How Far Do You Agree the Impact of Ww1 Was Beneficial to the Economy and Society of the United States?

How far do you agree the impact of WW1 was beneficial to the economy and society of the United States?

30 marks

Despite the US adopting the stance of neutrality at the outbreak of War in Europe in 1914, their society and economy would drastically be effected even before they joined the war in April 1917. The decision to join the Allies and eventual winning side would obviously yield a mainly positive impact compared to the fate of Germany post World War. However, the US did lead to many negative consequences such as social and economic problems, immigration troubles and isolationism.

In order to accurately analyse the economic state of the United States after World War 1, the strength of the economy before their involvement must be looked at. Years of immigration and massive industrialization had led to a rapidly growing, strong economy. This was continued during the first 3 years of the war, due to their neutrality, the US still had very strong trade links with both sides. In fact, the value of American Trade trebled to 6 billion USD. Emerging markets within the country were beginning to compete with those in Europe as poor working conditions and low wages meant up and coming firms could maximize profits in order to compete and survive.

The term ‘beneficial’ in this instance is a very broad term as I believe there are two different groups which would’ve been impacted by the world war’s effect on the economy- business owners and the working class. In terms of the business owners, the war brought with it many positive, beneficial opportunities. As Great Britain were spending £10 million a day on purchasing war goods, it was the US businesses who benefitted from the extra demand. The country who had the most available workers due to their lack of involvement could thrive in markets that were previously dominated by the European contingents. As the US had no war damage to deal with, industry had been able to develop and introduce standardized assembly...