American statesman Henry Kissinger once said a sentence that explains the sense of mission of the United States and Americans:
Since its founding, the United States has prided itself on being different, so it has developed two contradictory attitudes in diplomacy.
One is that the United States has perfected democracy at home.
Second, American values make Americans feel obligated to promote them to the world
From The Great Diplomacy, p. 8.
This perfectly explains why Americans love being a Pacific cop so much, because they speak so high.
But although this statement is high, it can't stand the truth behind it is still for money.
So why did this vulgar status quo arise?
Just look at the story of the First World War.
In 1917, the German ambassador to Turkey asked the Americans incomprehensibly: Why did you declare war on Germany?
After listening to it, the American ambassador said a cliché: Americans fight for morality and principle.
This made the Germans confused and completely unbelievable.
This is the declaration of war by the United States, occupying the general righteousness, but too broad to make people laugh.
Behind this laughter is actually the causal interpretation that most Americans did not want to go to war at that time.
Even then-US President Wilson did not want the United States to enter the war, because war was really cruel.
But in the United States of America, politicians and citizens say things that are not necessarily useful and often backfire.
Before entering the war, Wilson often looked at the war reports from Europe with trepidation, and the Verdun meat grinder and the brutality of the battle of the Somme made Wilson stunned, his scalp numb, and he shuddered.
In the decisive battle of Verdun, although France prevented the frenzied German attack, the two sides that barely advanced an inch of land suffered 750,000 casualties on the battlefield.
The subsequent Battle of the Somme was not far behind.
Britain, the former suzerainty, actually suffered 60,000 casualties in a single day, and the casualties on both sides were millions at the end of the entire battle.
This number of casualties is scared by anyone who thinks about it.
The Europeans at that time were a group of maniacs with the most modern weapons and fighting like beasts.
After the impression of a madman, a madman, the Americans think carefully, weigh it.
The wars with the greatest casualties after the founding of the United States were the Civil War and the two wars of independence, but the real casualties were also far behind World War I. (Civil War casualties 618,000). And these three wars, two for independence, one for unification, regardless of the process, the orientation is also correct.
From this, there was Wilson himself, and many Americans were disgusted with entering the war. In their opinion, why should they fight for the life and death of Europeans and make money?
In a word, make money, so the loss of the bag for safety gives the United States a reason to enter the war.
Because the interests of American financiers and the military-industrial complex before the war were linked to the war in Europe.
In February 1934, when the "Nye's Committee" organized by the US Congress investigated World War I, it said bluntly: The United States' participation in World War I in 1917 was manipulated by financial capital and military enterprises.
Even President Wilson acknowledged after the war that the United States was not entering the war to save the world, but for economic gain.
And this is also supported by a series of data.
Before entering the war in 1917, the United States had provided up to $6 billion in exports and $3 billion in loans to the Allies.
Together, these two items are $9 billion.
It may not seem like much today, but it was a huge amount of money at the time, and in 1949 our country's GDP was only $12.3 billion, not taking into account inflation.
With such a huge amount of money, how can American bankers rest assured that if Britain and France fail, the money will not be lost?
Note: The United States does not borrow from Germany, in addition to political factors, Germany is blocked by the British navy, and the inability to do business is also the main reason.
In order to keep the money from being lost.
The Morgans, the Rockefellers, and Paul Warburg and others have constantly called for the United States to enter the war.
And the war in Europe in 1916 also gave them mixed feelings.
On land, Germany remains strong.
On the Western Front, Germany occupied the industrial regions of northern France and all of Belgium.
On the Eastern Front, even if Austria-Hungary was a waste, the German-Austrian army still had an advantage on the battlefield.
Of course, there was good news from the Entente.
With their large navy, the British cut off all German trade channels, which left Germany with logistical constraints and famine.
If it continues, Germany will not be able to sustain itself.
It is precisely because of this that the German submarine group appeared in order to break through the blockade, and this submarine group had only one goal: to break the British naval blockade and indiscriminately attack ships going to Britain and other European countries, even the Americans.
It can be said that the indiscriminate submarine warfare that Germany was forced to engage in strengthened the determination of the United States to enter the war, because the United States mainly transported what used to be.
Isn't attacking merchant ships the same as cutting off America's financial routes?
(U.S. Congress)
Then, a routine appeared.
On February 24, 1917, British intelligence gave the Americans a telegram, supposedly from the German Foreign Minister to the German ambassador to Mexico.
The telegram said: Germany is preparing to attack the United States.
This matter is strange left and right.
Why would a Mexican ambassador receive such a telegram?
But it doesn't matter if it's true or not, excuses are the most important.
Holding the telegram given by the British, Wilson took advantage of the question, got armed merchant ships, and began to prepare for war.
As for the US military-industrial complexes, they can give an order when they sharpen their fists early.
Therefore, Wall Street financiers and military enterprises are the driving forces of the war, because the special ticket ah.
