Imperialism and WWI
Standard VUS. 9 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the
emerging role of the United States in world affairs and key
domestic events after 1890 by
(a) Explaining the changing policies of the United States
toward Latin America and Asia and the growing
influence of the United States in foreign markets;
(b) Evaluating United States involvement in World War I,
including Wilson’s Fourteen Points, the Treaty of
Versailles, and the national debate over treaty ratification
and the League of Nations.
United States Foreign Policy
• Many twentieth century American
foreign policy issues have their origins
in America’s emergence as a world
power at the end of the nineteenth
century.
• America’s eventual intervention
(involvement) in World War I ensured its
role as a world power for the remainder
of the twentieth century.
• The growing role of the United States
in international trade displayed the
American urge to build, innovate, and
explore new markets.
• In short, American businessmen
believed they could make huge profits
and bring the nation economic
prosperity through international trade.
Isolationism
Washington’s Farewell
Address (1796) set precedent
for the United States to pursue
a policy of isolationism.
Isolationism was the policy of
avoiding involvement in world
affairs. Although in the Monroe
Doctrine (1824) the United
States had declared itself the
protector of the entire western
hemisphere, isolationism
continued to form the basis of
American foreign policy
throughout most of the
nineteenth century.
George Washington at the end of
his presidency. Disturbed by the
war between England and France
and the attempts of both nations to
draw the U.S. into it as an ally,
Washington issued a "Farewell
Address" in which he warned
against permanent alliances with
foreign nations.
Imperialism
• However, as the United States industrialized during the
second half of the 1800s, businessmen and politicians
increasingly looked longingly towards foreign markets as
a potential source of American corporate profits. The
desire to gain this untapped wealth led the United States
to expand its influence in the world during the late
nineteenth century.
• Some historians have called this period the age of
American imperialism, because during this period the
United States gained control over Hawaii, the
Philippines, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
• Imperialism is the act of one nation gaining political or
economic control over other countries.
United States Foreign Policy
• American businessmen with the
help of American politicians tried to
gain access (entrance) to foreign
markets in several ways.
• During the presidency of William
McKinley, Secretary of State John
Hay proposed the Open Door
Policy. This policy wanted to give
all nations equal trading rights in
China. Its goal was to open to
American businessmen the
Chinese market from which they
had previously been excluded. It
also urged all foreigners in China to
obey Chinese law and observe
practices of fair competition.
United States Foreign Policy
• President William Howard Taft expanded upon the Open
Door Policy by advocating (calling for) Dollar
Diplomacy. Through Dollar Diplomacy President Taft
aimed to encourage American investment in Latin
America (South and Central America).
• Not only did Taft urge American banks and businesses to
invest in Latin America, but also promised that the United
States military would intervene (step in), if local unrest
threatened their investments.
• Partially as a result of these two policies, growth in
international trade occurred from the late 1800s to World
War I. This period was the first era of a true “global
economy.”
Aloha Hawaii
While both the Open Door
Policy and Dollar Diplomacy
were American attempts to
engage in economic
imperialism, the United
States also embarked upon a
limited policy of political
imperialism.
In the early 1890s the United
States marines helped
American sugar planters
depose (overthrow) the
Hawaiian monarch Queen
Liliuokalani. In 1898
Congress agreed to annex
Hawaii or add it to United
States territory.
Queen Lilioukalani (1891-93). American
planters, who had established sugar plantations
in Hawaii beginning around 1820, became
increasingly influential in the economy and
government of Hawaii; Queen Lilioukalani's
desire for a new constitution, restoring her royal
powers, caused a revolt by the planters, and
she was deposed in 1893. In 1894 a republic
was established, headed by lawyer and
missionary son Sanford B. Dole, and
annexation by the U.S. followed in 1898.
Spanish-American War
Next, the Spanish-American War was the 1898 war between Spain
and the United States, which the United States won. As a result of
the Spanish-American War, the United States annexed both the
Philippines and Puerto Rico and declared its right to intervene
(become militarily involved) in Cuban affairs.
Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough
Riders on San Juan Hill in Cuba,
1898. When war was declared,
Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Roosevelt resigned his post and
recruited a volunteer cavalry
regiment that nicknamed itself the
"Rough Riders." After the invasion of
Cuba in June, Roosevelt's unit
marched overland to Santiago and,
on July 1, mounted a heroic charge
that allowed the Americans to capture
the ridges above the city and force
the Spanish fleet to evacuate and
surrender the city. The Rough Riders
suffered heavy casualties, but
Roosevelt became a national hero.
