The Amazing History of The United

States of America and The United

Kingdom Between 1914 and 1945

Prof. coordonator: Kramer Simona

Elev: Varga David

 Contents

0.Preface…………………………………………………………………………………..…….2

I. Language……………………………………………………………………………..……….3

II. The Film Industry…………………………………………………………………..………..5

II.1 The United States of America……………………………………………………..………..5

II.2 The United Kingdom…………………………………………………………….…………6

III. Economy and Politics…………………………………………………………….………....7

III.1 The United States of America………………………………………………….…………..7

III.2 The United Kingdom……………………………………...……………………….………8

IV. The Two World Wars……………………………………………………………………….9

IV.1 “The Great War”……………………………………………………………...…………...10

IV.1.1 The United States of America……………………………………………………..…….11

IV.1.2 The United Kingdom…………………………………………………………………….12

IV.2 The Second World War…………………………………………………………………....13

IV.2.1 The United States of America……………………………………………………………13

IV.2.2 The United Kingom………………………………………………………………………14

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………..15

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 Preface

„The Amazing History of The United States of America and The United Kingdom Between 1914
and 1945” tracks the progress and evolution of two very influent countries. These writings are
designed to be is suitable for people who have a strong interest in international relations, political
theories, cultural environments and history of the twentieth century’s United Kingdom and
United States.

The book has the purpose of informing the readers not only about historical events that shaped
world history, but also about the peaceful and prosperous times we live in, at this very moment.
Some time ago, peace meant absence of war, nowadays it means a state that almost all countries
of the world find themselves in. War, by all means, is considered futile, as there are peaceful
methods to reach a common sense, and information can be transferred in no time from a place to
another. Future wars will cybernetic ones, nonetheless. Carnage is outdated, yet it was
considered common among all the people not so many years ago. We must act as soon as
possible.

We absolutely undervalue the sweet taste of freedom and peace that so many hundreds of
millions died for, just a dozen years before most of today’s people were born. Never in history
was the world more devoid of wars and slaughter than today.

Not only physical wars are considered outdated, but famine, war and plague were transformed
from incomprehensible and uncontrollable forces of nature into manageable challenges. We no
longer have to shrug our shoulders and accept any of these problems. We are advanced and will
advance even more in technology, we will reach the stars and beyond. Humanity is not that bad,
after all. Several millions of years ago, Homo sapiens was on the brink of extinction, now we
overpopulate cities and we’ll have to move on other planets, and we will act as such. Calamities
will happen less and less often.

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 I. Language

First of all, we must understand the very core of the English culture. It may only be found by
understanding their dialectical roots.

Counting almost one billion speakers, English is the second most spoken language in the world.
For a good reason, all countries inhabit millions of people fluent in English. By 1913, the British
Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the world population at the time, and by
1920, it covered 35,500,000 km2, 24% of the Earth's total land area. It was even called “the
empire on which the sun never sets”.

It is closely related to German, Frisian and Dutch (called Flemish in Belgium), being a western
Germanic language, of the Indo-European family. It’s an official language in the United States of
America, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and various nations in
the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. It was given the position of a global lingua franca, as
it’s the first option of foreign language in most other countries.

There are three in the evolution of the English language, Old English, Middle English and
Modern English. The first one was used between 450 and 1150 AD, the second from 1150 to
1500 and the last one dates since then until our very days. The most important writings in Old

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English are Beowulf, an epic poem, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a record of early English
history, and Caedmon Hymn, a Christian religious poem.

Some of the most important Middle English writers are Roger Bacon, an English scientist and
philosopher, William Caxton, a merchant and later writer and Miles Coverdale, one of the
Bible’s main translators.

Jane Austen is indisputably one of Modern English authors, perhaps the most loved one. Another
Modern English writers are Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare, whose writings are well
known worldwide.

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 II. THE FILM INDUSTRY

II.1 The United States of America

Reffered to as Hollywood, the cinema of the United States hughly influenced the whole world’s
film industries, since the 20th century. Its gross office box counts $10.1 billion. Classical
Hollywood Cinema developed between 1917 and 1960 and characterizez most films made there
to this day. Its main distributors are Paramount, Warner Bros, Disney, Sony Pictures, and
Universal, of which everybody heard.

In the 1930s, both Republicans and Democrats saw great amounts of money in Hollywood.
President Roosevelt made a huge partnership with Hollywood. Radio appearances and printed
advertising were made. Hollywood was getting more and more popular. President John F.
Kennedy’s friendship with Frank Sinatra in the 1960s exemplified this new era of glamour.

During the Golden Age of Hollywood, thousand of movies were issued from their studios. This
era was released with the ending of silent movies.

