A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

THE RISE OF THE USA AS A WORLD POWER (1890 – 1945)

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Charge of San Juan Hill by Teddy Roosevelt & his Rough

Riders

M. Nichols, SCIE, 2010A Level History, Paper 5

A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

USA Presidents – A Chronology

1. George Washington (1789-97) 2. John Adams (1797-1801) 3. Thomas Jefferson (1801-9) 4. James Madison (1809-17) 5. James Monroe (1817-25) 6. John Quincy Adams (1825-29) 7. Andrew Jackson (1829-37) 8. Martin Van Buren (1837-41) 9. William Henry Harrison (1841) 10. John Tyler (1841-45) 11. James Knox Polk (1845-49) 12. Zachary Taylor (1849-50) 13. Millard Fillmore (1850-53) 14. Franklin Pierce (1853-57) 15. James Buchanan (1857-61) 16. Abraham Lincoln (1861-65) 17. Andrew Johnson (1865-69) 18. Ulysses Grant (1869-77) Famous Foreign Policy Presidents19. Rutherford Hayes (1877- 81) 20. James Garfield (1881) 21. Chester Arthur (1881-85) 22. Grover Cleveland (1885-89) 23. Benjamin Harrison (1889-93) 24. Grover Cleveland (1893-97) 25. William McKinley (1897-1901) 26. Theodore Roosevelt (1901-9) 27. William Taft (1909-13) 28. Woodrow Wilson (1913-21) 29. Warren Gamaliel Harding (1921-23) 30. Calvin Coolidge (1923-29) 31. Herbert Clark Hoover (1929-33) 32. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-45) 33. Harry Truman (1945-53) 34. Dwight Eisenhower (1953-61) 35. John Kennedy (1961-63) 36. Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-69) 37. Richard M. Nixon (1969-74) 38. Gerald Ford (1974-77) 39. Jimmy Carter (1977-81) 40. Ronald Reagan (1981-89) 41. George Bush (1989-93) 42. Bill Clinton (1993-2001) 43. George W. Bush (2001-2009)

Questions

a. Which four families have supplied more than one president? What does this suggest about American democracy?

b. Name the six presidents who are perhaps most connected with foreign policy in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

………………………… ……………………… ………………………

…………………………. ……………………….

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

MAP OF NORTH AMERICA

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

Label North AmericaLabel US possessions/bases on the map below.

After you have done that complete the other labels of the area.Use the map of the area you have been given to help you.

Greater America – Some ExamplesAlaska – Bought off the Russians in 1867 for $7.2m. It became the 49th state of the USA in 1959.Cuba - an island country in the Atlantic Ocean off the southeast coast of the USA. This is where the US has a military base at Guantanamo Bay.

Panama - a country at the southernmost tip of Central America. This is where the US has major interests in the canal they built there in 1914.Puerto Rico - an island in the Atlantic Ocean east of the Dominican Republic. This was effectively taken over by the US in 1898, after a war with SpainUS Virgin Islands – Tiny islands in the Caribbean bought off Denmark in 1916

Extension Questions: 1. Why is the Panama Canal so important to the USA?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2. What two ways did the US mainly use to acquire its overseas territories?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________3. Why do you think the US has so much interest in small Caribbean islands? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

Background to US Imperialism – The Old Myth

Many Americans of yesteryear, as well as today, righteously point out that it was the ‘Old World’ and its rampant imperialism that often caused problems for the ‘New World’. While not without foundation, in some respects, this argument neglects to point out that the US itself was also an imperialist nation.

Created by purchases of land from Russia (Alaska, in 1867 for just over $7m) and France (the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 for $11m), it was also the product of expansionist wars with Spain and Mexico (Texas, Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada, etc.), as well as conflicts with GB.

The timeline of aggressive US actions is long. In 1854, Commodore Perry bullied the Japanese into ending their isolation. In 1878, the US established a naval base in Samoa and proceeded to divide up the other islands of the group with the major European powers, notably Germany. In 1890, US troops had been involved in Buenos Aires protecting US commercial interests. In July 1898, the year of America’s greatest territorial acquisitions, Hawaii was incorporated as an American Territory, much later becoming the 50th state in the Union.

In 1898, the US also got involved in ‘liberating’ Cuba from the Spanish, only to become the Cubans effective new overlords. The US Secretary of State even called it “a splendid little war”. In the same momentous year, Puerto Rico was captured and the Philippines taken from the Spanish, as well. The islands of Wake and Guam also became strategically useful Pacific bases. In 1903, Panama was detached from Colombia, as it was needed by the Americans in order that they could build a canal through it, to link the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans.

A corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, by Teddy Roosevelt in 1904, even stated that the US would interfere in domestic affairs of neighbouring Latin countries if they felt this would prevent European interference (Venezuela had been attacked by the Europeans in 1902). The US would itself interfere in Nicaragua (1912), in Mexico (1914) and even in Haiti (1915). Given the latter two were actions ordered by that champion of “self-determination” for smaller and weaker nations, Woodrow Wilson, it seems doubly ironic.

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

1898 – The USA Acquires an Empire

AREA OPERATIONS REASONS CONSEQUENCES1. Hawaii Annexed to the United

States itself where it became temporarily a

‘Territory’ (1900), before being created a full state later in the 20th century

(1959), Hawaii had been an independent kingdom

for many centuries.

Strategically useful, Hawaii was ideally placed for helping the US navy

dominate the Pacific rim. Complete with ports like Pearl Harbor, it gave the Americans a naval reach

in an area they had proprietary designs on.

Americanised, Hawaii became a playground for wealthy Americans, as well as its main Pacific naval base. Its ancient Hawaiian culture was quickly superseded by the more recent, brash

American one. 2. Cuba

USS Maine.

Teddy Roosevelt

President McKinley

William. R. Hearst

The sinking of the USS Maine in Havanna

harbour, in February, was the ideal excuse to launch

an attack in support of Cuban nationalists

(mambises) fighting the Spanish. The sinking

was almost certainly an accident resulting from

carelessness by US sailors with a mine.