Yellow Journalist
The wreck of the U.S.S. Maine,
February 15, 1898. The war for Cuban
independence coincided with a press
war between William Randolph Hearst
and Joseph Pulitzer for the largest
newspaper circulation in New York
City. Both papers emphasized
similarities between Cuba's
independence war and the American
Revolution. Then Hearst sent the
famous artist, Frederic Remington
(1861-1909), to Cuba. Remington
cabled Hearst that there was nothing
to paint, to which the publisher
supposedly replied, "You supply the
pictures and I'll supply the war." On
February 15, 1898, the U.S.S. Maine
exploded in Havana harbor.
An original investigation concluded that the ship was destroyed by an external
explosion, probably a Spanish mine. This was refuted in a carefully documented
1976 study by Adm. Hyman G. Rickover, which demonstrated that an internal
explosion caused the loss of the ship.
Panama Canal
The United States continued its policy of
imperialism under President Theodore
Roosevelt. First, the United States
encouraged Panama’s independence from
Columbia. Then it negotiated a treaty with
Panama to build the Panama Canal. Since
this canal provided a short cut between the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, it benefited
American trade and thereby also furthered
economic imperialism.
A map showing the location of the Canal Zone.
To secure the U.S. control of the Caribbean, and
to give readier access to trade with China and
Japan for eastern manufacturers, Roosevelt was
an ardent supporter of the building of a canal
across the Isthmus of Panama. After using
"gunboat diplomacy" to help Panamanian rebel
leaders achieve independence from Colombia,
Roosevelt signed a treaty with their new nation
in 1903 awarding the U.S. control of a canal
zone. Construction was from 1904 to 1914.
Roosevelt Corollary
• In 1904, Roosevelt issued a statement that came to be
known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe
Doctrine. Corollary means “what naturally follows from”.
• South and Central American Countries were poor and
often borrowed money from European countries then
were unable to repay the loans.
• To prevent European countries from attacking these
countries in the Western Hemisphere and thereby
violating the Monroe doctrine, Roosevelt announced that
“chronic wrongdoing” by any Latin American nation
entitled the United States to intervene in its affairs.
• This changed the Monroe doctrine by allowing one
Western Hemisphere nation the intervene in the affairs of
another.
World War I
The United States truly started an internationalist foreign policy, when it
entered “the Great War” (World War I) in 1917. Internationalism is a
foreign policy based on heavy involvement in world affairs. While American
entry into World War I ensured Allied victory, the failure to conclude a
lasting peace left a bitter legacy.
World War I began in
Europe in 1914, when
Germany, AustriaHungary, and the
Ottoman Empire
(Central Powers) went to
war with Great Britain,
France, and Russia (the
Allies). For three years
the United States
remained neutral, and a
strong isolationist
sentiment existed
among Americans not to
get involved in this
European war.
World War I
• World War I began when the Austro-Hungarian
Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were
assassinated in Sarajevo by a member of the
Serbian terrorist organization known as the
“Black Hand”.
• Nationalism (the feeling of pride and loyalty
people have for their country) and imperialism
combined put pressure on European peace.
• Alliances were made between European
Countries supposedly the maintain a “balance of
power” but proved dangerous when one
member of an alliance was threatened.
The decision
to enter the
war resulted
from
continuing
German
submarine
warfare
against
American
merchant
shipping and
American
cultural and
historical ties
to Great
Britain.
American neutrality was put to the test in May 1915, when the German
submarine U-20 sank the British luxury liner Lusitania, which was
carrying 1200 passengers and a cargo of ammunition for British rifles.
The German embassy had warned Americans that Allied vessels in
the war zone were fair targets, but 128 Americans had ignored the
warning and met their deaths. Wilson accused the Germans of
brutality, demanded that they stop submarine warfare, and refused to
ban American passengers from sailing on Allied vessels.
World War I
• In March 1916, after another
passenger vessel, the Sussex,
was torpedoed, Germany
finally agreed to apologize, pay
damages and promise on to
attack passenger vessels. This
promise was known as the
“Sussex Pledge”.
• Wilson won the election of
1916 with the campaign slogan
“He kept us out of war”.
• By 1917, Wilson asked
Congress to join the war in
Europe. Most Americans did
not support U.S. involvement in
the war.
U. S. troops embarked for
France, 1917. In the fall of that
year, after the Bolshevik
Revolution, Russia made a
separate peace with Germany,
dissolving the eastern front of
the war.
Wilson delivering his War
Message. The final break
with Germany came in the
wake of two incidents. First The Germans announced
early in 1917 that they would
resume unrestricted
submarine warfare. At first,
horrified that his policy of
"strict accountability"
seemed now to demand war,
Wilson did nothing.
