USA 1890-1920 foreign policy Flashcards
What has the US traditionally been?
- defensive
- hostile to European style imperialism
Why were there new moves for expansionism?
- new markets needed
- end of frontier so needed new horizons
-age of imperialism across the world - rise in nationalism
- felt culturally superior
duty to civilise others
who were pro imperialism?
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Alfred Thayer Mahan
- senator Henry Cabot lodge; looked at the importance of the navy
who were the isolationists?
- William Jennings Bryan
- Grover Cleveland
- Andrew Carnegie
- Samuel Gompers
What were the causes of the war with spain and Philippines?
- Cuban nationalists revolt against Spain in 1895
- Americans sympathised brutally repressed Cubans
- Cuba’s economy dependent upon exporting tobacco and sugar to US
- Strategically close/important
- US interests in far east- looked at Spanish empire in pacific
- china unstable and rise of japan in east- US bases would be useful
- Feb 1898, USS Maine blew up in Havana harbour- started hysterical media campaign for revenge on Spanish ( hearst & yellow press)
What were the consequences of the war with spain and Philippines?
- US annexed Spanish colonies in the Caribbean and pacific
- many were against conquest of the Philippines
- 1901 platt amendment claimed to protect Cuban independence from foreign intervention but allowed US involvement; then extended to other parts of Latin America
what Spanish colonies in the Caribbean and pacific did the US take?
- Puerto rico
- Philippines
- guam
- took opportunity to take Hawaii at the same time
why were many people against the US’s conquest of the Philippines?
- US were violent
- racial prejudice to Philippines
- 1899-1902 US brutally repressed Filipino people
Who was elected president in 1900?
McKinley
who was McKinleys vice president?
Theodore Roosevelt
who was president after McKinley was assassinated?
Theodore Roosevelt
what did Theodore Roosevelt want?
Panama canal
what was the only way to get panama canal?
create a new country
how did the US and Theodore Roosevelt get panama canal?
- when gov of Colombia ( who in charge of Panama region) were unco-operative
- TR sponsored series uprisings in panama against Colombia
- forcing Colombia to accept an independent panama
- Panama then negotiated the terms for the canal zone
How was China unstable in 1910?
boxer rebellion attacked foreigners in Beijing
- seemed china would be carved up by European powers
what did the US want?
open door trade access
- sec state john hay circulated note to powers
What was the US concerned with?
rise of japan and her new navy
how did the russo-japanese war end?
TR mediated it
Who did TR settle the Alaska dispute with and when?
- Canada
- 1903
what was the Roosevelt corollary?
- 1904 TR turned policy in latin America into an actual theory
what was the Roosevelt corollary added to?
- Monroe doctrine
What did the Roosevelt corollary say on the Monroe doctrine?
- the US had the right to exercise international police power in latin America if cases of wrongdoing
- US would intervene if trouble in her backyard
What did the Roosevelt corollary show?
- us trying to expel European influences from Latin American to ensure US exclusivity in the region
What was the dollar diplomacy?
president Taft’s way of dealing with foreign affairs was to avoid direct interventions by using US financial powers instead
who had power over Taft?
Theodore Roosevelt
who was president in 1909?
- William howard taft
When was dollar diplomacy used?
- 1909; Taft used Honduras debts to US to establish US financial control
- similar in Hati and Nicaragua- not 100% successful, as troops had to be sent to Nicaragua in 1914
- used DD in china- J. Pierpont Morgan + eruopean financiers invested in railroads in china
why did Wilson reject dollar diplomacy?
said it was not ethical
what was Woodrow Wilson?
- pacifist
- peaceful
- ethical
what was William Jennings bryan?
- sec of state
- Christian
- pacifist
What foreign policies did Wilson introduce?
- reinstated open door- away from dollar diplomacy
- accepted new regime in china 1911
- sent marines to Mexico to restore order and in 1916 to hunt down Pancho Villa
what did the US’s fear of Mexican attack lead them to?
intervention into ww1
what broke out in 1914?
ww1
what did the USA naturally support?
triple entente
what did Wilson promise?
neutrality
what are the reasons why US pushed towards neutrality?
- didn’t want foreign entanglements
- resistant to idea of large us national army
- didn’t like European colonialism
- war had to be morally justified
- german-us immigrants
what led to the US entering ww1?
- GB & france under huge economic strain
- WJB resigned in 1915, TR & Henry Cabot Lodge pushing for involvement
- US trade with GB & france rose by 400% so not really neutral
- German unrestricted submarine warfare sank Lusitania, which Germany suspended use of warfare for fear of provoking US but started again in 1917 due to desperation
- Russian revolution took Russia out of the war in 1917
- Germany’s Zimmerman telegram to incite Mexico into war forced WW’s hand to declare war on Germany April 1917
what happened when US were fighting in the war?
- took months to prepare US troops so only a tricle of US soldiers into Europe first
- Jan 1918, 250,000 soldiers were arriving a month
- WW issued 14 points in Jan 1918; principles on which peace should be established after the war
- Germany’s last push by Ludendorff failed
- Ottoman empire collapsed
- Austria- Hungary and Bulgaria surrender
- 9th Nov 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated
