaking out on American soil. Though war has most definitely not ceased to exist as a constant worry in our minds, most Americans do not have to fear a stray bomb to drop into the yard. The Civil War, though, had exactly that kind of effect on the American population, both of the Union and the Confederacy. Civilians often found themselves at the mercy of either army, in some cases both, and were forced to choose a side even if they wanted no part in the war. As the films Shenandoah (1965) and Ride with the Devil (1999) portray, for many people the war invaded their lives, and forced them to take matters into their own hands against the evil-doing soldiers as irregular troops waging guerilla warfare. Other times, as the film Pharoah’s Army (1995) depicts, helpless civilian families and their homesteads came under occupation by the opposing side. When neighbors begin warring, nobody could escape the crossfire and people found themselves entangled in the war whether they wanted to take part or not. Primary documents from Major Problems in the Civil War and Reconstruction, edited by Michael Perman, tend to support the films’ points on the depiction of the role of the civilians, such as the anonymous letter from the plain folk protesting the burden of the war from February of 1863. Shenandoah begins with a vision of the nineteenth century dream of idyllic American life. Farmer Charlie Anderson is happy and satisfied on his peaceful tract ofShow MoreRelatedTerrorism Essay1030 Words   |  5 Pagescarried out on U.S. soil. Much time has passed since then and the United States has changed in the succeeding years. Billions more than before, are now going into defense funds. American citizens have lost many conveniences as well as bits and pieces of privacy. Many Americans have even added many words to their vocabulary. Words like Al-Queda and Anthrax are thrown around in everyday conversation. To most these things are unde rstandable, they were changes necessary to insure Americans safety. Read MoreEssay about United States Involvement in The Second World War (WWII)615 Words   |  3 Pages World War II nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;As totalitarian sates emerged into power, the United States got involved with World War II to help control these groups and to promote democracy in the European theatre of the world. The party with the most power at the time was the Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler. This socialist party was led by a powerful dictator who broke away from the League of Nations and began to conquer vast amounts of territory at a fast rate. The United States wanted to leaveRead MoreThe Long Way Home By David Laskin848 Words   |  4 PagesThe author of â€Å"The Long Way Home: An American Journey from Ellis Island to the Great War† is David Laskin. Laskin, born in New York, attended the New College, and earned MA in English. Laskin wrote several books about history, travel, and literary biography. In â€Å"The Long Way Home†, Laskin shares the struggles the immigrants had to face in America; an endeavor to start over in the land of opportunities, and the ordeal of t heir return to Europe in uniform to fight. With the intention of having a betterRead MoreThe Collapse Of Communism Was A Major Victory For The United States1231 Words   |  5 PagesUnited States cold war with Russia was over, It recreated a trade relation with America and countries all over the world. The collapse of communism was a major victory for the United States. â€Å"By the summer of 1990, all of the former communist regimes of Eastern Europe were replaced by democratically elected governments† (Office of the historian). East Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia all had new democratic parties in power for the first time since the aftermath of World War II. Reformed communistsRead MoreThe Mexican War848 Words   |  4 PagesThe Mexican War is frequently viewed as one of the United States greatest contentious wars. The war was fought between 1846 and 1848. Was Manifest Destiny the motivating reason or could it have been something else? The awareness of Manifest Destiny was starting to expend the thoughts of countless Democratic Americans. They wanted for the United States to increase their land to have continental power. It was understood that additional territory would entail the spread of economic achievement. ThereRead MoreEssay on Manifest Destiny and American Politics658 Words   |  3 PagesDuring the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the United States saw many problems come and go. Some problems were more important than others, however all led to further division of American politics. The most divisive issue in American politics during this time frame was the idea of Manifest Destiny, or territorial expansion. Manifest Destiny was the idea that it was the United States’ destiny to take over all of North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Most of the publicRead MoreEssay on The Mexican-American War1466 Words   |  6 PagesThe Mexican-American war determined the destiny of the United States of America, it determined whether or not it would become a world power and it established the size of the United States of America. Perhaps the war was inevitable due to the idea of Manifest Destiny - Americans thought they had the divine right to extend their territory. The Mexican-American War started mainly because of the annexation of the Republic of Texas (established in 1836 after breaking away from Mexico). The United StatesRead MoreManifest Destiny1380 Words   |  6 Pagesnumerous wars and treaties. The greatest one of these expansion periods occurred from the 1830s to the 1860s, largely due to the idea of Manifest Destiny, the belief that American settlers were destined to ex pand across the continent to the Pacific coast. This development played a major role in dividing the North and the South by contributing to contrasting ideologies of the two regions towards social and economic foundations of the new territory, and would eventually lead up to the Civil War, literallyRead MoreIwo Jima And Okinawa Kiran Klubock832 Words   |  4 Pagesbattles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa were two of the most important American operations in the Pacific Theatre against the Empire of Japan during World War Two. The goal of the two operations was to secure strategically important islands close to Japan to use for bombing campaigns. The battles for Iwo Jima(February-March 1945) and Okinawa f(April-June 1945) killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians and helped to win the war for the United States. In February of 1944, the U.S. launched OperationRead MoreFranklin Delano Roosevelt And The First President Of The United States Of America1351 Words   |  6 Pages12/18/15 5th period Mrs. Dowling FDR American Bad*** Introduction and Thesis â€Å"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.† These famous words were spoken by Franklin Delano Roosevelt who was the thirty second president of The United States of America. He served four terms as president (March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945) and was a major leader in the allied powers during World War II without him the allied powers might not have been able to win the war He helped the american people regain faith in themselves