Effects of United States War Between 1877 to Date

United States War Analysis 1877-To Date

Many wars have been fought in the world since 1877 to date and the U.S. has not been spared from these wars. The main wars have been the World War One and World War Two. However, America has also been involved in the Cold War, the War in Vietnam and the Korean War. These wars have had a major impact on the economies of many nations. Whether the impact has been good or bad has remained a question yet to be answered. Ashby and Babson (2011) state that a large number of people in the United States believed that the economy improved during times of war when there was heightened military spending.

This paper will thus aim to highlight the effects of war on the economy, the social environment, the political environment and the intellectual environment, as these are inevitably always affected by war (Browne and Kreiser, 2010). It will assess each war and what it resulted in, in the American society by assessing the macroeconomic impacts thereof (Davidson, 2010).

American Wars from 1877 to date

The War in Vietnam had far reaching political consequences. Some of these were the reduction of the minimum wage for voters to be 18. Another consequence was the reduction of the presidential powers through the War Power Act. Congress would henceforth be involved were the U.S. president to think of sending soldiers into conflict. One of the social impacts of this war was the influx of the refugees from Vietnam into America. This caused the burden on the nation to increase in terms of resources. In terms of economic impact, the war in Vietnam saw the United States face a period of severe inflation under the leadership of Lyndon Johnson, the U.S. president then. Intellectually, the citizens of the United States would no longer accept war as the necessary cause of action. This war caused a lot of reflection by Americans into what actually justified it, calling into question decisions by the president and Pentagon (Digital History, 2014).

Some of the social impacts of World War II included the movement of women from being home makers only to the work environment. Women became motivated to make their contribution during the war and after it. Economically, after the war, the U.S. dollar gained strength and there was a general prosperity that returned to the American society, resulting in more spending. The political impact was also quite high as the country became recognized as a super power. The background of this war also set the stage for America to commit itself to fight the spread of communism. Intellectually, America began the development of more superior weaponry as it took its place on the world stage (CBS News, 2000).