Spain’s ruthless policies, however, were genuine

and had included placing the whole island under martial law in 1896 and

even establishing reconcentrados. Added to this the Spanish had

criticised the newly inaugurated President McKinley. Hearst and Pulitzer of the “Yellow

Journalism” (the sensationalist press)

pressed for war and a spurious crusade against

the ‘evil Spanish’, ignoring the atrocities of the Cubans themselves. The fighting was intense,

with both regular and volunteer US troops

involved, most famously Teddy Roosevelt’s

‘Rough Riders’. Also involved were the all-

black 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments, part of the

segregated armed forces. The antiquated Spanish

navy was easily defeated

Cuba had significance for the Americans in a certain

number of ways: The continued Spanish

presence there was an affront to the Monroe Doctrine. McKinley even said Cuba was of interest, because it was “right at our door”

Imperialist and nationalist cliques, containing powerful individuals like Henry Cabot Lodge, Teddy Roosevelt, Whitelaw Reid of the New York Tribune and Albert Shaw of the Review of Reviews, pushed for an empire. Of course, many historians now argue that US foreign policy was increasingly imperialist in scope anyway (see below)

Cuba itself was attractive to US commercial and business interests, especially the sugar interests: $50m was invested in the island and twice that earned in annual trade.

Spanish policies were an affront to US moral sensibilities and moreover the guerrilla war there a danger to its crucial business interests, especially if radical

Cuba became an effective US colony,

even though it was now technically independent. This was clearly against

the spirit of the Teller Amendment, which

emphatically stated that the US would not

attempt to exert its hegemony over the

island. Once in power though, the Cuban rebels were pushed

aside. US business and political interests would dominate the island until

Castro’s revolution in 1959. Even today, the

US incongruously maintains a military base

on the island at Guantanamo Bay. It was the loss of Cuba

especially, which would help form the views of one Francisco Franco. The seizure of Cuba would also begin an

imperialist era in American foreign policy that would also see the

addition of not only Caribbean and Pacific

colonies, but also bases in China and elsewhere.It was also around this

period that children started to be

indoctrinated with patriotic exercises like

saluting the flag. Surely, no coincidence.

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10by Admiral Winfield

Schley.Cuban elements were then victorious.

3.Puerto Rico Another Spanish occupied Caribbean

affront to the US and its Monroe Doctrine, Puerto

Rico was quickly and effectively conquered and annexed, with from 1917

Puerto Ricans allowed full US citizenship.

Puerto Rico had similar economic, political and

strategic value to the USA as Cuba, though on a

lesser scale. It was, like Cuba, also strategically useful for controlling the

planned isthmian canal. It would also, like Cuba, be a

way of countering the effects of the 1893

economic depression. Senator Henry Cabot

Lodge, the leading Republican, certainly saw war as a means of solving dire, economic situations.

Spain had already granted Puerto Rico

autonomy in 1897, but was still forced to cede the country to the USA

(along with Guam) at the Treaty of Paris, in December, 1898.

The 1898 War with Spain, had cost the US $250m and 3000 lives

(most of whom had died from infectious

diseases). The army had quadrupled and grown from 26,800 –

104,000 soldiers.

4. The Philippines Again under the pretext of freeing the Filipinos from

their colonial Spanish oppressors, the US

invaded and drove the Spanish out - only to replace them. They rapidly destroyed the

Spanish fleet.

As with Mexico, the USA was able to purchase the Philippines from Spain for

$20m, another tacit acceptance, perhaps, that territorial ambitions were foremost in US designs.

The US quickly became embroiled in a vicious

guerrilla war with resentful Filipino

nationalists, in which tens of thousands (some say 600 000) would die.

The Filipinos were referred to as ‘gugus’.

5.Guam

McKinley under pressure

Seized without opposition by the navy cruiser USS Charleston. The island was so unprepared for

the American assault that when the Americans fired

three shots, the Spaniards requested some gunpowder to

respond with their own salute, little suspecting

that war instead had been declared!

Guam was a useful mid-Pacific base invaluable for helping America control an ocean it was dependent on

for its commercial life. It was also a midway station

for the Philippines and Asia. The US’ obsession

with China and its potential markets was again

apparent.

McKinley issued an executive order placing

Guam within the administration of the Department of Navy.

Under Navy administration, Guam

experienced many improvements, but at the

same time the Americans showed

themselves to be true imperialists with their

benevolent, but condescending and

interfering regulations, which amongst other things prohibited the

transfer of land without the consent of the

government; restricted access to alcohol, and required that marriage

rites be performed between persons that

were co-habitating; they even required each adult

to learn to write his or

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

her own name within a specified time!

The Historiography on 1898

Paul Kennedy has argued that the US’ domestic growth had to be reflected in increased external power and interventionist policies to protect its interests abroad. America was determined it would not be left out of the imperialist race -nor allow its vital access to overseas markets to be severed by other imperialists.

Frederick B. Pike says the US craved great power status to match its domestic achievements, and international recognition of its successes. Americans wanted the world to know they were a great people.

Walter LaFeber controversially argues that the US actively provoked regional disorder when it suited its interests. Latin America was perceived in an almost proprietary way as a natural market and a place to spread American ideals. War against Spain was also America’s assertion to Europe to stay out of the affairs of the western hemisphere.

John L. Offner has stressed that McKinley always ignored the wishes of the Cubans themselves and cut them out of all negotiations.

Louis A. Perez has emphasised how “North Americans considered Cuba essential to the politico-military security of the United States”, given its strategic position. When Spain would neither sell nor reform the island, the US stepped in to prevent hostile interests, Cuban or foreign, from taking over. They certainly did not want to see a social revolution taking place and intervention helped to stall this prospect. The sovereignty-denying Platt Amendment indicates just how much the Americans wanted to control Cuba’s destiny.

These are arguments, Michael H. Hunt would concur with. He also stresses that the US was not prepared to allow such strategically vital islands as Cuba, etc. to determine their own futures, in case these were antagonistic towards the USA. He says the Americans now saw the “perilous potential of revolution” where once they had been its supporters. The USA, forged in revolution itself, was now the foremost anti-revolutionary power. He also stresses that inherent American ideas of racial superiority helped promote aggressiveness and a belief that they could easily conquer inferior peoples like Hispanics.

Another view is that of Emily S. Rosenberg who has said that US policy was concentrated on assisting manufacturers and entrepreneurs who wished to trade abroad, and was strongly masculine in tone.

Thomas G. Paterson argues that the jingoistic press did not force the War, in contrast to David F. Trask who stresses that public opinion was instrumental.

Richard Hofstadter’s “psychic crisis” states that the government was reacting to internal problems, emotionally and irrationally, by seeking a foreign diversion. Not of course the first time this will have happened in history. Paterson, however, is adamant that the War was caused by design rather than emotion.

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

Others have argued that the national ideology of ‘expansion or die’ meant the US was doomed to keep expanding its frontiers in order to perpetuate its national

identity as a pioneering and ruggedly manly people. Machismo was not just a Spanish concept!

