What impact did the disarmament conferences, congressional hearings, political group memberships, and peace movements of the 1920s and 1930s have on the U.S. military in the wake of war?
After World War I, the United States realized that they were not as prepared for war as they thought they were. The U.S. wanted to be sure the unpreparedness for World War I did not happen again if there were ever a chance of another war. There were many meetings and events that the United States attended to prepare themselves after World War I.
Right after the war, the United States attended the Paris Peace Conference, which is also known as the Versailles Peace Conference. This conference took place to sign a peace treaty after World War I (The Paris Peace Conference, n.d.). During the Versailles Peace Conference, the agreement included the formation of The League of Nations (The Paris Peace Conference, n.d.). The League of Nations was an international organization, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, created after the First World War to provide a forum for resolving international disputes (The League of Nations, n.d.).
The House of Representatives passed the resolution for the Treaty, but the Senate knocked the decision down (The Paris Peace Conference, n.d.). The one thing that the Senate did not like about the Treaty was Article 10, which dealt with collective security and the League of Nations (The Paris Peace Conference, n.d.). Many argued that this gave the U.S. government’s war powers to the League’s Council, and they did not agree with that (The Paris Peace Conference, n.d.). The Treaty of Versailles feel short on a final vote on March 19, 1920 (The Paris Peace Conference, n.d.). It was finally decided on August 25, 1921, that the United States would sign the Treaty of Berlin (The Paris Peace Conference, n.d.). The Treaty of Berlin with Germany said that the United States would enjoy all “rights, privileges, indemnities, reparations or advantages” conferred to it by the Treaty of Versailles. Still, the League of Nations was not mentioned, and that was because The U.S. never joined it (The Paris Peace Conference, n.d.).
The Washington Naval Conference that the U.S. hosted in Washington D.C., allowed many treaties to be signed. This conference was called to prevent another war from taking place. There was a rise in the Japanese international arms race, and this heightened the concern and prompted the conference (The Washington Naval Conference, n.d.). These treaties were signed to uphold the status quo of the Pacific (The Washington Naval Conference, n.d.). They recognized existing interests and did not make fundamental changes to them (The Washington Naval Conference, n.d.).
The United States and several other countries that were involved in World War I spent a great deal of time after the war ensuring each other didn’t have more weapons than the other. There were many treaties signed guaranteeing this. Back home in the United States, the nation was learning from its mistakes. The country began programs called Campus-Based Reserve Officers Training Corps and Summer Based camps for non-ROTC (Millett, Maslowski, & Feis, 2012). We were to determine that our critical weakness has been the quality and quantity of junior officers in combat units from WWI (Millett, Maslowski, & Feis, 2012). Also, the World War Veterans began to age and not be of any help if there were ever another war (Millett, Maslowski, & Feis, 2012). The National Defense Act of 1920 was also established (Millett, Maslowski, & Feis, 2012). It was a multi-tiered system based on voluntary participation and diverse degrees of readiness (Millett, Maslowski, & Feis, 2012).
I have always heard the saying that a person must know where they have been to know where they are going. After WWI, The U.S. had to spend times figuring out where they had been in order to not make those same mistakes again. All of the conferences, hearings, memberships, and peace movements helped them to begin to establish a plan to help in the future in case there ever was another war. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Reference
The Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles. (n.d.). Retrieved June 06, 2017, from
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1914-1920/paris-peace
The League of Nations, 1920. (n.d.). Retrieved June 06, 2017, from
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1914-1920/league
The Washington Naval Conference, 1921–1922. (n.d.). Retrieved June 6, 2017, from
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/naval-conference
Millett, A. R., Maslowski, P., & Feis, W. B. (2012). For the common defense: a military history
of the United States from 1607 to 2012. New York: Free Press.
How successful was the United States in implementing aviation as a weapon of war in its military arsenal during the period 1919 to 1940? Explain. In your response, be sure to identify the technological advances of military aviation in the early 20th century that aided in this success.
There was a battle between the Army and the Navy when it came to aviation. Many thought the aviation would be in addition to what was currently in operation in the Army and the Navy. There were a select few individuals who believed that the airplane would take the place of the battlefleet. The United States needed to be ready for anything that could happen and the development of aviation was going to put them in a position to be ready for another war if it was necessary.
The military started buying planes early in 1900s because they saw the potential use of aviation (The Big Picture: Fifty years of aviation, 2008). The military used its own people to tests these planes (The Big Picture: Fifty years of aviation, 2008). Eventually bombs were added to planes and machine guns were added (The Big Picture: Fifty years of aviation, 2008). Aeronautical engineer emerged as new scientist (The Big Picture: Fifty years of aviation, 2008). Helicopters were also developed during this time (The Big Picture: Fifty years of aviation, 2008).
Aviation was brought to the public and to the government in 1919. General William Mitchell led the aviation campaign for the Army starting in 1926 (Millett, Maslowski, & Feis, 2012). In 1919, The Joint Board of Aeronautics – stressed the importance of air operations to land and see campaigns but rejected the notion that air power would win wars (Millett, Maslowski, & Feis, 2012). Mitchell argued and challenged this 1919 state from The Joint Board of Aeronautics, when he said that the airplane would replace the battlefleet as the ultimate weapon of coastal defense (Millett, Maslowski, & Feis, 2012).
There were developing internal power struggles within the Army and Navy because normally all of the money would have gone to land army, but now there was money going to the development of aviation (Millett, Maslowski, & Feis, 2012). Aviation was not cheap and developing it was not cheap either (Millett, Maslowski, & Feis, 2012). Mitchell challenged the Navy to let the Air Service participate in tests that they were running (Millett, Maslowski, & Feis, 2012). It was thought that Mitchell’s claims of replacing the battlefleet were exaggerated, so the Navy allowed the Army to join its test program in 1920 (Millett, Maslowski, & Feis, 2012).
When bombing testing off the Chesapeake Bay started in 1921 Mitchell’s pilots dropped 1,000 and 2,000 pound bombs (Millett, Maslowski, & Feis, 2012). They did this on and around an old German battleship (Millett, Maslowski, & Feis, 2012). Mitchell then took this information to the press. However, some admirals discredited this information by saying that any bomb would sink an anchored, undefended battleship (Millett, Maslowski, & Feis, 2012). In my opinion, no one wanted to see Mitchell show them that he was right.
Finally, in between 1925 and 1926 the military aviation began on a stable course for success (Millett, Maslowski, & Feis, 2012). In 1926 the Air Service was changed to the Air Corps by Congress passing the Air Corps Act (Millett, Maslowski, & Feis, 2012). When a naval graduate graduated they received compulsory aviation training which was a big step in the Navy accepting aviation in the military (Millett, Maslowski, & Feis, 2012).
Aviation was and still is a vital part of the military. Even though it took some convincing and lots of research and demonstrating to get everyone to be on board with aviation in the military, once it was established no one has looked back.
Millett, A. R., Maslowski, P., & Feis, W. B. (2012). For the common defense: a military history
of the United States from 1607 to 2012. New York: Free Press.
The Big Picture: Fifty years of aviation [Video file]. (2008). Retrieved June 6, 2017, from
https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=45030