What Did The US Gain From WW1?
| Short & Quick Answer:
1. The United States of America Gained Its Economy At A Super Fast Speed. The US Economy Kept Booming For 44 Consecutive Months. 2. The US Influence Increased In World Politics After WW1. For Example, Their Initiative To Establish The League of Nations. 3. The US Significantly Gain Its Military Power. 4. Subjugated Ex-World Powers (Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy) Via Providing Billions of Dollars of Credit. Read In The Following To Understand A To Z. |
WW1 (World War1) was one of the most destructive events that ever happened in the history of humanity.
It completely ruined Europe into a carcass.
But as it ruined Europe, it also built up a country, which later became the most powerful nation in the world.
Yes, of course, here I am talking about the United States of America.
So, how and what did the US gain from WW1?
Let’s discuss it step-by-step in four points.
1. The US Gained Its Economy At A Super Fast Speed
Before WW1, Europe was the hub of all mills and factories.
European countries produced and exported goods and services around the world.
In this race, powers like Great Britain, France, and Germany came into first place.
At that time, America was trying to grow its economy; but due to the European dominance over the world market system, the US was still not getting desired success.
In 1914, World War 1 broke out, which started ruining Europe’s mills and factories completely. All of them shut down soon.
The situation became a big opportunity for the United States.
The factories closed due to the war in Europe, newly started opening in the USA.
They geared up their production so much and began supplying around the world. Especially, in Europe, where production completely stopped.
In one sentence, America captured the whole market share of all leading European countries.
This incident rapidly boosted the USA’s economy to a strong condition. During that time, the US share market kept booming for 44 consecutive months.
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2. The US Influence Increased In World Politics After WW1
After the First World War, the international influence of America began increasing significantly (including in Europe and Asia).
This country, which was once a colony of the British Empire, was now going to lead the whole world.
And the position, where once Britain ruled, was about to transfer to the USA.
For example, the USA was the country, which took the most significant initiative in establishing the League of Nations and leads the world towards peace (although, they didn’t become a part of it, due to some reasons).
On the other hand, due to the increasing dependency of most of the war-affected countries on the US for financial help, its influence also started increasing in various fields of those countries.
In simple words, the respect of these countries towards the United States was now gone up more than ever before.
Especially, their mother country Great Britain started seeing them as a powerful ally.
3. The United States Gained Its Military Power
After the victory of WW1, America’s military power improved much higher and confidence as well.
Where once the British royal navy was the world’s most powerful navy force, now the US started overtaking them.
Although, it took two decades more for the United States to completely surpass the British Royal navy.
Because, till the end of the Second World War, the Royal Navy remained the most powerful naval force in the world.
The United States also developed its ground military and air forces after WW1.
4. Subjugated Ex-World Powers Via Providing Credits
The allied countries, such as Great Britain, France, Italy were moving towards bankruptcy due to the costs of the Great War.
Do you have any idea how much money they spend during the whole conflict?
It was 147 billion dollars. At that time, it was a very very big amount of money.
The amount was more than two times higher than Central powers (they spent 69 billion dollars).
Great Britain alone spent 47 billion dollars and France around 28 to 30 billion dollars.
These massive war costs almost broke down these countries’ economies.
Therefore, they had to borrow loans from the USA to keep themselves running into the war.
The total loan amount that they borrowed was around 7 billion dollars, which was of course a big amount from that time’s point of view.
From this amount, Great Britain borrowed 3.7 billion, Italy borrowed 1 billion, and France borrowed around 1.9 billion dollars.
Even, the US banks provided loans to Germany, which was, of course, an Axis power.
The USA subjugated these countries via their credits.
Simply, the loans to the ex-European powers opened a new route for America to become a global superpower.