Paterson also stresses the culpability of McKinley himself who he says was the “first modern president” in that he both instigated and carried out foreign policies of his own. He had tried to buy Cuba for $300m and didn’t specifically want war, though he did want control over Cuba and certainly not a Cuba Libre. He thus chose war only when bribery and diplomacy had failed. LaFeber also says he was driven by economic motives, while Offner favours the view that he was bowing to political pressure from his own Republican Party who were pandering to the popular clamour for war.

SUMMARY OF HISTORIOGRAPHY ON 1898

Historian ViewsPaul Kennedy a. Stresses role of McKinley as the first modern president and that the

War was a conscious decision and was not brought about by the pressFrederick B. Pike b. McKinley was weak and bowed to pressure within the GOP; while

ignoring the wishes of the Cubans themselvesWalter LaFeber c. Accuses McKinley of being motivated by economic considerations

and accuses USA of treating Latin America as its to do with as it pleased

John Offner d. Stresses public opinion vital in helping to force war in 1898Louis Perez e. Claims US foreign policy had a strong commercial motive

Michael Hunt f. Internal problems resulted in a foreign distractionEmily Rosenberg g. Stresses importance of Cuba to US’ security thinkingThomas Paterson h. It was an ego trip – to demonstrate the USA had arrived

David Trask i. US determined to protect its foreign markets and interestsRichard Hofstadter j. Stresses the strategic importance of the Caribbean islands to USA

Historian Views

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10 10

A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

Summarise the reasons for the 1898 War, below

POLITICALREASONS

STRATEGICREASONS

ECONOMIC REASONS

SOCIALREASONS

Map of the Battles during the Cuban Invasion (1898) and 114 day war

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

Other Imperialist Ventures

The Panama Canal was created between 1907-1914, a momentous feat of civil engineering, the Americans had succeeded where the French had failed. By building the canal across the isthmus they effectively linked the Atlantic Ocean, in the east, with the Pacific Ocean, in the west. The whole exercise though was an example of blatant, imperialist bullying.

A prophetic and influential nineteenth century imperialist advocate, Captain Mahan, has predicted that "the canal will become a strategic center of the most vital importance", a policy earnestly endorsed by President Teddy Roosevelt, and who always regarded it as his greatest foreign policy achievement.

Panama was a nation created by the US in order to carve out its canal from Colombian territory. When the chief engineer of the canal company organised a local revolt, Roosevelt furious at Colombia declining an offer of $10 million for a fifty mile strip of land, sent the a battleship Nashville and a party of marines. The rebels gladly accepted the $10 m. and allocated a ten mile wide strip, in perpetuity, to their American allies. Grateful for being released from the Colombian yoke, the Panamanian people had quickly acquiesced to American demands for continued access to the Canal Zone. Not that they had a choice.

The canal was built in horrendous conditions. Malarial and Yellow Fever carrying mosquitoes killed thousands before an alert physician, Dr. William Gorgas, realised it was the insects causing the problem; he was the real hero of the project. A Colonel George W. Goethals, led the project through its most arduous, later stages and drove his men on unscrupulously.

US army engineers tore up jungles and levelled mountains. Nothing was to stand in the way of America’s imperial progress.

Work went on despite lethal landslides. Workers with dynamite and clumsy steam shovels cut their way across a continent. They built a railroad, three sets of concrete locks, and a huge artificial lake. Nine years later the freighter Ancon entered the new channel. Hundreds of construction workers hopped aboard for the historic ride. A shiny towing locomotive pulled the Ancon into the first lock. Bands played and crowds cheered as the ship slipped into the Pacific.

Roosevelt was fond of the old African saying: “speak softly and carry a big stick”. His stick was the US navy, and increasingly he was bellowing America’s ambitions to the world.

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

Between 1898 -1929, the US sent troops to Latin American countries on 32 occasions.

These interventions were largely justified by the ‘Roosevelt Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine, which stated that the US as a “civilised nation” had a right to interfere in the affairs of the Americas, to pre-empt outside interference.

William Howard Taft, former governor of the Philippines, followed Roosevelt into the White House. Taft believed in economic expansion, and he introduced a policy called "dollar diplomacy." This policy used diplomacy to advance and protect American businesses in other countries. Taft employed Roosevelt's corollary in Nicaragua and other Latin American countries to protect American investments.

Why was the US so interested in Nicaragua?

The country had attracted fruit growers and mining companies, and was used before the Panama Canal to transport people between the East and West of the USA. It was even considered a possible site for a trans-oceanic canal. When US business interests were threatened there, marines were sent and remained there for 21 years.

Once it had occupied the Philippines, the US had also become an Asian power and looked increasingly at ways to get involved in China, which was being carved up by the major European powers, and Japan. John Hay, the Secretary of State, declared an ‘Open Door’ policy on China, which meant every nation should have access to the goodies China contained. The imperialist powers determination to exploit china resulted in the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. The Chinese nationalists besieged the imperialists in the foreign legation, until they were saved by a foreign, relief force which included an American contingent. These troops then set about looting the area, including the Forbidden City. John Hay’s ‘Open Door’ was now well and truly ajar.

In 1916, the US purchased the Danish West Indies from Denmark, re-naming them the Virgin Islands (USVI). The purchase had been delayed by the Danes insistence that the inhabitants have a say in their destiny, something which John Hay refused to concede. It remains an American Overseas Territory today.

Further Examples of US Imperialism

AREA DATE WHO INTERVENED NATURE OF INTERVENTIONHonduras 1903 Marines US marines intervene in revolutionDominican Republic

1903-4 Marines US interests protected in revolution

Korea 1904-5 Marines Land to protect US interests during Russo-Japanese War

China 1911-41 Marines, Navy Continuous occupation of US concessions in China

Haiti 1914-34 Marines, Air Force 19-Year occupation after revoltsDominican Republic

1916-24 Marines 8-Year Marine occupation

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

BBC DRAMA-DOCUMENTARY ON THE PANAMA CANAL

Dr. William Gorgas- the real hero?

Fill in the gaps, using the information from the documentary: ‘The Seven Wonders of the Industrial Age’

The idea for an isthmian canal across the narrowest part of ________ America was an old one. The first diggings were undertaken by the _________ under Ferdinand __________ who had experience in such ventures, having created the ______ Canal in ________ that linked the _____________________ Seawith the Red Sea.

However, all sorts of problems had beset the project and the __________ had had to give up in _______. They had run out of _______ and been unable to overcome various ___________ difficulties.

In turn, the Americans decided to continue and complete the process. They had originally wanted to cut a canal through ___________.

The Americans worked on the Canal between ______ and ______. They took a different approach deciding to build a series of ________ and _____ instead of trying to dig a _____-level route.

