U.S. Foreign Wars 4.3 - & Conflicts - Overview. Civics EOC

hi and welcome back to mr. Raymond Civic COC Academy where today we will be looking at foreign conflicts in other words wars that the United States have been involved in and this is our last section on Foreign Affairs last time we looked at international organizations so check that out if you haven't already now today we are going to cover around 240 years of foreign conflicts in about 15 minutes we could spend 15 hours on this and still only scratch the surface so this is really a brief overview what you need to know for your test is how the US government has responded to these conflicts but before we get into war mode just a reminder to teachers that this PowerPoint lesson plans and materials are all available at Teachers Pay Teachers just search for mr. Raymond Civic COC Academy the US has known war since the very beginning the United States was created in 1776 to fight the Revolutionary War back when we were still part of England this was a time when European nations were fighting one another over gaining lands for their growing empires and this was called imperialism war hero and first president George Washington warned the u.s. to stay neutral and avoid entangling alliances in other words he warned the country not to get involved in the world's conflicts and America for the most part followed Washington's advice for a long time it fought the English again in a brief war called the war of 1812 which historians call the Revolutionary War part two but its major conflict of the 1800s was the Civil War which was Americans fighting Americans America was really focused on moving westward which did lead to the mexican-american war in which the United States took control of Texas in California in the late 1800s we see the US government for the first time really looking outside of its boundaries when America fought the spanish-american war to kick the Spanish out of Cuba and some people saw this conflict as America acting like European countries because we took over Puerto Rico and the Philippines this is referred to again imperialism imperialism is what empires do they take over countries that don't belong to them however many in the government thought this was wrong and this is what European empires do not a democracy like America when World War one broke out in Europe in 1914 Americans wanted nothing to do with it our policy of staying neutral was referred to as isolationism when you isolate you stay to yourself and you stay out of other people's business Europe would be consumed by war for the next thirty years and most Americans thought that we should just stay on our side of the ocean and let them deal with it as this dr. Seuss cartoon shows world war 1 was fought between England France and Russia on one side known as the Allies versus Germany austria-hungary and Italy known as the Central Powers on the other both sides asked the u.s. to join them but America refused when German submarines sunk an ocean liner called the Lusitania with American passengers on board the country became angry but still didn't want to join the war in 1916 President Woodrow Wilson ran for re-election with the promise that he would keep America out of the war again there's that word neutral which means we didn't choose Assad however finally in 1917 after three years of European fighting Wilson went to Congress to ask them to declare war on the Germans and Austrians and other central powers and this is something you need to remember for your exam it's Congress that declares Wars not the president has stated in article 1 of the Constitution Americans entered the war and helped turn the tide for the Allies and the timing was good for the Allies because the same year of revolution took place in Russia led by this man Vladimir Lenin and his communist part communism is an ideology we covered in a previous video Lenin pulled the Russians out of the war and communist Russia was born now no one knew at the time what a huge impact this would have on the future of u.s. foreign policy in 1918 a peace treaty was signed known as the Treaty of Versailles which had severe punishments for their Germans President Wilson had an idea for a union of countries where they would meet to discuss their problems rather than fighting them out and this was known as the League of Nations this is like the United Nations today however the Senate refused to ratify the treaty to join so the u.s. never joined the League of Nations Congress and Americans have had enough of getting involved in European conflicts and back then Congress really called the shots over what the US would do about foreign conflicts they passed the Neutrality Act in the 1930s as fascism an ideology of total state power took hold in Europe with the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party and Mussolini the fascist leader of Italy when world war ii broke out as germany invaded its neighboring countries the idea of american neutrality was extremely popular and this is a good time to point out how different America's role in foreign conflicts is as it is from today America today is accused of being the world's police force with by far the most advanced military in the world America at the outbreak of world war ii had a tiny very weak Armed Forces and viewed world conflicts as something to be avoided as the Nazis took control of many European countries including France Poland and by now large portions of Russia Americans only wanted to provide aid to those who were fighting them at the same time on the other side of the world Japan who had become allies with the Germans was taking over large portions of China as well as Korea and many Southeast Asian countries finally on December 7 1941 a date which as President Franklin D Roosevelt claimed would live in infamy Japan launched a surprise attack on the US Navy stationed in Pearl Harbor Hawaii the following day President Roosevelt went to Congress to ask for a declaration of war on Japan days later the US and Germany declared war on each other and this is the last time that the United States Congress has officially declared war another country but you might be thinking to yourself well we fought war since World War two haven't we yes and this is an important point that we will come back to America through itself into the war American factories pump out weapons for the entire world and women joined the workforce for the first time in huge numbers World War two was the deadliest war in the history of the world with countries pumping out extremely deadly weapons when the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan to end the war a new era in foreign conflicts was launched and that was the Cold War the Cold War is the name for the long period of tension between the two quote superpowers to come out of World War two the United States and the Russians at the time called the Soviet Union the reason we call it the Cold War is that the two sides never directly fought against each other but both sides distrusted the other and tried to spread their influence around the world the United States spreading democracy and the Soviet Union spreading communism the underlying tension of course was built on the massive amount of nuclear weapons the two sides created and pointed at one another the world lived in fear of nuclear war as both sides began building bomb shelters and practicing drills for a nuclear attack in 1949 the stakes for the Americans increased as the most populous country