Prior to World War I, isolationism was rampart. A large part of the population wanted to stay out of the European conflicts and said no to participating. The war was triggered with the assassination of Crown Prince Ferdinand of Austria Hungry, the heir to the throne. It was East verses West. President Wilson of the United States listened to the isolationists from 1914 until 1917 before he committed the U.S. to the war.
Prior to World War II, isolationism again made the decision to stay out of European wars. Our army was smaller than most of the World’s armies. Hitler invaded Poland in 1939 and then turned his attention to France and Great Britain.
France and Great Britain declared war on Germany, but Germany defeated France’s army and pushed the British out of mainland Europe (Dunkirk).
F.D.R. and the British prime minister, Churchill, were great friends, but congress would not support another war in Europe. Germain submarines were sinking British supply ships at an alarming rate. The British were getting desperate for supplies and arms. The Blitz (bombing of Britain by Germain planes) and the U boats were bringing the government to its knees. Finally, the lend-lease program was implemented. We supplied World War I war ships to protect the supply ships. The Germans and Italians declared war on the U.S. and Germain U boats started sinking U.S. ships. Again, the isolationism did not work, and we were drawn into war. We did the same with the Japanese and paid a horrible price at Pearl Harbor.
Today, we hear, America First, which is more of the same, isolationism. The ignorance of this same road is extremely dangerous. If we do nothing more to help Ukraine, our partners in the World have no one to count on and we will succumb to the same tired story. Ukraine falls to Russia, and they keep going. We have 20,000 troops in Europe. World War III.