They had wrenched the area from __________ and then forced the Panamanians to grant them a ________ lease on an area called the Canal Zone.

The Americans faced many problems in building the Canal, not least the landslides in the ___________ Cut.

The Canal project was overseen by a tough and uncompromising army engineer called Colonel _______. He was helped by the work of Doctor William ________ who realised that ___________ were causing a lot of the diseases that had so ruined previous efforts.

The finished canal was ____ miles in length and ships could negotiate it in ______ hours; whereas before they had taken weeks or even months to go around the tip of _______ America. The USA could now control the _______ and _______ oceans much more easierly, and speed up the flow of its trade and commerce enormously. Panama, in effect, became an American satellite.However, many even at the time believed the Canal had been dug too narrow and should have been much ______. It was not perfect, but it certainly announced the US’ arrival on the global scene.

Mediterranean-1914-perpetual-Atlantic-Culebra–wider-Goethals–de Lesseps-Nicaragua-locks-sea-Pacific –Suez-South-mosquitoes-technical-1904-

Colombia-51-Gorgas-1899-French-Central-9-dams-Egypt

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

Opposition to Imperialism

Not all Americans were in favour of the US emulating its imperialist rivals. Many felt disgusted that a nation like the US would stoop to imitating the values of the ‘Old World’. As early as the Mexican War, doubts had been expressed, of course, over the future foreign policy of the USA.

These doubts were raised for a number of reasons:

In the years before the Civil War, there had been fears new territories would extend slavery; this had led to delays over the granting of statehood to California, for example, until the 1850 Compromise was signed;

Roosevelt’s actions in Panama, for example, were regarded as ‘unconstitutional’ and against the spirit of the 1788 Constitution; the US itself had been forged from an anti-imperialist struggle for independence; many Americans were loathe to be cast in the same mould as their former British oppressors, the most infamous empire-builders of the age.

The Anti-Imperialist League, formed in the wake of the Spanish-American War, was a sincere and moralistic campaigning group, with an almost religious zeal, that attracted 3000 people to its first meeting, in Chicago, in 1899. Composed of the East Coast elite: academics, newspaper editors, clerics and suffragettes, it vigorously opposed imperialism on the grounds that it would undermine America’s democracy and republicanism. Prominent figures included the feminist, Jane Addams, Moorfield Storey who later became the president of the NAACP, and even the steel magnate, Andrew Carnegie, as well as the labour leader, Samuel Gompers. Mark Twain was a Vice-President and wrote how “the military and naval schools…were the preserve of the money-changers; and the standing army – the creation of the conquest days – was their property”. The League continued to protest against US imperialism until it was dissolved, in 1921. The League was attacked in the press by the Chicago Tribune, hecklers at its meetings were common and it was denounced as unpatriotic and even traitorous.

Political bodies like the Missouri House of Representatives, in 1901, also protested against the Philippines War, for example, in a clear anti-imperialist blast at McKinley. Many were sympathetic to ideals of Philippine and Cuba independence, including William Jennings Bryan.

Besides, the altruistic elements, it must also be stressed that certain vested interests also opposed US policy. The Democrats saw a chance to make political capital against the Republicans, even though they largely supported imperialism. The sugar trust and domestic beet sugar producers stalled the Hawaiian treaty, because they felt threatened by foreign sugar imports.

One lump or two?

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

Why did the US Remain Neutral (1914-1917)?

Initially, the US took no active or direct participation in the Great War. The reasons for this, included:

The US may have been an economic giant, but it had a small army, much smaller than that of any of the European powers. In 1914, General Leonard Wood formed the National Security League to campaign for conscription.

The US economy in 1914 was in one of its periodic slumps; the US could not afford to go to war.

International maritime rules in 1914 were pro-neutral and pro-free trade. Ideas of unrestricted submarine warfare were a long way off. As long as contraband was not being transported, trade was possible with both sides, even during hostilities. The US was concerned that showing any favour to either side might affect its trade. Besides, as friendly GB had the biggest navy in the world, the US did not expect its commercial lifelines to be threatened by the much smaller German navy.

Woodrow Wilson, the short, self righteous and moralistic segregationist from the South, was determined to keep the US above the sordid arguments of the Old World. Wilson was also a political opportunist and in seeking re-election in 1916 he campaigned on a policy of continued neutrality with the slogan, “He Kept Us Out of the War”. His cabinet was initially composed of pacifists like William Jennings Bryan, but he would be replaced by the more pro-allied, Robert Lansing.

Other political leaders also argued for isolationism. There were even pacifist pressure groups like the ‘American Union Against Militarism’.

The US was a nation of immigrants, and many were of German or Irish origin. Both were hostile to GB. Wilson was certainly always concerned about the number of German and Austrian immigrants in the country. US naval clashes with Germany over areas like the Philippines, and shared Anglo-Saxon values, meant the US was unlikely to be pro-German either.

WWI was initially a largely European centred conflict and did not seem to threaten US interests or colonies.

Woodrow Wilson in the White House – ready to change the

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

Why Did the US Enter the War in 1917?

The US may have been, technically, a neutral country, but the reality was that its strict neutrality was already over by the end of 1914. The Americans quickly realised the commercial benefits of the War. They decide to sell arms to the belligerents and accept severe British restrictions on their trade with Germany. The US armed GB for cultural reasons and also to make a buck. Wilson was perhaps too short-sighted to see that this favouring of GB would lead to difficulties, with Germany. Historian, Harry Elmer Barnes, even claimed the US made so many loans to GB that its defeat by Germany could not be seriously contemplated by the ‘Merchants of Death’ eager to get their money back.

The Timeline to US InvolvementMay 1915 The British liner, the RMS Lusitania, is sunk by a German submarine, with

the loss of 128 US lives. It was subsequently discovered many years later, that the ship was carrying contraband to GB and so was a legitimate target. At the time though, the sinking played into the hands of the British propaganda machine, especially when the Germans, tactlessly, issued a special medal to the U-boat crew celebrating the sinking!

January 1917

The Germans launch unrestricted submarine warfare. This means they sink anything that will help and aid their enemy – whatever nation it belongs to. Not only does this endanger US lives, but more importantly, US commerce.

April 1917 The US declares War on Germany. The infamous Zimmerman Telegram had been intercepted by the British. After decoding it revealed how the Germans had been encouraging the Mexicans and Japanese to attack the Americans and seize territory. The Senate voted 82 to 6 for War and the House of Representatives 373 to 50. Wilson now had the excuse he needed to enter into the ‘War for Civilisation’. However, opposition continued to the War, headed by radicals like the famous suffragette and social reformer, Jeanette Rankin.