Somewhat important classical Hollywood films include „Citizen Kale”, „The Grapes of Wrath”
and „Casablanca”. The last one is an American romantic film, directed by Michael Curtiz. Set
during The Second World War, it focuses on an American expatriate who has to choose between
his love of a woman and helping her and her husband. Its premiere was held in New York, 1942.
Its reputation gradually improved, to the point that its lead characters, memorable lines, and
pervasive theme song have become famous worldwide.

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 II.2 The United Kingdom

Widely regarded as one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Alfred
Hitchcock directed over fifty films. The best man who ever stood behind a camera,
acknowledged master of the thriller, a genre he invented. His best film are “Saboteur”,
“Blackmail”, “Suspicion” and “Rebecca”. These are some his early sound films, classics that
everyone who could afford a television watched in great suspense.

The creator of the very first British “talkie” used to appear in most of his own films. For this
reason, he resembles such an emblematic symbol of classical films produced in the early-to-
middle 20th century.

He was called “The Master of suspense”, for his innovative techniques in his films. He managed
to thrill millions for his entire life and will always remain a classic.

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 III. ECONOMY AND POLITICS

III.1 The United States of America

Being a model for every country of the world, having a Hollywood to entertain millions
worldwide, having English as the official language and counting well over one million words in
its vocabulary, it was relatively simple to become such a great economic power. As money can
buy any kind of material, it’s common sense that it held the greatest army of that time, thus
becoming the most influent political power of the world. A vicious circle that may never end is
the power held by The Unites States, as massive amounts of money bring them tremendous
powers and their own power brings them „The Big Money”.

The American Presidents of the time were Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921), Warren G. Harding
(1921-1923), Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929), Herbert Hoover (1929-1933) and Franklin D.
Roosevelt (1933-1945). They represented the most influent people of the world, of course, just
after dearest Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili, also known as Joseph Stalin, “The Red Tsar”.

The real GDP that The United States varied between 1930 and 1945 went from $1.109 trillion to
$2.349 trillion. The Second World War and the Great Depression constituted the most important
economic events of the twentieth century, for The United States. The war’s effects were varied
and far-reaching. The war decisively ended the depression itself.

The Great Depression began in 1929 was an upheaval that destabilized governments and nations,
whole. It meant a GDP growth rate of -8.5% for them. It was caused by bank failures, stock
market crash, drought conditions, American Economic Policy with Europe, and Reduction in
Purchasing across the Board.

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 III.2 The United Kingdom

The British Monarchs of the first half of the 20th century were George Frederick Ernest Albert
(1910-1936), Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David, who was the one and only
sovereign who voluntarily abdicated (1936), and Albert Frederick Arthur George (1936-1956).

After The United Kingdom became one of the most powerful economic regions in Europe, it led
the industrial revolution and dominated the European and world economy during the 19th
century, being a major innovator of steam engines and machinery. Its luxury car brands, such as
Rolls Royce, Bentley, Land Rover, and Aston Martin made massive amounts of wealth for the
country.

Even though its GDP is far lower than The United States’, it still represented a great power in
military, political, and economic means. It ended its Empire in late 1980s, when its last colony in
Africa was given independence.

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 IV. THE TWO WORLD WARS

Since greedyness and violence stays in our very nature, our greatest philosophers assert that war
is neccessary for evolution to happen. Indeed, the greatest technological advances happened
during wars, yet the price of a mile is in blood. We fought for liberty and truth, concepts that we
ourselves invented and are of no use in The Universe, as a whole. Stars don’t burn Saudi
Arabia’s oil, nor German coal, but their own hydrogen and helium, and it’ll always be like that.
We invented war, hated it, and still proceeded to do it. We could simply avoid it, yet brainless
ants are better organised than us, brained humans.

Not a single individual ever fought for glorious reasons, but to keep themselves alive in a gory
and bloody death trap. We sent ourselves to our graves and we even paid great bills to do as
such. The world of humans is in trillions of pounds debt, yet whom for? We invented money for
them to control us. We invented coutries and boundaries for them to induce the feeling of
patriotism, so it could be a good pretext for wars. Die for the country, why do to so if the country
will die before you do. We’re straigh-standing bipede humans and kill for meat, money, and
coal. And, why not, for honour. War is not a neccessity, but a sign of an unstable society that we
created. Yet, it is at its very best right now. It’s not the utopic world children dream of, but it’s
the best we can get.

Competition is human nature, and we massacred it, we made it a murderous act and a sense of
blood-thirst. The planet is dying off and we are the big reason for it. If we do not act mature
enough, soonly will we die with it, too, and with all our honour. It’ll be up to Mother Nature to
make coal out of us, then. As it’s said, „You are what you eat”.

Polution is at its peak, just as peace is. The attrocities of this world were made by us and nothing
can change the past. We can only dream of a better world, while dining on the remains of our
murderous eating style.

