It is clear to modern people, as well as many people who lived in the 1930s, that the Second World War was inevitable. Some believe that the United States of America could prevent the outbreak of the war. However, this could hardly be possible due to several reasons. The American government maintained an isolationist foreign policy in the 1930s. The period was challenging as all countries had to address severe economic issues (Corbett et al., 2021). Americans wanted to concentrate on domestic matters, including a threatening spread of communist ideas (Russett, 2019). It is noteworthy that the USA could hardly interfere and have a considerable impact on European affairs due to the country’s comparatively low economic might. The United States was not a financial leader at that period, so its influence was limited.
Moreover, the USA alone could not prevent the world war because it was outbroken as a result of the clash between European countries. The outcomes of the Treaty of Versailles laid the ground for the new war, as almost all stakeholders were dissatisfied. Germany accumulated resources and developed alliances with other dictatorships, so any country could not play a decisive role in this conflict. No nation could prevent the start of the new war as the regimes that emerged in Europe (the communist USSR, Nazi Germany, and fascist Italy) were likely to start a new military conflict that would inevitably grow into a world war. Therefore, it is possible to assume that the USA could not have prevented the start of the Second World War even if the American government had abandoned its isolationist foreign policy. At that, the country made a tremendous contribution to stopping the war and establishing a new world order.
References
Corbett, P. S., Janssen, V., Lund, J. M., Pfannestiel, T., Waskiewicz, T., & Vickery, P. (2021). U. S. history. OpenStax College.
Russett, B. M. (2019). No clear and present danger. Routledge.