June 1917 The first US troops arrive in France, but don’t win a victory until May, 1918.January

1918Woodrow Wilson proposes a fair and honourable peace based on his Fourteen Points. These involve concepts like: the end to secret diplomacy, free trade, self-determination and freedom of the seas. The Germans haughtily reject the peace still believing that they can win the War. The sanctimonious Wilson is furious and will take his revenge at Versailles.

Late 1918 The US pursues a policy of total war and crushing victory against an increasingly demonised enemy under Wilson’s moralistic impetus.

RMS Lusitania – Innocent Victim?

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

Why the USA Entered WWI – The Historiography

Use pages 135-136 in Farmer and Sanders and Brogan page 473-478 to match the historian up with their correct views. They are currently mixed up.

Historian ViewsRay Stannard Baker a. Claims Wilson was sincere in his desire to keep the US out of WWI

(“his instincts were profoundly pacific”), but was forced into war by German actions of unrestricted submarine warfare and the impact of

the Zimmerman Telegram

Arthur Link b. Argues that the US entered WWI for largely selfish economic reasons – the US could not afford to let a heavily in-debted GB lose!

Harry Elmer Barnes c. He argues that Wilson was an idealist who entered the war to create a better world

Hugh Brogan d. Naively believes Wilson’s claims that he was defending the world from Germany barbarity and not just US self-interests

Historian ViewsRay Stannard Baker

Arthur Link

Harry Elmer Barnes

Hugh Brogan

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

The US and WWI – How the US Contributed to Victory

US ‘doughboys’ fought valiantly and well throughout the War. Initially, treated with a certain degree of contempt, by their more experienced British and French allies, it was quickly realised they were fine soldiers. Generally, taller (5ft.9 ins), fitter and better equipped than their European counterparts, the Americans fought and won a number of battles, though not without some initial reverses.

The Selective Service Act, drafted by General Hugh Johnson, had authorised the president to raise not more than 4 volunteer infantry divisions. All males between 21-30 were required to register for military service. Nearly 24 million would register, and 4 million of them would be drafted. Of these, 50% would serve overseas. By July, 1918 there were over a million US troops in France. US soldiers fought in many battles, alongside their allies: the 3rd Battle of the Marne (May, 1918); the Battle of the Aisne, in June, 1918 and in the attacks at Le Hamel and Canal du Nord. General John Pershing also carried out independent US attacks at St. Mihiel (September) and Meuse-Argonne (October).

Famous WWII generals like Douglas MacArthur and George Marshall would gain valuable experience during the War, as would one Harry S. Truman, whose traumatic experiences as an artillery officer would, some historians have argued, help him decide to drop the A-bomb on Japan, in 1945.

The US Navy also contributed to final victory. The third largest, even in 1914, the ships were used to protect vital Atlantic convoys, while some operated in the Mediterranean.

The role of US air force was even more impressive, especially since the first military squadrons had only been established, in 1913. By 1917 the US Army Air Service had 1,185 personnel and 260 planes – but none were fit for combat purposes. The US Congress instead allocated $640 million to build 22,000 planes based on French designs. 5000 aircraft were also built on British designs. Eventually, the Americans also produced their own craft like the Curtiss H-16. American pilots also achieved ace status. Eddie Rickenbacker shooting down 26, Frederick Gillet, 20 and Wilfred Beaver,19.

A British veteran, William Brooks, when interviewed in 1993, definitely credited the Americans with helping to win the War, and admired their more informal and flexible officers much more than his own, supercilious ones.

However, it was not so much direct US military involvement, as the economic power of the US, which helped to ensure final allied victory.

The USA poured massive amounts of materiel into the conflict: weapons, aircraft, ships, foodstuffs and clothing. Herbert Hoover’s Food Administration aimed to boost agricultural output. The War Industries Board had efficiently set prices, determined what goods private industry should be producing for the war effort.

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

The Fourteen Points

Wilson proposed the Fourteen Points, in January, 1918. His motives were part idealistic, part pragmatic, and another in a long line of armistice attempts, which had included proposals by the Pope and the Austrians. The terms, favourable to Russia, were partly designed to keep Russia in the War, but also to encourage the Central Powers to the negotiating table. The latter though showed no interest in the terms – except in late 1918 when they realised they were losing the War. The Germans confidently expected a peace based on the Points, but they had no such right, even in Wilson’s mind. They had forfeited their opportunity to a ‘fair and honourable’ peace by prolonging the War.

VERSAILLES & THE FOURTEEN POINTS (Use Farmer and Sanders pages 136-138)

TERMS APPLIED NOT APPLIED

PARTIALLY APPLIED

NATIONSWHICH

BENEFITED

NATIONSNOT

BENEFITED1. End to Secret Diplomacy

2. Freedom of the Seas

3. Free Trade

4. Reduction in Armaments

5. Self-Determination for Colonial Peoples

6. The Evacuation of Occupied Russian Territory

7. The Evacuation of Occupied Belgium

8. All French Territory Restored

9. Re-adjustment of Italy’s borders

10. Self-determination for the peoples of Austria-

Hungary11. The Creation of

Yugoslavia12. Self-Determination for

peoples of the Turkish Empire & International

access through the Dardanelles Straits

13. An Independent Poland

14. The Establishment of a League of Nations

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

The Effects of the War on the USA

Military Effects Total casualties of the American Expeditionary Force: 264,000 Total deaths in combat were 55,550 Plus 50,000 died from disease (mostly influenza) 200,000 Afro-Americans served, but only 42,000 were classified as combat troops The armed forces fought as segregated units, with the black troops fighting

alongside the more tolerant French (US forces would be segregated until 1947) Future WWII generals and politicians gained invaluable experience in the

trenches, including Harry S. Truman (an artillery captain)

Social Effects For only the second time

in their history US citizens had been subject to a military draft

Even though many blacks had fought well in the War, discrimination continued. In the year after the War, more than 70 blacks were lynched – including ten black soldiers, some still in their uniforms

Women had seen their status and freedoms increase during the War, as they contributed to the War effort and shown themselves to be just as patriotic as the men

Economic Effects The War brought

prosperity to an economy that had been in one of its cyclical depression, until 1914

Employment and wages increased

Industry’s profits soared and the rich grew richer

The US also grew wealthy, as it was the chief creditor of the War. The Dawes Plan would be negotiated to ensure that the Germans paid their reparations to GB and France, and they then paid their debts to the US. It was not an altruistic gesture.

