Source A shows that the USA moved away from a policy of isolationism due to their alliance with England and France. It is suggestible that in this image, Uncle Sam, who represents america, built the bridge between Belgium, France, England And Italy. This would be due to their help in the D-Day invasion, which led to the taking back of France and Belgium with the aid of British and Canadian forces, and their campaign in Italy, which led to the eventual overthrow of Mussolini. The image however can be subject to opinion and does not exactly imply an action which the US took, and is not necessarily reliable. Regardless it does suggest that the US had moved away from their policy of isolationism.
Source B suggests that the US had to move away from their policy of isolationism due to the Japanese threat. By 1945 president Truman had to choose between launching an invasion on Japan, and thus risking heavy casualties or using a newly developed weapon, the atomic bomb. At the time no one knew the capability of this weapon but Truman had been told that it was capable of cracking the Earth's crust. Also the Army had estimated that if an invasion of japan were to take place, there would have been at least 1,000,000 casualties. Faced with these two statistics, by now USA was far away from their policy of isolationism and had to decide between the two, similar to the circumstances they faced in their Italian campaign. Source B came from a GCSE textbook written by Ben Walsh, a respected writer of textbooks to GCSE criteria, and thus makes this information reliable, as he would have compared and contrasted different sources to create his textbook, however source B was written about 1945, so it isn't necessarily relevant.
Despite the problems in reliability both source A and B show two different examples of USA moving away from their policy of isolationism.
One reason why the USA moved away from a policy of isolationism by 1942 was Japan. This is shown by source B. It talks about USA fighting the Japanese and preparing to use the nuclear bomb. This was a result of Japan attacking Pearl Harbour in Hawaii, the 50th state of the US. Had Japan not attacked America than the US may have stayed isolationist since they would have had nothing to respond to, but by attack a state of America it gave the US government an event it had to respond to. So source B represents one reason that the US moved away from a policy of isolationism, because of the Japanese invasion of Hawaii. Source A also shows why USA moved away from a policy of isolationism. It is a cartoon which implies that the US is the “keystone” in the league of nations, in uniting Belgium, France, England and Italy. The USA seemed to realise that if they stay isolationist then the Nazis would command much of the world, even though Belgium, France, England and (towards the end of the war) Italy were fighting against them. So although technically staying isolationist the US ferried supplies to Britain and the allies to help win the war against the Nazis, as the US was needed as the key member of the allies. So the USA moved away from a policy of isolationism by 1942, mainly because of WW2 in fighting against Japan and supporting the allies.
Alessio - you have some misunderstanding of the source. The bridge is referring to the League of Nations after WW1 and you have talked about D Day which was WW2. Your understanding of Source B is better but in this answer you do not have to talk about the provenance of the source. Watch the video on how to answer a 6 mark question and have another go.
Source A shows that the USA moved away from a policy of isolationism due to their alliance with England and France. It is suggestible that in this image, Uncle Sam, who represents america, built the bridge between Belgium, France, England And Italy. This would be due to their help in the D-Day invasion, which led to the taking back of France and Belgium with the aid of British and Canadian forces, and their campaign in Italy, which led to the eventual overthrow of Mussolini. The image however can be subject to opinion and does not exactly imply an action which the US took, and is not necessarily reliable. Regardless it does suggest that the US had moved away from their policy of isolationism.
ReplyDeleteSource B suggests that the US had to move away from their policy of isolationism due to the Japanese threat. By 1945 president Truman had to choose between launching an invasion on Japan, and thus risking heavy casualties or using a newly developed weapon, the atomic bomb. At the time no one knew the capability of this weapon but Truman had been told that it was capable of cracking the Earth's crust. Also the Army had estimated that if an invasion of japan were to take place, there would have been at least 1,000,000 casualties. Faced with these two statistics, by now USA was far away from their policy of isolationism and had to decide between the two, similar to the circumstances they faced in their Italian campaign. Source B came from a GCSE textbook written by Ben Walsh, a respected writer of textbooks to GCSE criteria, and thus makes this information reliable, as he would have compared and contrasted different sources to create his textbook, however source B was written about 1945, so it isn't necessarily relevant.
Despite the problems in reliability both source A and B show two different examples of USA moving away from their policy of isolationism.
One reason why the USA moved away from a policy of isolationism by 1942 was Japan. This is shown by source B. It talks about USA fighting the Japanese and preparing to use the nuclear bomb. This was a result of Japan attacking Pearl Harbour in Hawaii, the 50th state of the US. Had Japan not attacked America than the US may have stayed isolationist since they would have had nothing to respond to, but by attack a state of America it gave the US government an event it had to respond to. So source B represents one reason that the US moved away from a policy of isolationism, because of the Japanese invasion of Hawaii. Source A also shows why USA moved away from a policy of isolationism. It is a cartoon which implies that the US is the “keystone” in the league of nations, in uniting Belgium, France, England and Italy. The USA seemed to realise that if they stay isolationist then the Nazis would command much of the world, even though Belgium, France, England and (towards the end of the war) Italy were fighting against them. So although technically staying isolationist the US ferried supplies to Britain and the allies to help win the war against the Nazis, as the US was needed as the key member of the allies. So the USA moved away from a policy of isolationism by 1942, mainly because of WW2 in fighting against Japan and supporting the allies.
ReplyDeleteAlessio - you have some misunderstanding of the source. The bridge is referring to the League of Nations after WW1 and you have talked about D Day which was WW2. Your understanding of Source B is better but in this answer you do not have to talk about the provenance of the source. Watch the video on how to answer a 6 mark question and have another go.
ReplyDeleteTom - Excellent answer - 6/6 - just make sure that you explicitly refer to BOTH sources.
ReplyDelete