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Chapter 13: A Secluded Eagle
Joining the fight late and making a non-decisive impact on the hellhole within Europe, the United States felt the repercussions of putting their eggs in a fallen basket. Woodrow Wilson chose to avoid the cost of feeding Americans to European trenches, instead opting to loan money to the Entente while waging a naval war in the Atlantic. This seemed to be quite the reasonable course of action at the time, assuming that the funds expended would help in bringing the war to a satisfactory conclusion. Given this fact the existence of a victorious Central Powers meant that said currency had been wasted.
Before the Great War kicked off America held little direct involvement in Europe. Comparatively now the country had directly invested in nations such as the United Kingdom and France, and their sluggish recovery from the conflict made repaying the U.S.A. a major endeavor. The result of this being an increasingly annoyed United States unable to fully recoup their losses, further cementing the belief among Americans that dealing with Europe in general wasn't worth it. This rule of thumb overpowered even the president, who failed to convince Congress to let the U.S.A. join a new international organization, titled the League of Nations, whose outward objective was to keep peace and prevent a repeat of 1914-1918. Their reasoning was increased involvement in foreign politics wouldn't be a beneficial path for a nation developing at breakneck speeds regardless and had managed to avoid anywhere near as much bloodshed as their forefathers an ocean away.
This rapid inward development pushed on unabated, and the 1920's witnessed a marked high point in innovation and production. While these shifts weren't all-reaching, many in rural communities recoiled in the face of sudden social and technological changes, it seemed obvious to many Americans that the path to continued prosperity tunneled through isolationist soil. The government reflected these aspirations via a laissez faire-loving Republican Party. Save for distant islands like the Philippine archipelago the U.S.A. quietly resided in the Americas. The League of Nations on the other hand was made with the intention of it serving as a mediating force, though in practice crippling issues reared their heads. A hodgepodge of member states, containing contradictory individual agendas, found it difficult to reach a consensus on what to do in case of aggression. Even if it was decided that a war was worthy of stopping, many of the drained constituents didn't feel the matter personally vital enough to do much about it. In reality Europe remained almost as susceptible to armed warfare as in the past.