Political Effects The Espionage Act of 1917 had profoundly curtailed US freedoms and was akin to Lincoln’s

suspension of habeas corpus in the Civil War; during the War people had been given 10 year sentences and nearly 900 people had been sent to prison, while others were given huge fines or gagged. 450 conscientious objectors were imprisoned and newspapers shut down. One woman, Rose Pastor Stokes, was given 10 years just for writing to the newspaper and being critical of the government!

The War also had other negative effects. The US became more insular as a result of the War, sick of sorting out the problems of Old Europe. The Treaty of Versailles would be rejected by Congress and the US would embark on a period of isolationism. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge would vehemently oppose Wilson’s dream of a US-led League of Nations.

Wilson would be the last Democrat president until 1933. The nation became increasingly conservative and intolerant. Only Republican presidents would be elected to office throughout the 20s.

Those like, Jeanette Rankin, who had opposed the War or criticised the government often found themselves political outcasts.

The infamous Red Scare of 1919-20, which perhaps typified the paranoia and distrust, which the War created, saw 1500 people arrested for disloyalty. J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI was a prominent figure in charge. His rise to prominence had begun.

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

Isolationism and Neutrality

The US failed to ratify the Versailles treaty and refused to join the League of Nations. Despite Wilson’s best efforts (he embarked on a nationwide tour to persuade people of the benefits of Versailles and the League) all he succeeded in doing was wearing himself out. By 1924 he was dead and the US was being ruled by a succession of Republican presidents, like Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge, neither of whom had any interest in foreign affairs. Instead, “the business of America was business” and a return to “normalcy” were touted as the new zeitgeists of the age.

Americans were in no mood to become internationalists:

Many Americans were of German and Austrian origin and hated the Treaty of Versailles and had never approved of the War against Germany; they certainly did not want to belong to the League, which was charged with overseeing the Treaty’s implementation;

The USA had suffered 117 000 dead as a result of WWI; the League promised to send US troops to solve international disputes. Why should more young American men die because of other nations problems? American troops had already become involved in the problems of Russia and Turkey, even though the War was over;

Others were anti-French or anti-British and saw the League as an Anglo-French plot to dominate the world; Americans were anti-imperialists! (conveniently forgetting their own colonies, of course);

Leftists and liberals were also deeply suspicious of the armaments industry and the excessive profits they had made out of the recent conflict, an accusation that would rumble on into the 1930s;

The economic cost of joining the League worried others; would the USA be signing a blank cheque? Would possible League sanctions threaten US trade?

Americans were an insular and essentially parochial people. The US was a nation built by “rugged individualism”; the US was large and rich enough to stand on its own. Geographically isolated, it had a long history of support for isolationism: Tom Paine had expressed such views in his ‘Common Sense’; George Washington’s famous farewell address had uttered similar sentiments, to be propounded by his successors, notably Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe.

President James Monroe

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

WHY DID THE USA NOT JOIN THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS?

2. “The British killed me grandfather and they would’ve killed the rest of me family if we hadn’t come over on the boat. I say

we should leave the Treaty alone and not prop up British imperialism by joining that infernal League, which they will

dominate. I didn’t leave the Old Country to see me grandchildren involved in the affairs of the British empire”

German Immigrant Republican Politician A Mother Irish Immigrant Businessman

1. “My son was killed in the battles of 1918. I hope to God that no

other mother ever has to send her son overseas to fight the wars of the Old World, again. Europe is

none of our business!”

3. “The US cannot afford to get mingled up with this new international organisation. It will cost too much and our trade will suffer if we have to apply sanctions against trading partners. The

business of America is business after all”

4. “That treaty was a disgrace. It humiliated

poor, old Germany. Why should we support a body

that is so closely associated with

Versailles?”

5. “We need a new policy of isolation to keep us out of the

affairs of Europe! And we need a return to normalcy and away from Wilson’s ridiculous pipe

dreams”.

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

However, it is too simplistic to state that the US became totally isolated from international affairs, and a look at its actions clearly shows that its isolationism was only ever partial, even in its origins as a nation. And nor was it completely negative in effect, either.

US Foreign Actions (1921-1929)

(Pages 138-9 in Farmer & Sanders; and Brogan)ACTION DATE TERMS

The Washington Conferences

The Dawes Plan

Kellogg-Briand Pact

The Young Plan

With the accession to the presidency of F.D. Roosevelt, little change was initially seen. However, once the Great Depression was more under control, the interventionist-minded Roosevelt increasingly turned his attention to foreign affairs.

FDR declaring war on the Empire of Japan, December, 1941

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

US Relations with Europe

Traditionally, close to its fellow republic and ally in the War of Independence, France, US troops had fought shoulder to shoulder with the French in WWI; many black troops had been awarded Croix de Guerre medals. However, relations cooled in the inter-war years, as they did with a number of other major powers. The failure of the US to join the League had hardly helped cement good relations with the Anglo-French, who were reluctantly forced to take on the leadership of an expensive and fractious organisation.

During the Spanish Civil War, the US government had not intervened in defence of the democratically elected and popularly supported republic. Many hundreds of US volunteers did go though to fight for the Republican side, forming the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. US business also made a different kind of killing: selling oil to the nationalist insurgents.

Relations with Germany and Italy also became increasingly strained throughout the 30s. FDR personally detested Hitler, whom he regarded as an obnoxious bully. However, the US did nothing to prevent Hitler’s aggressive actions in Europe or Mussolini’s in Africa. Robert A. Divine has even gone as far to suggest that the 1937 Neutrality Act, by depriving help to those who were fighting in civil wars against fascism, made the US “a silent accomplice of Hitler”.

Mussolini and his emissaries and aviators had even initially been feted in the US, which had a large Italian immigrant community.

Roosevelt may have been the first US president to recognise the Soviet state and establish diplomatic relations with it (1933), but the benefits to the US were limited. The Soviets never much in the way of US goods nor did they offer a satisfactory debt settlement. Nor did the USSR ever stop its support of subversive elements within the USA.

More reprehensively, the Roosevelt government refused to give even a token payment to the League of Nations to help with its increasing refugee problem nor was the anti-Semitic US prepared to accept Jewish refugees, because they might be a burden to the taxpayer!

However, the fall of France in the summer of 1940 spurred Congress into agreeing to more support for GB. But even before then, FDR had been determined to do something. Doenecke has written that “within three weeks [of WWII breaking out]…he urged Congress to remove an arms embargo that had been one of the lynchpins of US neutrality legislation”.

The Danish government in exile placed Greenland under US protection and authorised the construction of air and naval bases there. In July, 1941, 4000 marines were invited to dissuade the Germans from attacking Iceland.

