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What were the elements of American grand strategy in World War II? How and when did the United States decide to mobilize for war? What impact did this have on the conflict? Discuss the key operational milestones that led to American victory in Europe and in the Pacific. How did American strategic calculations affect the ending of the war, especially the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan?

User MarkD
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The history of American strategic decision making before and during the Second World War is a clear example of first-rate strategy transforming the great power status of a state. In 1935, with United States in the throes of the Depression, the nation’s rise to superpower status seemed unlikely. Congress reflected the public’s deeply isolationist mood, enacting the first of a series of Neutrality Acts intended to keep the nation out of another European conflict. The US military, other than its navy, did not reflect the nation’s latent power. Most Americans neither expected nor desired world power. Yet in the space of just a single decade, this situation had completely altered. By 1945, the United States was one of the world’s two acknowledged superpowers. Its powerful armed forces had played a major role in the defeat of the Axis in battles spanning the globe. Its economy was by far and away the most powerful in the world. And American diplomacy in large measure shaped the postwar world – a world the United States would dominate in nearly every major category of power and influence.

User Duvet
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