Key Questions

1. What are the broad contours of US foreign policy over time?

2. What have been some of the key political and economic divides in each time period?

3. What elements of US foreign policy are common across time period? What changes substantially?

4. What constitutes an "empire"?

5. How do we reconcile the process of US expansion with popular rhetoric about democracy and (more recently) human rights?

6. How does popular historical memory of these earlier time periods shape views on policy today?

Why do we care?

1. Try to obtain a basic level of descriptive accuracy

2. Find out if reality matches our basic assumption

3. Identify, or rule out, potential causal factors

The Basics

• US is territorially much, much smaller

• US interactions with other nations were limited

• World is a bigger place

• US had no alliances with other states until the 20th century

• Military was very small

• Low defense expenditures

• US and global trade were very low through 1970s

The Basics

• Steam technology increases throughout the 19th Century

• Late 19th century development of trans-Atlantic cables enables significantly faster communication

• Proliferation of cables is relatively rapid.

The Early Years

• Treaty of Paris: September 3, 1783

• Officially ends war with Great Britain

• Freedom!

The Early Years

The Early Years

Post-Revolution Era

• America still relatively weak

• Small population, no military, not economically developed/diversified

• Still vulnerable to attack and economic exploitation

The Early Years

Key conflicts:

• Managing relations with major powers

• English and Spanish territories in Canada and Florida

• Territorial conflicts with Native Americans on frontier

• Access to the Mississippi

• Access to foreign markets and shipping rights

The Early Years

Alexander Hamilton

Thomas Jefferson

The Early Years

Washington’s Farewell Address:

The Early Years

The Early Years

The Early Years

War of 1812

• Extension of Napoleonic Wars in Europe

• British Navy blockades European continent

• France declares a counter-blockade of British Isles

• British seized US merchant ships and forced sailors into service on British war ships

• Native American raids on frontier settlers had British sponsorship

The Early Years

War of 1812: Consequences

• Solidified America’s status

• White House was burned down and rebuilt

• Pre-war borders essentially maintained after conflict

The Early Years

Monroe Doctrine (1823):

• Rejected European interference in the affairs of the Western hemisphere.

• Attempted to establish the United States as the sole power capable of intervening in the affairs of North and South American states.

• Partly a reaction to weakening European control over colonial assets in the Western hemisphere.

The Early Years

Monroe Doctrine: Enforcement

• 1860s: US uses Monroe doctrine to support the overthrow of the Emperor Maximilian in Mexico.

• 1890s: Used to justify naval buildup

• 1904–1915: To justify deploying Marines to Latin America to ward off European creditors

The Early Years

Mexican–American War (Pre-War 1836–1846)

Texas

• Migration of US citizens, slaveowners, and slaves into Texas territory
• Independent Texas, or annexation?

California

• Valuable ports for commerce with Asia
• American emigration to California increases over time
• British and French claims?

The Early Years

Mexican–American War (1846–1848)

• US offered Mexico ~$35 million in cash and debt forgiveness ($800 million + in today’s dollars)

• US paid $15 million after war

• Cost of war to US: ~$100 million; 13,000+ dead

• Cost of war to Mexico: ~25,000 dead; large economic losses

The Early Years

Civil War

• North-South split very deep (slavery, economics, expansion, trade, etc)

• In reality, these are all very closely connected

• Economic interests of the North and South were fundamentally different

The Early Years

Civil War: International Dimension

• European attitudes are mixed (oppose slavery, but want weak America)

• Some British politicians supported the North, but many favored the South in an effort to keep the United States divided

• Weakened United States would pose less of a threat to British hegemony

• Independent Southern states would change dynamics of international trade in Britain’s favor

Transition

Post-Civil War

• United States are again united

• War has led to an enormous increase in military expenditures and industrial productivity

• Military expenditures declines, industrial productivity increases steadily

• By the late-19th century America now extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific

• Idea of “Manifest Destiny” has now been fulfilled

Transition

Foreign powers are still a threat:

• England still has the world’s most powerful navy and controls a great deal of the world’s maritime activity.