If the USA had been more proactive, rather than reactive in European affairs, WWII may perhaps never have even occurred. Robert Divine has even gone as far to state that FDR had surrendered the initiative to Hitler and Tojo. It was a lesson the US was to learn in the post-War era.

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

AMERICAN ISOLATIONISM

1. 2.

4.

3. 6.10.

5.

7. 9.

8.

Across2. Historian who accuses FDR of being an isolationist [6]3. The USA was an essentially ________ nation [7]5. FDR improved relations with Latin America here [10]7. The USA neglected this area in 20s and 30s with disastrous consequences [7] 8. The most isolationist president of all? [8]

Down1. The American people elected him in a clear snub to Wilson and his

ideas [7]2. US Vice-President who provided short-term loans to Germany [5]4. US Secretary of State who negotiated a treaty that renounced war

[7]6. GOP senator who opposed Wilson [5]9. The apogee of US isolationism [3]10.President whose doctrine warned European powers against interference in the Americas [6]

HISTORIOGRAPHY ON ISOLATIONISM

ANAGRAM DECIPHERED NAME

VIEWS

SNPOSMI

ECENODKE

EEVDNI

MERRFA & DERNASSMARINCH

KELLAD

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

FDR’s Foreign Policy (1935-1941)

ACTION DATE TERMS

The Good Neighbour Policy &

Pan-Americanism

1933-39

A policy from the era of Hoover, isolationism showed it could also have positive benefits. FDR’s policy of non-

intervention in Latin America was confirmed at the Montevideo conference in 1933. Terms included:

US marines were withdrawn form Haiti; Cuba was given its sovereignty back; The US right to police the Panama canal was given

up in 1939; US gave up controlling the finances of the Dominican

Republic; Made only mild protests when Mexico nationalised

and confiscated US owned assets;The policy was a genuine one and confirmed by FDR

himself when he attended the Pan-American conference in Buenos Aires in 1936, declaring that Latin countries

would now be treated as equals. Relations improved to the extent that Hollywood agreed to present more

positive images of Latins, Time magazine agreed to publish Spanish and Portuguese editions and the US govt. implemented exchange programmes. Economic

co-operation supplanted Taft’s ‘dollar imperialism’: Reciprocity treaties were made with 15 Latin nations US govt. capital replaced private investment Panama was paid nearly double for canal rights

The Neutrality Acts

1935-1937

The Act prohibited trade in military materiel with warring countries and travel by US nationals on ships belonging to warring countries. It was amended in 1936 and 1937 to prohibit loans to warring countries, including those, like Spain and China, involved in civil wars. Congress

was once again asserting the nation’s isolationism, against FDR’s more interventionist wishes.

Naval Expansion Bill 1938 Congress agreed to the building of a two-ocean navy

Cash and Carry

1939

GB is allowed to purchase US materiel to aid it in its struggle against Nazi Germany. Japan also took

advantage to purchase and carry away copper and scrap metal.

Sanctions against Japan

1940-41

The expansion of the Japanese empire, which the US had long ignored was finally addressed. Economic sanctions on oil and steel sales were applied in July 1941 (Richman refers to a “prolonged US economic

warfare”), which helped to provoke the attack on Pearl Harbor, in December, 1941.

National Defence Act 1940 An embargo on any materials deemed necessary for national defence – it was aimed at Japan.

Lend-Lease1940-41

In exchange for bases, GB is given war materiel, including a number of old destroyers. The fall of France

had at last shocked Congress into action.

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

Opposition to the Ending of Isolationism and Non-Intervention

American non-interventionism was an important aspect influencing and affecting Roosevelt’s foreign policies. The conclusions of the Nye Committee in 1934, tasked with the investigation of the excessive war profits made by the armaments industry during WWI, reinforced the anti-war position of many ordinary Americans and confirmed the views of liberals and the left.

Roosevelt’s attempts to make the USA share more of its international burden, as a great power, were often thwarted or opposed, his powers to do so curtailed.

When the French Premier, Reynaud requested US aid, Roosevelt had to refuse. Even when the US gunboat, Panay, was attacked in China by the Japanese, the US public, backed by an isolationist press, weren’t interested in a response and just wanted to get out of China completely.

The most notable opponents though, were the America First Committee (AFC).

Sheldon Richman has argued that the AFC was a very sincere and idealistic organisation. Others, however, have pointed out that it was infiltrated by fascists and anti-Semites, determined to keep the US from aiding a beleaguered GB.

Founded by a Yale academic, R. Douglas Stuart Jr., in the summer of 1940, its famous members included future president, Gerald Ford, future Supreme Court justice, Potter Stewart and the aviator, Charles Lindbergh. Other members, like the actress Lillian Gish, also joined, but came under professional pressure to resign. Many of the AFC were Roosevelt’s political opponents and equated his New Deal policies with dictatorship, such as the head of the New York chapter, John T. Flynn.

In my opinion, a short-sighted, parochially-minded and naïve organisation, Pearl Harbor quickly brought AFC activities to an end, and it dissolved itself.

How FDR tried to cleverly circumvent

isolationism

1. His “Quarantine speech” in 1937 Chicago proposed to quarantine aggressors by joining other powers, but his attempts were unsuccessful;

2. He sent the volunteer “Flying Tigers” squadron to help the Chinese in their fight against the Japanese;

3. He pressurised Japan by adding additional materials to the list of embargoed products, helping to provoke Japan into an attack; he further, knowingly, antagonised the Japanese by demanding they withdraw from China and Indo-China;

4. He provided assistance to the USSR, once it had been invaded by the Nazis;

5. He got the Senate to allow the arming of merchant vessels from November, 1941;

6. The deciphering of the Japanese codes meant FDR probably knew the Japanese were preparing for war. Was Pearl Harbor a complete surprise?

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

The US Contribution to Victory Use your textbooks to find the information

MILITARY

POLITICALSOCIAL

ECONOMIC LEADERSHIP

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

The Historiography on FDR’s Foreign Policy

Farmer and Sanders emphasise that traditional American sympathy for China helped to lead the US into war with Japan, and they emphasise that without FDR in the Whitehouse the US may never have entered WWII.

Robert Divine saw FDR as an isolationist; a rather absurd view, I would argue.

Michael Simpson sees him as more of an interventionist in the Wilson-mode and someone who wanted a world of free-trade democracies.

It is a view concurred in by Robert Dallek who also sees FDR as an internationalist who at the same time believed it was in America’s self-interest to make war on aggressive expansionists like the Nazis and Japanese.

Farmer and Sanders point out that the Atlantic Charter proves FDR’s internationalist credentials without doubt, given its plans for a United Nations Organisation, free trade and free speech.