Terra is slowly perishing and we’re so astonished by first-world problems like homophobia, that
we’ll completely forget about the fact that by 2050, The Mighty United Kingdom that occupied a
quarter of our planet’s dry land will lack of water, just as several countries around the world do
now. We do not know if English will be spoken by anyone by the next century.

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 IV.1 „The Great War”

Five reasons that we used to bring more than 15 million casualties and more than 20 million
injured, were:

1. Mutual Alliances. Before The First World War, the next alliances existed: Russia with Serbia,
Russia with France, France with Britain and Belgium, Britain with Japan, and Germany with
Austro-Hungary. When Austro-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Russia got involved to defend
Serbia. Germany, seeing that Russia was mobilizing its troops, declared war on Russia. France
was then drawn in against Germany and Austria-Hungary. Germany attacked France by
marching through Belgium pulling Britain into war, too. Then Japan entered the war. Later, Italy
and the United States would enter on the side of the allies. Soon enough, The First World War
was also named “A War to End Them All”, but such a pity that other World War was about to
happen in less than twenty-five years.

2. Imperialism. Imperialism is when a country increases their power and territory by engaging in
war with other nations. Before World War I, several European countries, such as The United
Kingdom, Belgium and The Netherlands, had competed imperialistic claims in Africa and parts
of Asia, making them points of concentration. Because of the raw materials these areas could
provide, tensions around which country had the right to exploit these areas ran high. The
increasing competition and desire for greater empires led to an increase in confrontation that
helped push the world into The First World War.

3. Militarism. As the world entered the 20th century, an arms race had begun, primarily over the
number of each country's warships, and the increasing size of their armies—countries began
training more and more of their young men for battle. The warships themselves increased in size,
number of guns, speed, method of propulsion, and quality of armor, beginning in 1906 with
Britain's HMS Dreadnought.

4. Nationalism. Much of the origin of the war was based on the desire of the Slavic peoples in
Bosnia and Herzegovina to no longer be part of Austria-Hungary but instead be part of Serbia.
This specific essentially nationalistic and ethnic revolt led directly to the assassination of
Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

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5. Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This was the immediate pretext for the war to
happen.

Nowadays, we still debate the reasons for The First World War had to happen at all.

The First World War happened between 28th July, 1914, and 11th November, 1918.

IV.1.1 The United States

The United States of America got engaged into war just after The United Kingdom attacked
Germany for invading France through Belgium. They were the most powerful military, political,
and ecomical influence of the world, thus, they drastically affect „The War to End Them All”.

Their weapons were „Lewis Gun”, „Colt New Service”, „Winchester Model 1912” and many
more. Their budget was approximately $32 billion, about a half of their gross national product of
that time. They, unlike the people of The United Kingdom, named their tanks in letters and
numbers, such as M1917, M1918, FT-17, and MK5.

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IV.1.2 The United Kingdom

Being such a cultured, elegant and creative nation, they named their tanks various variants of
Marks: Mark I, Mark II, Mark III, and up to Mark X. They had much more stylish machinery,
yet they still had a lot to learn. Such heavy and robust tanks are of no use against quick German
tanks and their highly advanced anti-tank technologies. Their gunnery cosisted of „Webley”
revolvers, „Lewis” machine guns, and mortars.

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 IV.2 The Second World War

The Second War to End Them All happened between 1939 to 1945. Germany’s dictator, Adolf
Hitler, wanted to rule the whole Europe, yet failed, for the reason he was hasty to attack Russia
in mid-winter, after he had a pact, not to attack it at all. As Germany attacked almost all of
Europe’s countries, it attracted everyone’s hate. The Second World War happened between
Germany and the rest of the world.

It managed to become a great economic and military power just after it lost The First War to End
Them All, but, unfortunately for them, they lost the Second World War, too. Hitler was drunk
from power and committed suicide after his great loss.

IV.2.1 The United States

Whilst the Presidency of Roosevelt, The United States were formally neutral for the first two
years of War. Once again, The United States had an absolutely decisive role.

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IV.2.2 The United Kingdom

During The Second World War, Winton Churchill was the Primeminister of The United
Kingdom, and took the fundamental decisions his country followed. Sir Winston Leonard
Spencer Churchill led The United Kingdom from the brink of defeat to victory.

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Bibliography

1. Exeter College Oxford Summer Programme

2. „Homo Deus” – Yuval Noah Harari
3. Blount, H. (1992). “Making history live for secondary students: Infusing people into the
narrative”. The Social Studies, 83(5), 220
4. Earley, Steven C. (1978). “An Introduction to American Movies”. New American Library
5. Gleiberman, Owen (24 January 2017). "Film Review: '78/52: Hitchcock's Shower Scene'"
6. Adams, Michael C.C. The Best War Ever: America and World War II. Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1994.
7. “The First World War” – Michael Howard
8. “The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914” – Cristopher Clark

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