Transcript Chapter 12: Section 4

Chapter 24:
The Nation at War, 1900-1920 #1
Introduction
• German government took
out an advertisement
warning Americans and
other voyagers from
setting sail for England
NOTICETravellers intending to embark on the Atlantic
voyage are reminded that a state of war
exists between Germany and her allies and
Great Britain and her allies; that the zone of
war includes the waters adjacent to the
British Isles; that, in accordance with formal
notice given by the Imperial German
Government, vessels flying the flag of Great
Britain, or of any of her allies, are liable to
destruction in those waters and that
travelers sailing in the war zone on ships of
Great Britain or her allies do so at their own
risk.
• that afternoon, the British steamship
Lusitania set sail from New York
– was secretly carrying a load of ammunition
as well as passengers
• six days later, the Lusitania reached the
coast of Ireland where German U-boats
(submarines) were known to patrol
• Great Britain had
imposed a naval
blockade of Germany
when the war started,
Germany then declared
the area around the
British Isles a war zone
– all enemy vessels –
armed or unarmed –
were at risk
• President Woodrow
Wilson had protested
the German action and
warned Germany of its
“strict accountability”
for any American losses
resulting from U-boat
attacks
• the submarine U-20 was there as the
Lusitania arrived in Ireland and fired a
single torpedo
– caused a boiler to explode that blew a
hole in the Lusitania’s side
• the ship listed
immediately,
making it
difficult to
launch lifeboats
– within 18
minutes, the
ship sank
– nearly 1,200
people died
(128
Americans)
• was the worst
sinking since
the Titanic
• Theodore Roosevelt – called it “an act of
piracy” and demanded war
• most Americans, like Wilson hoped that
negotiations could solve the problem
• Wilson issued a series of diplomatic
notes demanding a change in policy
– first Lusitania note called on Germany to
abandon unrestricted submarine warfare,
disavow the sinking, and compensate for
lost American lives
– Wilson drafted a second Lusitania note
insisting on specific pledges
– third note – almost an ultimatum –
warned Germany that the United States
would view similar sinkings as
“deliberately unfriendly”
• Germany had already ordered U-boat
commanders not to sink passenger liners
without warning
– but a U-boat would mistakenly torpedo a
British liner (the Arabic) and kill two
Americans
• issued the Arabic pledge – promising
that U-boats would stop and warn liners,
unless they tried to resist or escape
– apologized for American deaths
• Lusitania and Arabic
crises contained the
elements that would
lead to war
– new weapons, like the
submarine – strained
the old rules of
international law
• a generation of
progressives, inspired
with confidence in
human progress, did
not easily accept war
• in the end, diplomacy
failed
– April 1917 – the
United States entered
a war that changed the
nation’s history
A New World Power
• Americans after 1900
continued to pay relatively
little attention to foreign
affairs
– foreign policy was
something to be left to the
president in office, an
attitude the presidents
themselves favored
• foreign policy they
pursued from 1901 – 1920
was aggressive and
nationalistic
– United States intervened in
Europe, the Far East, and
Latin America
• dominated the Caribbean
• 1898 – possessed the Philippines, Puerto
Rico, and Guam
– required a colonial policy – a change in
foreign policy, reflecting an outward
approach
• United States built a navy, protected its colonial
empire, and became increasingly involved in
international affairs
• also more and more involved in economic
ventures abroad
• “I Took the Canal
Zone”
– convinced the US should
take a more active
international role,
Theodore Roosevelt
spent his presidency
preparing the nation for
becoming a world power
• modernized the army
• established the Army War
college – imposed stiff
tests for the promotion
of officers
• general staff to oversee
military planning and
mobilization
• doubled the strength of
the navy during his term
in office
• consolidated the
country’s new
position in the
Caribbean and
Central America
• plans for an
Isthmian canal in
Central America
– wanted a canal to
link the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans
• Hay-Pauncefote
Treaty of 1901 –
permitted the US to
construct and
control an Isthmian
canal, provided it
would be free and
open to ships of all
nations
• Isthmian Canal
Commission – had
investigated two possible
routes, one through
Nicaragua – and one
through Panama
– chose the shorter route
through Panama (where a
French company had
already tried and failed)
• Hay negotiated an
agreement with the
Colombian chargé
d’affaires
– Hay-Herrán Convention –
gave the US a 99-year lease
(with option for renewal) on
a canal zone 6 miles wide
• US agreed to pay Colombia a
onetime fee of $10 million
and an annual rental of
$250,000
• Colombian Senate
rejected the treaty
• Roosevelt – considered
seizing Panama, then
hinted that he would
welcome a Panamanian
revolt from Colombia
– Panamanians took the
hint
• Roosevelt moved
quickly to support
them
– sent the cruiser
Nashville to prevent
Colombian troops from
putting down the
revolt, and promptly
recognized the new
Republic of Panama
• Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty – granted the US
control of a canal zone 10 miles wide
across the Isthmus of Panama
– US guaranteed independence of Panama and
agreed to pay the same fees offered to
Colombia
• used giant steam shovels and thousands of
laborers from Jamaica
• August 15, 1914 – the first ocean steamer
sailed through the completed canal
– had cost $375 million to build
• because of the negative actions taken by
Roosevelt in seizing the canal, Wilson agreed to
pay Colombia $25 million in cash, and express
“sincere regret” over American actions
– Roosevelt’s friends in the Senate blocked the
agreement
• Colombian-American relations remained
strained until 1921
– the two countries signed a treaty that included
Wilson’s first two provisions but omitted the
apology
• Roosevelt took great pride in the canal
– claimed it was “by far the most important
action in foreign affairs”
• “If I had followed traditional conservative
methods, I would have submitted a
dignified state paper of 200 pages to
Congress and the debate on it would have
been going on yet; but I took the Canal
Zone and let Congress debate; and while
the debate goes on the Canal does also.”