in the world China became communist the following year war broke out right next to China when the Communist North Koreans invaded democratic South Korea just five years after World War two America was at war again fighting North Korea this began a period called containment the US government's containment policy was to stop the spread of communism and contain it to those countries where it already existed this also began the period of the US government led by the president the commander in chief of the military fighting wars without Congress actually declaring war now a peace treaty was never signed with North Korea either so technically both sides are still at war and major tensions still exists between the us-backed South Korea and their communist enemies of North Korea led by dictator Kim jong-un and this is especially true as North Korea has developed nuclear bombs themselves and it wasn't just in Asia however that communism was spreading in 1959 Fidel Castro's socialist revolutionary troops after the head of Cuba and installed his own government now a communist country was located just 90 miles from the US and the United States government was especially concerned two years later Cubans living in America and trained by the CIA of the US government were given the go-ahead by President Kennedy to launch an invasion of Cuba this is known as the Bay of Pigs and the invasion was a complete disaster as the Cuban exiles were quickly killed or captured this was a major embarrassment for Kennedy and the US government the next year things got extremely tense as spy planes flying over Cuba noticed nuclear missiles placed there by the Russians and this event is called the Cuban Missile Crisis President Kennedy immediately ordered a blockade of Cuba for 13 days the two sides stood on the brink of nuclear war finally the Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles and the crisis receded this event truly demonstrated that the days of conventional warfare as a means of settling disputes between the great world powers might be a thing of the past so next rather than confront the Soviet Union directly the u.s. went forward with their policy of containment and trying to keep communism where it was located with the Vietnam War like Korea South Vietnam was invaded by their communist northern neighbors after an incident took place with a naval ship president lyndon b johnson asked Congress for permission to use military force in what was called the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and here we see an example of how the way the US government dealt with conflicts was changing from the president asking Congress to declare war to asking them to use military force Vietnam dragged on for many years and it was difficult for the American military to figure out who the enemy was what President Nixon took over for Johnson he thought he could bomb the north into surrendering meanwhile protests gripped America as this long conflict became very unpopular at home finally troops were pulled out in 1973 and the Communists took over the south in 1975 Vietnam was a turning point with allowing the president too much power in using military force Congress and the American people decided that our presidents would have to work with Congress more if they were going to fight conflicts without a declaration of war the year that u.s. fighting in Vietnam stopped Congress passed a law known as the War Powers Resolution which puts limits on the president using the military without their permission following the Vietnam War the United States had lost a lot of the goodwill in the world as the country who came out of isolation to help the Allies put down the Nazis in World War two that tension had been especially felt in the Middle East starting in 1979 when students in Iran took control of the US Embassy and held more than 60 embassy employees hostage for over 400 days which was known as the Iran hostage crisis meanwhile the global power picture was changing when the Cold War ended in 1990 1991 the United States was the last great quote superpower the collapse of the Soviet Union spelled the end of communism and the end of that long drawn-out chapter in u.s. foreign policy known as the Cold War with the cold war over u.s. foreign policy towards conflict has shifted since Vietnam u.s. conflicts have been centered in the Middle East starting with the first Gulf War in 1991 as Iraqi bleeder Saddam Hussein invaded neighboring country Kuwait the terrorist attacks on September 11 2001 have marked a new chapter in u.s. foreign conflicts one against terrorism the resulting war on terror has led the u.s. into two more Foreign Wars or conflicts first in Afghanistan as we search for the mastermind behind 9/11 Osama bin Laden this is still going on and it's the longest war in US history our second war against Iraq this one instigated by a president george w bush who claimed that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction conflicts continue today but as you've seen much has changed in the way the US government has dealt in their response to these conflicts and Americans are definitely in a period where we seem tired of undertaking military operations but as the world continues to be a place where wars and conflicts exist we will see where the future of foreign conflicts takes us and that is the last benchmark for our civic COC review but up next we're gonna have a few videos on getting you ready for your state exam but before we go there let's review today's lesson when a country refuses to choose sides in a conflict they are neutral when a country takes over other countries it is called imperialism when the United States wanted to stay out of world conflicts we called it remember when you stay by yourself it is called isolationism what branch of the US government declares war you better know that one by now that would be Congress what was the showdown between the u.s. and the Soviet Union call this was that long period of time it was called the Cold War what quote wars did the u.s. fight without actually declaring war we had a few ever since World War two Korea Vietnam the first Gulf War Afghanistan and our second war with Iraq this event was when CIA trained exiles invaded Cuba this was an embarrassment for Kennedy this was the Bay of Pigs invasion when Russia placed nuclear weapons and 90 miles from the US on that island what did we call it that's the Cuban Missile Crisis this unpopular war led to Congress passing the war power resolution act that's Vietnam and remember now that has to really work with Congress when using military force this tragic event led to the war on terror a day we will never forget that's 9/11 and that's it thanks for watching remember again up next we're gonna do our state exam review so be sure to subscribe and just a reminder teachers of this PowerPoint lesson plans and activities are all available at Teachers Pay Teachers just search for mr. Raymond civic COC Academy again thanks for watching

Channel: Mr. Raymond's Social Studies Academy

Views: 55,380

Keywords: U.S. Foreign Wars and Conflicts, US Foreign Wars, US Foreign Conflicts, Civics, Florida Civics EOC Exam, Foreign Policy, the Cold War, Mr. Raymond's Civic EOC Academy, Vietnam, Korean War, The Gulf War, Iran Hostage Crisis, 9/11, War on Terror, Civics State Exam, Civics Videos, Social Studies Videos, US History, History of America's Wars

Id: wSdlDYmNl2o

Length: 16min 11sec (971 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 19 2016