Building
An Empire
1898 - 1918
Spanish-American War
Causes
• Humanitarian Concerns
• Yellow Journalism
– Joseph Pulitzer
– William Randolph Hearst
• Protect U.S. economic interest in Cuba
• De Lôme Letter called McKinley “weak”
• Sinking of the U.S.S. Maine
Results
• U.S. get Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam
• Cuba became a virtual U.S. protectorate
Why the War is Considered a Turning Point
• Ended Spanish colonial empire in America
• Saw emergence of US as a world Power
U.S. Colonial Empire
Reasons for Colonial Expansion
• Need for raw materials and markets
• Colonies would help U.S. naval strength
• Nationalism – show other nations how strong U.S. had
become
• Missionaries sought to spread Christianity
Alfred Thayer Mahan
• Wrote The Influences of Sea Power upon History
• Argued for making U.S. into a world power
• U.S. needed a strong navy to protect its colonial
interests.
U.S. Involvement: Pacific
• Philippines – Filipinos rebel and resist U.S. rule
• Hawaii – Queen Liliuokalani tried to take
political power back from the American
landowners. Sandford Dole led to provisional
government while it worked out U.S.
annexation.
• Pacific Islands – Guam, Samoa, Midway serve
as refueling stations
U.S Involvement: East Asia
China European powers establish “spheres of
influence” in China
• John Hay’s Open Door Policy
• Boxer Rebellion (1900) – uprising by Boxers
against Western influence in China; foreign
interventions suppresses the uprising
Japan – Commodore Perry opens Japan to trade
and ends Japan’s traditional isolation
• Treaty of Portsmouth 1905 – T. Roosevelt
negotiated between Russia and Japan after Japan
wins the Russo-Japanese War.
U.S Involvement: The Caribbean
Reasons for U.S. Interest in Caribbean
• Hemispheric security
• America acquires Puerto Rico and establishes indirect control of
Cuba
• Protect its economic investments
• Panama Canal
Construction of Panama Canal
• President T. Roosevelt helps Panamanians rebel against Colombia
for a Canal Zone
• U.S takes 10 years to construct canal, ends the need for a twoocean navy.
• Dr Walter Reed discovered that yellow fever was spread by
mosquitoes and Dr William Gorgas ordered all swamps drained,
vegetation cut down, and all standing water sprayed with oil to
prevent breeding of mosquitoes
Caribbean as an “American Lake”
U.S. Involvement: Latin America
Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine
• The US would act as international police power
• Big Stick Policy
Taft’s Dollar Diplomacy
• American investment to promote American foreign
policy
Wilson’s “Watchful Waiting” Policy
• Refused to recognize Mexico’s new government
• Pancho Villa killed people in Columbus NM, Wilson sent
the American Expeditionary Force led by General John
Pershing to apprehend him
World War I
European Causes: nationalism, imperialism, militarism,
and alliance system
Spark starting WWI was the assassination of Archduke
Franz Ferdinand
Reason for US intervention in the War.
• Closer ties with Britain and France
• German actions and propaganda
• Zimmerman telegram/note
• Violation of Freedom of the Seas
• Sinking of the Lusitania/Sussex Pledge
• Use of unrestricted submarine warfare
World War I Highlights
New weapons and tactics:
• submarines
* early tanks
• machine guns
* poison gas
• air planes
* trench warfare
Selective Service Act allowed national government to
draft men to serve in the war
American Expeditionary Force US troops sent to Europe
to defeat Germany
Battle of Argonne Forest major battle of WWI. Germany
was defeated
• Alvin York was awarded the Congressional Medal of
Honor
World War I Results
Wilson’s Fourteen Points proposed by Wilson as a basis for the
peace treaty
• Create new nation-states: Poland
• Break up Austria-Hungary
• Freedom of the Seas
• No secret treaties, open diplomacy
• League of Nations
Versailles and other treaties ended the war and dealt harshly
with Germany
• Germany lost its colonies and had to pay reparations
• Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Turkey were broken up into
separate nation-states
• League of Nations created
Important Individuals
• Archduke Franz Ferdinand – his assassination
sparked the start of WWI
• John Pershing – Commanded the American
Expeditionary Force during WWI
• Woodrow Wilson – US President during WWI,
issued Fourteen Points, and strongly supported US
participation in the League of Nations
• Henry Cabot Lodge – US Senator who led the fight
against joining the League of Nations