The increase and the need for manufactured goods meant that there were more methods of advertising being introduced, such as the increase of billboards everywhere, advertising on the radio as well as in the cinema.
This increase in advertising made the need for manufactured goods greater than ever. So, this meant more and more people wanted to buy the new and exciting products, which were being made, but what if they did not have all of the money up front, this is where new methods of finance came in. Suddenly paying on the margin was introduced, this was when somebody wanted to buy a product but didn’t have all the money up front, so they paid in instalments, this was a major change for economy, because now people could buy what ever they wanted.
But why did America hit a economic boom, maybe its because the way they were affected after WW1, or not as some would debate. After all they only lost 109,000 men, so they still had a strong and young healthy workforce, and their infrastructure was untouched, so they could really carry on as normal after the war.
With all that is mentioned above I feel that it is quite clear that WW1 contributed a great deal to the boom in the 1920s.
So what impact did WW1 have on the American armed forces, well as mentioned above their was a loss of 109,000 and although this seems a lot, compared to the losses of some European countries it was minimal. Broken down this is how it looks, 48,000 soldiers were killed in action, 59,000 died as a result of disease and nearly 3,000 soldiers went missing during action.
As a result many American believed that they lost too much in a war that they need not be involved in, and so it is clear that WW1 contributed towards the post war policy that was made. This policy meant that American would not get involved in any future European dispute, which meant that there was a isolationism between America and Europe.
America society, how was it affected? Did WW1 have an Impact on it? The answer is yes it did, in a big way.
Because of the economic boom, the controls that the government put over the American economy reached a ridiculous level.
First, the government introduced progressive taxation, because they felt that the increase in sales and the profits, which were being made due to the war, should be re-invested to benefit war effort. To do this successfully, agencies were set up so that every branch of the economy could be controlled.
To start there was the War industries board, which allocated scarce materials fairly and determined productions priorities, which meant that products were standardised. Prices stayed fixed but still the efficiency levels still managed to increase.
As well as the war industries board there was another board that covered the food industries.
The president at the time Hoover promoted ‘meat less and wheat less days’ which meant that this type of food would be cheaper to buy and easily available.
This board also had much more power than previously before over the production, manufacture and distribution of foodstuffs. As well as increasing production to meet demand,
The final board was the National war labour board which not only promoted the efficient use of man power, but made an agreement that meant that their would be no strikes in exchange for increased wages.
The government also administrated the way fuel, and the railway networks were dealt with. Firstly fuel, they increased the production of oil and coal, to deal with the productions of more and more factories, they stabilised prices and introduced daylight saving time. Finally they administrated the railway road, and timetables were integrated, and so as the use increased the equipment had to be modernised and the track gage was standardised but war needs had priority over passenger needs.
The government not only tightened up their control over the economy but also civil liberties.
George Creel who was a tabloid journalist ran the agency; the aim was to promote patriotism and 100% Americanism. They made people who had German names change to what they fought was acceptable Americans names, not only that but stopped the German language being taught anywhere, it just got silly after a while they banned the playing of German musicians, renamed the Sauerkrout the liberty cabbage and encouraged overt patriotic acts such as kissing the US flag. Then in 1917 Espionage act was made which made it a crime to abstract military recruitment and to encourage disloyalty, but less than a year later the Sedition Act was placed that took away the freedom of speech. The end of this had imprisoned 15,000 people imprisoned as a result of actions considered harmful to America.
Another impact on the society was the introduction of Prohibition; prohibition was the banning of alcohol, which included the production, consumption and sale of it. Prohibition was in place quickly because of the campaign by the anti saloon league who believed that it produced inefficiency and increased absenteeism in the work place and that it was immoral and un patriotic because a lot of the beer for example was brewed in Germany. The 18th amendment was introduced in December 1918 and put in place a month later.
The final impact on society was the fact that finally women were receiving the franchise.
This was a slow process but by April 1917 11 states mainly in the west allowed women the right to vote, although most of the government disagreed with female suffrage since the war women had moved from being house wives in the kitchen to being bread providers in the factories so all believed they should have the right. In 1918 the 9th amendment was passes allowing the women to vote and by August of the following year it was made the law.
It is clear how much WW1 did contribute to the change of attitude that dominated the roaring twenties, and again shows what actual impact the war did have on America.
In summary all the above quite clearly shows what sort of affect the First World War had on the economy, the armed forces and the American society in general.
