20th century (1st half) Flashcards
1903
Big Stick Policy or Gunboat Diplomacy: by advocating strong methods in meeting foreign and domestic problems, Theodore Roosevelt refers to U.S. policy as “speaking softly and carrying a big stick” the means of which is a strong Navy; the big stick policy was applied the same year by assisting Panama’s independence movement from Colombia, which served U.S. interests to build the Panama Canal (construction betw. 1904-1914; the Panama Canal Zone run by U.S. as a rented territory until 1999).
1904
Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine: developed out of Big Stick policy and the debt protocol and customs receivership in the Dominican Republic; according to Roosevelt’s interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine, the U.S. is justified to intervene in Latin America to prevent European interference with their internal affairs (European creditors in Latin America); U.S. seen as international police power.
1911-20
Mexican Revolution; hundreds of thousands of refugees flee to America; President William Howard Taft recognizes Francisco I. Madero’s regime; Madero assassinated by Victoriano Huerta, not recognized by America.
1914
Veracruz Incident: a standoff between the U.S. and Mexican president Huerta; Congress authorizes force at president’s discretion; U.S. seizes Veracruz; Huerta breaks diplomatic relations; war seems near with Mexico.
1915
British passenger liner RMS Lusitania torpedoed off Irish coast by German submarine; 1,200 dead include 128 Americans; ex-president Theodore Roosevelt demands war; President Woodrow Wilson issues strong protest.
1916
Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa’s raid into American territory in New Mexico; the Mexican Punitive Expedition under John J. Pershing chases Villa deep into Mexico; on the verge of war with Mexico.
1917
March - Zimmermann Telegram: Germany proposes military alliance between Germany and Mexico against U.S.; Mexico rejects proposal; publication of telegram major shock and outrages American opinion; public becomes ready to accept U.S. entrance into WWI; April - U.S. declares war on Germany and Austria (but not Turkey or Bulgaria); remains independent of Great Britain and France.
1918
Fourteen Points: Statement of U.S. war aims by Wilson, served as basis for Treaty of Versailles ending WWI, and the League of Nations. The Fourteen points give the essence of Wilsonian idealism or Wilsonianism: “spreading democracy and peace under American auspices.” His vision materialized after WWII and also continued into G.W. Bush’s nation building in the 21st century.
1919
June - Treaty of Versailles: result of the Versailles Peace Conference; Wilson one of “The Big Five” negotiators (next to British Lloyd George, French Clemenceau, Italian Orlando, and Japanese Saionji); signed by Wilson but not ratified by Senate; League of Nations set up - part of Versailles Treaty; U.S. does not join.
1928/30
Clark Memorandum; reinterpretation of the Monroe Doctrine ends era of interventionism in Latin America.
1931
Stimson Doctrine: U.S. will not recognize Japanese takeover of parts of China; policy endorsed by the League of Nations.
1933
At the Montevideo Convention, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) declares the “Good Neighbor Policy”; after decades of U.S. interventionism in Latin America, it stands for U.S. opposition to armed intervention in inter-American affairs.
1935
Neutrality Act of 1935; when war breaks out, it prohibits all arms shipments (allowing shipment of oil, steel, chemicals); U.S. citizens can travel on belligerent ships only at their own risk; followed up by Neutrality Act of 1936 and 1939; no loans to belligerents.
1939
September - World War II begins (Germany invades Poland); U.S. initially neutral.
1941
August - Atlantic Charter (closely resembling Wilson’s Fourteen Points): FDR and Winston Churchill agree (1) no territorial gains sought by U.S. or Great Britain, (2) territorial adjustments must conform to people involved, (3) people have right to choose their own govt. (4) trade barriers lowered, (5) there must be disarmament, (6) there must be freedom from want and fear (from 4 Freedoms of FDR), (7) there must be freedom of the seas, (8) there must be an association of nations. December 7 - Japanese attack on U.S. Naval Base in Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii, bringing U.S. into WWII on December 8.
1944
July - United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire; International Monetary Fund and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) created to aid nations devastated by the war and to stabilize the international monetary system. August - Dumbarton Oaks Conference: held in Washington, D.C. United Nations was formulated, followed up by San Francisco Conference on International Organization. Security Council veto powers established.
1945
February 4-11 - Yalta Conference: in Crimea Peninsula, SU, FDR meets Joseph Stalin and Churchill; agreement on division of Eastern Europe. Surrender of Germany (May 8, V-E Day) and Japan (September 2, V-J Day). July 17-August 2 - Potsdam Conference, in Germany: U.S. President Harry S. Truman meets with Stalin and new U.K. Prime Minister Clement Attlee; tells Stalin of atomic bomb; gives Japan last warning to surrender; Germany (and Austria) divided into 4 zones of occupation. June - United Nations Charter signed in San Francisco; U.S. becomes a founding member and has veto power on the Security Council along with Great Britain, France, China and the Soviet Union.
1947-89
Cold War: from the enunciation of the Truman Doctrine (containment policy) to the collapse of the Eastern Bloc; the period of tension and hostility between U.S., Western Europe, and Japan on the one hand and the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and China on the other.
1948
“European Recovery Plan” (called Marshall Plan); America gives out $11 billion to rebuild and modernize Western European economies (aim: make communism less appealing, secure markets for Americans goods, and contribute to stabilization of world trade). Increased trade between Western Europe and U.S.; no repayment asked for.
1949
U.S. and eleven other nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, creating NATO, a military alliance with the purpose of countering the Soviet Union and its allies.
1950-53
Korean War - first cold War conflict; U.N. orders defense of South Korea against invasion by communist North Korea aided by the Soviets and China. (Soviet Union boycotted U.N. and did not veto.) U.S. forces deployed in Korea exceeded 300,000 during the last year of the conflict. Ceasefire declared in 1953 and demilitarized zone (DMZ) established along 38th parallel; no peace treaty signed; Koreas remain divided to date.
1956
October - the Twin Crisis: 1) Hungarian Revolution of 1956 crushed by the Soviets; U.S. admits 32,000 Hungarian refugees above the immigration quotas. 2) The Suez Canal crisis arising from a British, French, Israeli joint attack on Egypt due to the nationalization of the Suez Canal; attack ends disastrously when Eisenhower forcefully rebukes his NATO allies.
1957
March - Eisenhower Doctrine (Middle East Doctrine); upon Great Britain’s withdrawal from the region, the existing power vacuum in the Middle East should be filled by the U.S. to forestall Soviet penetration. Eisenhower asked Congress to authorize the commitment of U.S. forces to aid Middle Eastern nations “requesting such aid against overt armed aggression from any nation controlled by International Communism”; applied in Lebanon in 1958, when Eisenhower landed U.S. troops toprotect a pro-western government.U.S. embarrassed when Soviets launch Sputnik space satellite and leapfrog America in high technology.
1959
January - Cuba. Fidel Castro comes to power; first of 1 million Cuban exiles go to U.S., concentrating in Miami, Florida.