Revision Acrostic on FDR

Noun Verb AdjectiveROO Oil Organised OutrageousSE Europe Energising EffectiveVELT

Map of Cold War Europe

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

US Diplomacy During and After WWII

1941-43

During 1941, the US president, Franklin D. _______ and the British Prime Minister, Winston _______, met on a battleship in the middle of the Atlantic and decided what type of world they were fighting for. This was known as the Atlantic Charter. However, their democratic views and hopes for the future were not something likely to be held in common by the dictatorship that was the _______. The main terms were that there would be a:

Pledge against ______________ A promise of ________________ in territorial changes A respect for the right of self-government and freedom of _________ The creation of a new and more effective _____________ organisation

In 1943, at the Teheran conference, the leader of the USSR, Josef _______demanded that the British and _________ open a second front in western Europe to help ease the Soviet burden. He was very suspicious about the western allies who had always been anti-__________.

Yalta - 'The Big Three'

Yalta

In ______________1945, at Yalta, the Big Three allied leaders:_____________, _________and _________met to discuss what to do with _________after the war was won. At this stage Hitler was still alive and the war was still to be won, and so relations were still amicable, though the Soviets did want to be ________ with Germany than GB and the USA.

It was decided that: Germany would be divided into _____ zones. Each one would be

occupied by one of the Allies: Britain, the USA, ______, and the USSR. The USSR was not happy about this but Britain and Churchill wanted ________to have a zone as well in order to balance out the Soviet and American dominance of Europe;

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

The capital of Germany, ______ would also be divided into ______ sectors;

Germany would be forced to pay _________, half of which would go to the USSR; and Germany would give land to Poland along the _________________river line;

Countries that had been occupied by Germany, including Poland would be free to _______ governments of their choice;

The USSR would declare war on ________ three months after the end of the war against Germany;

The ___________, an organisation to discuss and settle world problems, would be set up to replace the discredited __________.

Potsdam

Held in_______1945, this conference confirmed the decisions made at Yalta in a number of areas.

Germany was divided into ______ zones, each occupied by one of the four Allies - Britain, ______, the USA, and the USSR;

The capital ______ was also divided into ________ sectors, even though it was inside the ______ zone; this would lead to enormous problems in the future!

Germany would be run by a military ___________ and disarmed; Nazi leaders would be put on trial for war crimes at the German city

of___________; A policy of ______________would take place in Germany to get rid of its

fascist influences;

But there were disagreements and changes since Yalta and this made Potsdam far more tense:

The war in Europe was over and so the allies no longer needed each other so much;

There was a new British prime minister, Clement_______ who was not used to dealing with Stalin;

The new US President Harry ________ was far more distrustful of the Soviets ______ (and had announced that he was going to 'get tough with the Russians.'). He tried to insist on _______ elections in the ________European countries that had been occupied by the USSR at the end of the war. The Soviets had continued to occupy the countries they had ‘liberated’ and refused to leave. The meeting broke up without agreement being reached on this issue;

Stalin started going back on his promises at Yalta about allowing ____elections and he tried to grab more reparations and territory in eastern Europe (he demanded more reparations from the western sectors of Germany, for example);

The Americans had just exploded an ________ bomb and refused to share its secrets with the Soviets; the US president only told the British about it and not Stalin;

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

When the Soviets did eventually attack ______in the Far East they did so to grab territory from ________and ________ not to help their British and American allies;

These differences led to: A build-up of distrust and _______ between the USA and the USSR, and

even more distrust between Britain and the USSR; a British diplomat later accused Stalin of “grabbing” territory and breaking his promises made at ___________;

The breakdown of the alliance that had existed between the allies during the Second World War = the beginning of the _____________________.

The USA in 1945

The US had come from being a reluctant participant in European affairs to one determined now not to leave Europe. ____________ and non-intervention were mistakes the US was not prepared to repeat. It would take on the burden of being the world’s policeman. It would keep troops in many parts of the world and it would embark on an aggressive ________________ policy. The motives were varied, but largely pragmatic:

The US did not want to see a _____________ dominated Europe. This would not only create ideological enemies, but also destroy invaluable economic markets. The US had learnt lessons too from the Great Depression and the importance of free trade and foreign markets;

A _____________ dominated Europe was also unacceptable, for many of the same reasons, not least Stalin;

An impoverished Europe would be susceptible to the same pressures that had helped to lead to WWII. The US had finally realised prevention was better than cure;

The Atlantic Charter and San Francisco summit (April-June), along with the meeting at Dumbarton Oaks, which had helped to set up the ____________________________ were demonstrative of a new, more positive and interventionist approach to international affairs by the USA. Even the HQ of the UNO would be based in _________. The UNO would have a Security Council of the five most powerful states and would be prepared to use armed force. The US Senate ratified the UN treaty in July, 1945 by a vote of 89 to 2 – very different from their rejection of the League, in 1920. The learning process had been a very bloody one.

Organization of the United Nations – headquartered in New York

WORDSEARCH ON US FOREIGN POLICY

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

P S E G R E G A T I O N A E WE P O T S D A M E D F I T W IR R X R F M A R I N E S O T BE O Q W O A W E A R E D R R AZ A E R P H E W E F H G Y E MN C N E S A T Q R B E A E A CI T I S A N J A C I N T O D KC I V R H E A L I N G E M A IA V I D E J Y A M E G D R W NR E D C G U A M A F E D E E LA D W L U L L O D G E Y E S EG R C Q U A R A N T I N E W YU F G O O D N E I G H B O U RA I S O L A T I O N I Z P P IL U S I T A N I A N T I S U B

Find words in the puzzle and explain their significance. There are at least twenty to find, including acronyms.

Word Explanation1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.13.14.15.16.17.18.19.20.

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A Level History Paper 5 M. Nichols SCIE 2009-10

Past Paper Questions on Foreign Policy

‘President Roosevelt’s war policies from 1940 to 1945 were a mixture of the ruthless pursuit of US national interests and high-minded idealism.’ To what extent is this a fair judgement? [N. 2007]

‘To walk softly but carry a big stick.’ To what extent is this an accurate portrayal of Theodore Roosevelt’s conduct of foreign affairs, 1901-1909? [M. 2006]

Why, in spite of President Wilson’s policy of neutrality, did America enter World War I in 1917? [N. 2006]

‘Gradually and rather reluctantly, the United States became an imperial power and a military presence on a global scale.’ Is this a fair assessment of American foreign policy, 1890-1919? [M. 2005]

How successful in foreign affairs was President Wilson? [N. 2005]

PLANNING

35