USA History
In the 20th century
At the beginning of the First World War, the USA initially pursued a policy of neutrality with the aim of mediation. However, when Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in 1917, the United States entered the war on the side of the Allies. The USA’s accession to the League of Nations (Versailles Treaty) in 1920 as a result of the war failed due to internal political resistance.
In the 1920s, the country experienced major economic and social problems. Religious fundamentalism and racial hatred shaped the intellectual climate. The global economic crisis of 1929-1932 also reached the USA. Industrial production shrank to 58% within a few years.
After the rise of National Socialism in Germany and fascism in Italy, President Roosevelt tried in 1939/40 to support the Western democracies in the fight against fascism. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States decided to join the Second World War.
After the Second World War until today
With the end of the Second World War, the USA had established its position as a world political and economic power. The time after that is marked by numerous military and political conflicts with countries around the globe. Under President Harry S. Truman, the East-West conflict on the Cold War intensified at the end of the 1940s. In terms of foreign and domestic politics, the USA has since then pursued a strongly anti-communist stance. The CIA supported an invasion of Cubans in exile against Fidel Castro’s revolutionary regime in Cuba. The uprising in the Bay of Pigs failed on April 17, 1961. In October 1962 there was the Cuban Missile Crisis, in which the two superpowers, the USA and the Soviet Union, were on the verge of using nuclear weapons. Never before in world history has nuclear war been as likely as it was at this point in time.
From October 1973 – triggered by the Yom Kippur War – the crisis region of the Near and Middle East increasingly became the focus of American attention. During Ronald Reagan’s second term in office as President of the United States of America, the Soviet-American relationship eased against the backdrop of the new policy of the socialist countries pursued by USSR President Michael Gorbachev. With the unification of the two German states in October 1990 and the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the Cold War ended. Since then, the USA has been the only remaining world power.
In 2000, George Walker Bush (born 1946) came to power as President. He was sworn in on January 20, 2001. During his presidency there was an attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2002, followed by the invasion of Iraq with the known consequences. Bush was certainly one of the most controversial presidents in US history. Under his government, the country experienced a moral and economic decline like hardly any other non-war years before. He was also one of the most unpopular presidents the country had in Europe since World War II.
On January 20, 2009, Barack Hussein Obama took his oath of office in the presence of over two million people in Washington, officially taking office as the 44th President of the United States. His successor is Donald Trump (born 1946), who took office in January 2016.
Newspapers in Greenland
Greenland has two newspapers. The largest is bilingual AG, which came to 1952 through a merger of Atuagagdliutit and the Danish-speaking Greenland Post. AG comes out with two issues per week and has an edition of about 4,000 copies. (1998). The weekly Sermitsiak has about the same edition.
Greenland Radio, established in 1942 and financed by the Danish state, is responsible for daily, bilingual radio news and since 1982 for TV news in Greenlandic twice a week, the latter as a complement to banded TV news from Denmark’s Radio. There are 482 radio and 410 TV receivers per 1,000 residents (2000).
| Country | Area in km² | population | Capital |
| Canada | 9,984,670 | 37.8 million | Ottawa |
| Mexico | 1,964,375 | 129 million | Mexico City |
| United States | 9,629,091 | 330 million | Washington, D.C. |
Source: List of Countries in North America – Countryaah.com
Notes on some selected countries
Canada
Canada covers an area of 9,984,670 km² – with around 38 million residents.
The landscape is partly still really wild. Wolves and bears live here. In contrast to the neighboring USA, the country is quite peaceful and social, probably also because the possession of weapons is relatively limited here.
On July 1, 1867, the country became partially independent as Domion. And completely independent on December 11, 1931. But still the English king or the English queen is the formal head of state.
Mexico
Mexico covers an area of 1,964,375 km² – with around 129 million residents. Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, even though the country had unilaterally declared independence in 1810. This Central American country borders the USA in the north and Guatemala and Belize in the west. Unfortunately, this scenic and culturally great country has one of the highest murder rates in the world due to the drug cartels, many criminal politicians, a corrupt police and judiciary.