• Fights are still being waged over the partitioning of China.

• Spain controls Cuba and Puerto Rico (but not for long)

• German Empire is expanding its navy

• Japanese are also expanding their navy and military capabilities

Transition

Spanish–American War

• February 15, 1898: The USS Maine sinks in Havana Harbor

• Believed at the time to be a mine planted by Spanish agents

• Tensions with Spain spike

• Military expenditures also spike

• Some people blame the press for exacerbating tensions

Transition

Spanish–American War: Consequences

• Spain loses the conflict

• US acquires first overseas colonial territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines)

• US acquires Guantanamo Bay via lease in 1903

Transition

The great debate of the day:

• The course of US foreign policy is uncertain following the Spanish–American War

• Question is between a more assertive, “imperialism-lite", style foreign policy and a less expansionist foreign policy

  • Political divides

  • Economic divides

Transition

Transition

World War I

War breaks out in Europe in 1914

• Imperial competition

• Arms races

• Secret treaties

• Nationalism

• Assassination of an archduke

Transition

World War I

Sources extend back further:

• German and Italian unification

• Several small kingdoms unite into larger states

• Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871)

Transition

World War I

United States enters the war in 1917

• Initially neutral

• German submarine warfare targets American merchant shipping

• Sinking of the Lusitania

• Stalemate in Europe as war drags on

Transition

Consequences of the war:

• Breakdown of old imperial powers
• Austo-Hungarian Empire collapses
• Ottoman Empire collapses
• German Empire defeated
• Creation of several new states
• Nationalism as a driving force in European politics
• Partition of Middle East
• Russian Revolution
• US rejects global leadership role
• New forms of warfare emerge
• League of Nations created
• Reparations imposed on Germany
• Turkey stripped of territory, resources

Transition

New states enter the international system:

• Yugoslavia
• Poland
• Austria
• Hungary
• Czechoslovakia
• Lithuania
• Latvia
• Estonia
• Modern Turkey
• USSR

Transition

League of Nations:

• Viewed as a contrast to previous international orders

• Provides for collective security

• Emphasizes self-determination

• Free trade

• US Senate rejects Treaty of Versailles Twice

Transition

US ultimately rejects leadership role

Reality is more complicated

• President Wilson (a Democrat) supports a more international role for US

• Many Republicans oppose the League and the treaty as written (The Irreconcilables)

• But some prominent Republicans support it

Transition

The Interwar period and World War II

Roots of World War II lie in period immediately following World war I

• Treaty of Versailles

• Germany economy struggling to meet French demands

• French troops enter Germany in 1923 to enforce payment

• Extreme inflation results (value of German currency rapidly declines)

Transition

Other restrictions on Germany

• Democratic government imposed

• Germany military limited after the war

• Army limited to 100,000 men

• Very limited access to armor and artillery

• No navy or air force

Transition

The Great Depression

• Stock market crashes on October 29, 1929

• Sparks worldwide depression

• Many countries turn to protectionism and autarky

• Economic crisis exacerbates other crises

Transition

German Domesic Politics

• Germany recovering from initial economic woes, but hit hard by the depression

• Radical political parties benefit from economic crisis

• Hitler rises to power in 1933

Transition

German foreign policy actions

• Germany, Italy, and Japan sign a series of treaties between 1936 and 1937

• March 1938 Germany annexes Austria by "request"

• September 1938 Germany annexes Sudentenland (part of Czechoslovakia)

Transition

Steps to war

• September 3, 1939 Germany invades Poland

• British and French declare war by day's end

• By July 1940 France falls to Germany forces

• Battle of Britain begins in August 1940

Transition

Japanese foreign policy actions

• Japanese military occupied Manchuria in 1931

• Extends control of China through early 1940s

• Japanese seeking to secure access to materials like oil and rubber

• Expansion brings Japan into conflict with Western powers throughout the Pacific

Transition

The US in the 1930s

• US resists-ish steps to mobilize for war

• Congress imposes arms embargo on belligerent nations

• Congress passes Neutrality Acts 1935-1939

• December 7, 1941 Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor naval base

Transition