Vietnam War and its Impact on Subsequent American Foreign Policy

Rise to globalism is an enlightened work by Stephen Ambrose that relates to development of American foreign policy from Second World War through Reagan administration. The book by Stephen Ambrose provides an overview American foreign policy evolution from 1938 to the present powerful status of America.

Stephen Ambrose tries to explain the trends in foreign policy adapted by America from isolationist attitude to global power position America holds today. He focuses on events that related to Second world War, Vietnam, Cuban missile crisis and to large extent SALT treaties.

The world today is faced with major problems such as communism, conflicts between Arabs and Israel, and third world development. These problems are attributed with Second World War and had an impact on American foreign policies.

The policies adopted by America had an impact on various countries around the world. Stephen Ambrose work tries to explain the modern American foreign policy as a development since the Second World War Foreign policy of United States is a policy through which the United States interacts with foreign nations.

United States has a lot of influence in the world through its economy and defense mechanism. Other character traits in America such racism, economic aggressiveness and fear of communism have shaped the countries emerging foreign policy.

The overview of events in America led to a rise of globalism which is a major development in American history. The World War II had a lot of influence in development of America which shaped its foreign policy. Liberation by Russia incorporated Eastern European states into satellite states which became the Soviet Union.

Another impact of the war was formation of natural governments which changed the status of the nations. Ambrose in his work showed each stage of the cold war, division of European continent and the arms race could have been avoided.

A major impact of the Vietnam War as was reflected in the cold war is the financial and economic disaster which related to the arms race. It is a situation that compromised the financial position of many nations involved in the war. The development of American foreign policy is a thorny issue which resulted from the cold war.

Incorporation of many countries in various treaties took a lot of time and forced nations to spend a lot of money so as to end such conflicts. The United States and other members of the Soviet Union were not willing to compromise their position in relation to minor matters.

This is because committing a lot of their time and finances in such petty issues could cost them a big deal in resolving major problems. For instance, involving in activities such as partitioning Berlin would be met with a lot of resistance and unnecessary demands.

On the other side, once the U.S.S.R tried to compromise, United States would seizure control of the situation so as to create stipulations on proposed agreements. One important and major concept during this period is that, there was no any meaningful agreement that sailed through.

Former United States presidents had the opportunities and chances to come to an agreement that would end the cold war but this never succeeded. In few instances that saw some of the head of state try to reach an agreement, participants were unwilling to come to a consensus.

As per Stephen Ambrose, resolution to certain problems during that period came after the book was written. Communism was replaced by democracy throughout most parts of Europe while in 1989 it was a time when U.S.S.R fell.

Most of the countries in Western Europe who constituted the satellite nations were liberated by United States and Great Britain which formally formed democratic governments. Split of east and west Europe as the beginning of the cold war. The acting presidents during this period late Jimmy Carter acted in respect to expectations of many Americans to achieve a peace agreement.

The agreement had little influence in resolving such conflicts but several treaties were formed which addressed the demand for concerned parties. Accomplishment of various agreements had impact on U. S whereby Arab-Israel hostilities were negotiated.

This was a major development in the history of America and it fits in the foreign policy. The impact of such agreement is seen in today’s policies developed by United States to extend their powers in trying to help developing nations. United States is a very powerful nation in the world and its strength can be attributed with agreements that resulted from the cold war.

Most of the developing nations have benefited from financial aid offered by United States of America. Signing certain treaties during the period of cold war was a very tough because neither side wanted to compromise their position which led to disagreement.

The subsequent American foreign policy has seen several nations, individuals and governments benefit. It is a very important development in the history of America since the Second World War to the current powerful situation in America. Work Cited Ambrose Stephen, Rise to Globalism, (American Foreign Policy since 1938), Douglas Brinkley book.