And the filthy financiers, not only earned money from the British and French Entente, but also sought to pass on the costs of the war to the people,
At their instigation, a new tax appeared.
This is the collection of income tax.
As for the nominal? War needs money is a good excuse.
In this way, the American people were used by American financiers as a source of war funds.
They earned the money for export, and they had to scrape it from the country.
It's really cannibalism without spitting out bones.
(Gold Dollar Supremacy)
Then, new events also accelerated the pace of the American war.
This changed as a result of the complete withdrawal of Tsarist Russia from the war after the February and October revolutions of 1917.
This greatly reduced the strength of the Allies and gave Germany a chance to rest and concentrate its forces on the Western Front, not worrying about fighting on both sides.
So, the huge army of the Americans was ready to go.
They will, at the right time, follow General Pershing on an expedition to Europe to practice the so-called safeguarding of peace.
Irony, just as ironic as it is now.
(Pershing)
So how big is this army? Let me elaborate on a word or two.
Before World War I, the U.S. military was small.
Before the US Congress approved the expansion of the army in 1916, the regular army of the US army was only 130,000, which was completely useless in the battle of millions in the European theater. By May 1917, the United States did not even have a proper army division.
Mobilizable power and war potential, manpower, the United States is not lacking. After mobilization, the U.S. Army was expanded to 42 infantry divisions in January 1918, the size of a cavalry division.
How did the Americans do all this?
Just look at the 32 boot camps built by the US military covering an area of 8,000-12,000 acres and with complete training facilities (built in two months), as well as military instructors from France.
There is no shortage of money, no shortage of people, no shortage of weapons, even instructors can be hired externally.
(World War I U.S. Army)
Then, under the constant urging of the Entente, in the context of the German "Emperor Battle" in early 1918, which frightened the Entente, this group of large troops continued to go to Europe with a messiac posture.
In April 1918 there were only 9 divisions in France, 18 in May, 25 in June, 26 in July, 35 in August, 39 in September, and 42 in October.
The continuous flow of American reinforcements left the Germans deflated.
After the United States entered the war, Germany, known as the strongest army in the world, gradually became overwhelmed by the impact of the US military.
Finally, I would like to add that the size of the American division is completely different from that of the British and French regiments, and a standard American division is 28,000 people, more than twice the number of British and French divisions.
This also means that in November 1918, the size of the American military going to Europe was already 1,849,756 soldiers and 80,004 officers.
(American Expeditionary Force)
From 130,000 motley troops to 1.9 million expeditionary troops, it took the Americans only 18 months.
This unparalleled war mobilization and war potential is enough to change the entire war situation.
Unsurprisingly, the Germans chose to surrender.
In November 1918, the Allies threw in the towel, and the four-year world war ended.
Then it's time for financiers and business owners to count the fruits of victory.
How much is this fruit? There is also data to prove it.
As soon as the war ended, the United States began to collect debts, demanding that Britain and France repay the money with interest.
At the beginning of the war, the United States lent more than $3 billion to Britain, France and other countries, and by 1924, this figure had become $12 billion, which was a solid financial income.
(Money)
In addition, the United States has also benefited a lot politically, militarily, and economically.
Politically: With the help of war, the United States has the possibility of entering Europe justifiably, watching world hegemony, spreading political influence, shaking old Europe, and reaping world prestige with the 14-point principle advocated during peace talks.
Militarily: The US military that participated in the European war for the first time performed well, far away from the home country to participate in the war, watching Europe being beaten into ruins, but also let the Americans understand how easy their offshore advantage is, sending troops overseas is a million benefits, which also affects the subsequent US military thinking and foreign policy.
Economically, the benefits are even greater.
In addition to the $12 billion in visible income, the war made all walks of life in the United States fully prosperous, and the $25 billion in treasury bonds and $21.5 billion in free public bonds issued by the United States for war financing directly raised the level of financing for the United States several levels, not to mention, it also obtained a large amount of British and French gold during the war, and incidentally recovered more than $2 billion in securities held by European countries, turning the United States from a debtor country into a creditor country.
(Prosperous America)
What is even more eye-catching is the stock price and stock market boom of military-related enterprises.
During the war, the share price of Bethlehem Steel, which produced steel, rose from $46 before the war to $460 after the war.
DuPont, which produced gunpowder, increased its output from 8.4 million pounds to 455 million pounds in April 1917, more than quintupling its assets.
There are many such businesses in the United States.
From this point of view, it is not so much that the United States won the First World War and became the big winner, but that the military-industrial complex and financiers won.
They have played such an important role in history, becoming the catalyst and accelerator of the battlefield of blood and tears.
Looking at Kissinger's words from this perspective:
Since its founding, the United States has prided itself on being different, so it has developed two contradictory attitudes in diplomacy. One is that the United States has perfected democracy at home. Second, American values make Americans feel obligated to promote them to the world.
I have only one reaction.
Hehe...... Today they are not still like that.