US Foreign Policy Flashcards
What did the Monroe Doctrine consist of?
Thinking that South America was effectively within the American sphere of influence.
What did the Treaty of Paris in 1998 determine?
That cuba was free from Spanish Rule.
What is a corollary ?
A corollary is a statement that follows readily from a previous statement.
What is the Roosevelt Corollary?
It consisted in a paternalist and patronising attitude of the US towards other countries, with a notion of racial supremacy and an underlying imperialist attitude.
What are the Banana Wars?
The Banana Wars were a series of conflicts, military operations/occupations which ended with the withdrawal of American troops from Haiti and President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Good Neighbour Policy in 1934.
What was the Open Door Policy ?
The policy gave all nations equal access to trade in China, and guaranteed that China would no be taken over by any one foreign power.
What as Taft’s ‘Dollar Diplomacy’?
It consisted in improving financial opportunities for American businesses, by using private capital to further US interest rates overseas.
What was the Washington disarmament Conference?
It was held in the aim of naval disarmament and to solve the political situation in the Far East.
What did the Dawes Plan consist of?
In 1924, the plan consisted of the US loaning 2.5 billion dollars to Germany. Germany would then give 2 billion in reparation payment to the Allies, and the Allies would then give 2,6 billion to the US as War Debt Payments.
What was the Clark Memorandum?
A pledge that the US would not intervene in Latin American affairs in order to protect US property rights. This was a complete rebuke of the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.
What was the Kellogg-Briand Pact?
The pact consisted of 15 nations agreeing to make aggression and war as tools of foreign policy illegal. However, their were no means of actual reinforcement of this pact and therefore it’s effectiveness can be questioned.
What was the Hoover-Stimpson Doctrine ?
- it consisted in the US not recognising any territorial acquisitions that were achieved by force.
What did the Neutrality Acts consist of?
The Neutrality Acts prohibited the sale of arms to belligerent nations, prohibited loans and credits to belligerent nations and forbade Americans to travel on vessels of nations of war.
What was the notion of an “Arsenal of Democracy” ?
The idea comes from Franklin D. Roosevelt and implied that the US would build and send weapons to democracies, especially in Britain, in order to protect the values of democracy in the face of totalitarism. (An arsenal means weapon factory)
What precedented the Berlin Blockade?
Stalin wanted a de-industrialised and agriculture based Germany, and wanted Britain and the US to reconsider their stance against this nation by applying pressure to their weak point, West Berlin.
Why was West Berlin such a vulnerable part of Germany?
It lay in the very heart of the soviet zone and relied heavily on rail and road links to supply it.
How did the Berlin Blockade begin ?
By Stalin blocking all routes to West Berlin, and the US successfully putting up an air lift.
What was the result of the Berlin Blockade ?
Germany was divided into two states, in the West the federal republic of Germany and in the East the German Democratic Republic. The division of Germany would eventually lead to the creation of the Berlin Wall in 1961.
China became communist in what year?
1949.
What were the “Salami tactics” in the Soviet Union?
The Salami tactics were the tactics employed in the dismantlement of the non communist coalition. In 1947, elections were rigged and other parties were banned.
What was the Postdam Conference in 1945?
The conference took on a very different approach to foreign policy than Roosevelt, Truman was inspired by Kennan’s ideas on containment. As a result, there was little trust between nations and therefore not much agreement happened on the terms discussed.
What marks the birth of containment ?
In 1949, the Truman doctrine.
What was the Domino Theory?
The domino theory consisted in believing that once a country becomes communist it’s neighbours will soon follow.
What is the HUAC?
House Committee of Un-AMerican Activities.
