Historical overview of US Foreign Policy Versailles Treaty to Cold War & Smily reading Flashcards
What were some of the concessions that Wilson made to allies to preserve the league of nations?
harsh treatment of Germany and imperial rights for Fr & Eng: contributed to WWII
What were some of the main punishments imposed on Germany at the end of WWI
lost navy, colonies and territory in the west and east (lost of german speakers in the lsot eastern territory), democracy imposed on them and was set up for failure by harsh conditions
What were 2 main issues with reparations for the Germans? & how did the USA prop up the system
limited growth and army, hard to justify taxes that go to foreigners on people that just fought a war; US loaned to Germany, Germany paid Europe, Europe repais war loans to usa
How did Versailles cause WWII
reparations destabilized Weimar democracy and activated conservatives that wanted to retake lost territory, Versailles failure to ratify (due to Article 10requirement to intervene) starts withdrawl of us support
What was US FP like in the 20s
Arg #1
Isolationist like, as evidented by the failure to ratify Versailles, tariffs jacked up (made it hard for Germany to make payments), we turned down the European offer to ease up on the germans if we eased up on them, tight monetary policy halts credit to europe
What was US FP like in the 20s
Arg #2
it wasn’t isolationist because, of the dawes plan to ease reparations crisis, relied on loans to get concessions from foreign govts, held the Washington Naval conference in ‘22 for arms control and easing of military spending; Tooze argued that Republicans were triumphant nationalists that wanted to preserve their ability to act unilaterally
So was the USA isolationist in the 20s?
we used to say yes but now say no. but it was def isolationist relative to what the world needed at the time and to 1796. Bottom line, Wilson tried to push the usa into too much international involvement and the public wouldn’t support it
This was a failure of USA leadership
What were 4 main aspects of Great Depression
falling industrial production, falling agricultural prices (really hurt farmers with loans), rising unemployment, international trade declines sharply
What did we do in regards to monetary policy, intl trade in great depression, intl relations
ended gold standard (made Europeans mad b/c we became more competitive), Smoot Hawley Tariff helps to kil intl trade, tight monetary policy aimed at slowing down stock market, passed neutrality acts, withdre from Europe
How does Germany deal with the depression
austerity measures that screwed economy, stuck with gold standard,
Nazis come to power, Hitler uses rearmament to generate recovery=> WWII
Why were wo slow to get involved in WWII
neutrality acts limited FDR, public didn’t want war, FDR eases into support by getting congress to repeal arms embargo to Europe, deploying NAVY, lend lease act gave 1/2 of US GDP to Britain,
What were the competing goals that drove the beginning fo the cold war?
Us wanted to maintain INTL engagement, promote democracy, promote free trade, est UN and Collective security while Ussr wanted a buffer zone, sphere of influence and to spread communism
What were the suspicions that fueled the beginning of the cold war?
we saw hitler in stalin with the molitov ribbenthrop pact, soviets occupied eastern Europe, feared world revolution. USSR was capitalist imperialism in usa, had a history of western invasion, western intervention during Russian rev
What were the personal differences that fueled the beginning of the cold war?
We thought Stalin was paranoid, the Russians though we wanted to destroy communism