Second - Then in February, the British
revealed the contents of the
"Zimmermann Telegraph," proposing a
German-Mexican alliance under which
Mexico would recover all the territory it
had lost to the U.S. in the 1840s. Wilson
began arming merchant ships, and on
April 2, 1917, Wilson appeared before
the Congress asking for a declaration of
war against Germany.
Weapons of
the Great
War:
– Tanks
– Poison gas
– Dogfights
– Machine
guns
World War I
By the time the American troops arrived in substantial numbers in the spring of
1918, British and French units had endured more than three years of increasingly
costly trench warfare. These British troops are shown on the front line in the Somme
area in August 1916. The Battle of the Somme, in the summer and fall of 1916,
achieved almost no changes in the positions of the German and Allied armies, but
420,000 British, 200,000 French, and 450,000 Germans lost their lives, and the
area was almost totally destroyed.
World War I
“No Man’s Land”
World War I
In 1918 President Wilson issued the Fourteen
Points. The Fourteen Points were Wilson’s
statement of plans for peace after World War I,
including plans to eliminate the causes of war.
The key ideas of the Fourteen Points included the
principles of:
•
national self-determination - each national
group should be in charge of its own destiny. For
example, Polish people should live under a Polish
government, if that was what they wanted. ,
•
freedom of the seas - all nations’ ships would
be able to sail in international waters without threat of
attack by another country’s ships.
•
a League of Nations - an organization of nations
established at the end of World War I to maintain
world stability and peace.
As president, Woodrow Wilson said the United States wanted
to “make the world safe for democracy.” America’s military
resources of soldiers and war materials tipped the balance of
World War I and led to Germany’s defeat in 1918.
World War I
The Versailles Peace Conference was led by the Council of Four nicknamed
the “Big Four”:
–
–
–
–
American President, Woodrow Wilson
British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George
French Premier, George Clemenceau
Italian Prime Minister, Vittorio Orlando
World War I
The Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, recognized these three principles.
However, it also included the mandate system, which violated the idea of national
self-determination. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, a mandate was a
region administered by another country until it was judged ready for independence.
The Versailles Treaty divided the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) into mandates, lands to be
supervised or governed by the Allies under the direction of the League of Nations.
France received Syria, and Britain received Palestine and Iraq.
The Treaty of Versailles also
provided for the punishment of
Germany. Against the wishes of
President Wilson, Great Britain
and France had insisted that the
treaty hold Germany responsible
for the war. Finally, the Treaty of
Versailles redrew national
boundaries in Europe, which
created many new nations
including Finland, Latvia,
Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland.
In short, the Treaty of Versailles
recognized the principle of national
self-determination in Europe, but
not in the Middle East, Africa, or
Asia.
World War I
After President Wilson negotiated the Treaty of Versailles, he sent
it to the United States Senate for ratification (approval). Under the
Constitution, the President is the nation’s chief diplomat with the
sole power to make treaties.
However, the Senate must approve all
treaties by a two-thirds vote in order for
them to become law. The Republicans,
who controlled the United States Senate
after the 1918 congressional elections,
questioned the wisdom of the Treaty of
Versailles. They particularly raised
objections to United States foreign
policy decisions being made by an
international organization, like the
League of Nations, rather than by
American leaders. After a long debate,
the Senate failed to approve the
Versailles Treaty. Senate rejection of
the Treaty of Versailles after World War
I demonstrated the historical influence
of isolationism on American foreign
policy.
Hoping to win support for the treaty by appealing directly to
the people, Wilson set off on a cross-country speaking tour
in the fall of 1919. At the end of the tour, however, he fell
gravely ill from a stroke.
Isolated by his wellmeaning family from
political advisors, he
nevertheless refused
to give up the reins
of power, and
refused to
compromise on the
issue. When the
Treaty, and with it the
League, was brought
to a vote, it was
defeated. The U.S.
technically remained
at war with Germany
until 1921, and did
not join the League
of Nations.
World War I
• At home the war led to a growth in intolerance.
German Americans were persecuted for their
ancestry.
• The Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act
of 1918 imposed a prison sentence for any antiwar activities, including the speaking of any other
language than English. These Acts were directed
at Socialist and labor leaders.
• The Supreme Court ruled that the suppression of
the Freedom of Speech in war time is
constitutional because of a “clear and present
danger”.
World War I
A unit of the Women's Defense League drills
in its camp at Washington, D.C. Although
some in the women's suffrage movement
refused to support the war effort until women
were granted the right to vote, other
suffragists took a role in mobilizing women
into the war effort and used women's support
as an argument in favor of their
enfranchisement.
Just as women used their participation in
the war effort to fight for their rights,
African Americans also hoped to use the
war to improve their status. Leaders like
W. E. B. Du Bois and the NAACP officials
protested strongly when initial mobilization
plans did not include African Americans.