• The Roosevelt
Corollary
– United States
developed a
Caribbean policy to
ensure its dominance
in the region
• established
protectorates over
some countries and
subsidized others to
keep them dependent
• purchased islands to
keep them out of the
hands of other powers
– like the Danish West
Indies (now the US
Virgin Islands)
• intervened often in Latin
America to protect the
canal zone, promote
regional stability, and
exclude foreign
influences
• a problem was the scale
of Latin American debts
to European powers
– a situation that invited
European intervention
• Venezuela defaulted on
debts – England,
Germany, and Italy sent
Venezuela an ultimatum
and blockaded its ports
– American pressure
forced a settlement on
the issue, but the
general problem
remained
• after the Dominican
Republic defaulted on
its debts Roosevelt
issued an
announcement
– the Roosevelt Corollary
of the Monroe Doctrine
– warned Latin
American nations to
keep their affairs in
order or face American
intervention
• American officials
collected customs and
saw to the payment of the
Dominican debt
• established protectorates
in Cuba and Panama
“Speak softly and carry a big stick.”
• US Senate added the
Lodge Corollary –
warned foreign
corporations not to
purchase harbors
and other sites of
military significance
in Latin America
• the Roosevelt
Corollary guided
American policy in
Latin America until
the 1930s – when
Franklin D.
Roosevelt’s Good
Neighbor policy
replaced it
• Ventures in the
Far East
– Open Door Policy
(China)
– Congress refused
to arm the
Philippines and
the islands were
vulnerable to the
growing power of
Japan
– Russia and Japan
went to war and
Roosevelt offered
to mediate the
conflict
• both Russia and
Japan accepted
• Roosevelt’s conference
ended the war
– Japan emerged as the
dominant force in the
Far East
• Taft-Katsura
Agreement (1905) –
reorganized Japan’s
dominance over Korea
in return for its
promise not to invade
the Philippines
• relations between the US and
Japan were still difficult
– San Francisco school board
ordered the segregation of
Japanese, Chinese, and Korean
children in to a separate Oriental
school
– California legislature considered a
bill limiting the immigration of
Japanese laborers into the state
• resentment mounted and Roosevelt
intervened to persuade the school
board to rescind its order
• also obtained a “Gentlemen’s
Agreement” – from Japan who
promised to stop the flow of Japanese
agricultural laborers into the US
• Roosevelt sent 16
battleships of the new
American fleet around
the world to show
strength
– included a stop in
Tokyo where the
Japanese welcomed the
fleet
• Japanese-American
relations improved and
the two nations, in an
exchange of diplomatic
notes, reached the
comprehensive RootTakahira Agreement
– promised to maintain
the status quo in the
Pacific, uphold the
Open Door, and
support Chinese
independence
• in later years, anger
mounted in Japan
(1913) when the
California legislature
prohibited Japanese
residents from owning
property in the state
• start of World War I –
Japan seized some
German colonies
– in 1915, it issued the
Twenty-One demands
insisting on authority
over China
– Japan coveted an Asian
empire and began to eye
American possessions in
the Pacific
• Taft and Dollar
Diplomacy
– Taft tried to continue
Roosevelt’s policies
– pursued a policy of “dollar
diplomacy” to promote
American financial and
business interests abroad
– had profit-seeking motives
– aimed to substitute
economic ties for military
alliances with the idea of
increasing American
influence and bringing
lasting peace
• Taft – worked to replace European loans
with American ones
– to reduce the danger of outside meddling
• Willard Straight – an agent of American
bankers argued that dollar diplomacy was
the financial arm of the Open Door
– wanted to build railroads in Manchuria in
northern China
• the secretary of state’s plan reversed the policy
• Russia and Japan – found reasons to
cooperate with each other and staked out
spheres of influence in violation of the Open
Door
– instead of cultivating friendship (as Roosevelt had
envisioned) , Taft had started an intense rivalry
with Japan for commercial advantage in China
Foreign Policy Under Wilson
• Wilson – conducted his own diplomacy
– composed important diplomatic notes on
his own typewriter
– sent personal emissaries abroad
– carried on major negotiations without the
knowledge of his secretaries of state
• Wilson – believed in a
principled, ethical
world, where
militarism,
