Book contents
- The Cambridge History of America and the World
- The Cambridge History of America and the World
- The Cambridge History of America and the World
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Contributors to Volume III
- General Introduction: What is America and the World?
- Introduction to Volume III
- Part I American Power in the Modern Era
- 1 The Sinews of Globalization
- 2 The Territorial Empire
- 3 Waging World War I
- 4 Technological Transformations
- 5 Law and American Power
- 6 Latin America and US Global Governance
- 7 Transatlantic Relations
- 8 The Open Door, Tsarist Russia, and the Soviet Union
- 9 The Rise of the Modern Middle East
- 10 Competing Empires in Asia
- 11 Making a Modern Military
- Part II Competing Perspectives
- Part III The Perils of Interdependence
- Index
11 - Making a Modern Military
from Part I - American Power in the Modern Era
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 November 2021
- The Cambridge History of America and the World
- The Cambridge History of America and the World
- The Cambridge History of America and the World
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Contributors to Volume III
- General Introduction: What is America and the World?
- Introduction to Volume III
- Part I American Power in the Modern Era
- 1 The Sinews of Globalization
- 2 The Territorial Empire
- 3 Waging World War I
- 4 Technological Transformations
- 5 Law and American Power
- 6 Latin America and US Global Governance
- 7 Transatlantic Relations
- 8 The Open Door, Tsarist Russia, and the Soviet Union
- 9 The Rise of the Modern Middle East
- 10 Competing Empires in Asia
- 11 Making a Modern Military
- Part II Competing Perspectives
- Part III The Perils of Interdependence
- Index
Summary
Americans had traditionally prided themselves on being able to maintain a small army. Protected by two oceans and following George Washington’s plea to avoid entangling alliances with the Europeans, they had fought their wars with volunteers. The first half of the twentieth century forced a radical revision of those traditional beliefs. Between 1900 and 1945 the United States built a powerful military capable of fighting in almost any corner of the globe. It also joined coalitions and alliances with European powers, forming the foundation for building the most powerful military alliance the world had yet known. The massive changes in the nature of American military power from 1900 to 1945 thus represent not an evolutionary shift, but a revolutionary one.
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- The Cambridge History of America and the World , pp. 268 - 290Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022