Was the First World War the main cause of the 'Roaring Twenties'?

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Was the First World War the main cause of the 'Roaring Twenties'? An amateur historian might say that the only reason why America went through the 'Roaring Twenties' was because Woodrow Wilson backed off from joining the First World War. However as we will see in my essay it was not the only reason why America became such a strong economical power. The USA was the most prosperous country in the world and could produce goods cheaply in huge quantities. During the 1920s there was a 'boom', as people bought goods and to do this they borrowed and spent money. This is called the cycle of prosperity. After the First World War America was a completely different country to that of 1910. The Twenties was a very unusual time period in American history. The Twenties were a time of fun and partying. These were some of the reasons why it was called the Roaring Twenties.During the first three years of the First World War America kept out of the fighting and therefore had time to overtake other economically strong countries like Britain and Germany in the fight to be a superpower. After the war European countries were badly damaged and needed lots of money to rebuild cities and
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their own industries. As America had emerged as the leading power after the war so the affected countries turned to America to borrow money and this made America in to a 'creditor nation'. Britain and other countries borrowed large amounts of money with equally large interest rates, but these countries had to accept these rates as they had no other choice. Such examples of economic development were in the fields of chemical development, where America overtook Germany, which had always been the leading nation for scientific development. Another example of specialising in one area of trade was where America supplied ...

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