colonialism, and war
were brought under
control
– stressed moral
purposes over
material interests
• chose moral
diplomacy – designed
to bring right to the
world, preserve peace,
and extend to other
people the blessings
of democracy
• Conducting Moral Diplomacy
– William Jennings Bryan – was a fervent pacifist,
he believed in the American duty to “help” less
favored nations
• began an idealistic campaign to negotiate treaties of
arbitration throughout the world
• “cooling-off” treaties – provided for submitting all
international disputes to permanent commissions of
investigation
• idea of “cooling-off
treaties” was based
on the era’s
confidence in
commissions and that
human reason, given
time for emotions to
fade, could settle
problems without war
• negotiated treaties
with thirty nations
– the treaties were naïve,
and they did not work
• Wilson and Bryan –
negotiated the treaty
with Colombia
apologizing for
Roosevelt’s
Panamanian policy
– but other problems
and impatient with
the results of his
idealistic approach,
Wilson continued the
Roosevelt-Taft policies
• defended the Monroe
Doctrine, gave
unspoken support to
the Roosevelt
Corollary, and
intervened in Latin
America more than had
Roosevelt or Taft
• negotiated a treaty with Nicaragua to grant
the United States exclusive rights to build a
canal and lease sites for naval bases
– made Nicaragua an American satellite
• sent marines to Haiti to quell a revolution
• occupied the Dominican Republic
– American troops were “protecting” Nicaragua,
Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba
• four nations that were US dependencies in all but name
• Troubles Across the
Border
– Porfirio Díaz –
president of Mexico
who was overthrown in
1911
• had encouraged foreign
investments in Mexican
mines, railroads, oil, and
land
– most Mexicans had
remained poor though
– his overthrow led to a
decade of violence that
tested Wilson’s policies
and brought the US
close to war with
Mexico
• Francisco I. Madero
– followed Díaz as
President, but could
not keep order
• General Victoriano
Huerta – ousted
Madero in 1913 with
help from the rich,
the army, and the
Catholic Church
– Madero was thrown
in jail and murdered
• many nations
recognized Huerta,
but Wilson refused
• Wilson –
announced a new
policy toward
revolutionary
regimes in Latin
America
– to win American
recognition, they
must not only
exercise power, but
reflect “a just
government based
upon law, not upon
arbitrary or
irregular force”
• Wilson – withheld
recognition from Huerta
and maneuvered to oust
him
– stationed naval units off
Mexico’s ports to cut off
arms shipments to
Huerta’s regime
• caused trouble
• several American sailors,
who had gone ashore in
Tampico to purchase
supplies, were arrested
– were promptly released,
but the American admiral
demanded an apology and
a 21-gun salute to the
American flag
• Huerta agreed – if the
Americans also saluted the
Mexican flag
• Wilson – asked Congress for authority to use
military force if necessary
– learned that a German ship was landing arms at
Veracruz on Mexico’s eastern coast
• American warships shelled the harbor, and
marines went ashore
– they took the city
• Mexicans of all factions denounced the invasion, and for a
time the two countries hovered on the edge of war
• Wilson claimed that he only wanted to
help Mexico
• weakened by rebellion, Huerta resigned
• Wilson – recognized the new government
under Venustiano Carranza
• Francisco
(“Pancho”) Villa –
one of Carranza’s
generals – revolted
– wanted to goad the
US into an action
that would help him
seize power, he
raided border towns
– injuring American
civilians
• removed 17
Americans from a
train in Mexico and
murdered them
• invaded Columbus,
New Mexico – killing
16 Americans and
burning the town
• Wilson – ordered General John J. Pershing
on a punitive expedition to seize Villa in
Mexico
– he led 6,000 troops deep into Mexican territory
• at first, Carranza agreed to the drive, but he changed
his mind
– the wily Villa, eluded Pershing, Carranza
protested, and Wilson (worried about events in
Europe) ordered Pershing home
• Wilson – wanted to
help the Mexicans
achieve political and
agrarian reform
– motives and methods
were condescending
• tried to impose gradual
progressive reform on a
society sharply divided
along class and other
lines
• interfered in the
affairs of another
country
– revealed the themes –
moralism, combined
with pragmatic selfinterest and a desire
for peace – that shaped
his policies in Europe