U.S. Diplomacy:

From Semi-Internationalism and Isolationism to War

Semi Internationalism

• Europe: No Strategic Commitment through Versailles or Bilateral Collective Security Arrangements Examples include Dawes Plan, Young Plan, and Kellogg-Briand Pact

• Asia: Dollar Diplomacy and Disarmament: Examples include Washington Naval Pact and Second Banking Consortium

Problems with reparations

• Linked to War Guilt Clause (Kriegsschuldfrage)• Reparations Commission sets amount and payments

schedule 1921• Germany makes first payments, then defaults• Belgians and French seize Ruhr area (industrial

heartland)• To support population, Weimar Republic turns on the

printing presses• Finishes great decade of inflation1914 4.2 RM = $1 1923 4.2 Billion RM = $1

Implications

• French and Belgians enforce the Versailles System• Occupation ended with intercession of Charles Dawes

and Dawes Plan• War debts still not forgiven: Europeans link forgiveness

of Reparation on War Debts• Furthers radicalization of German politics and further

undermines Weimar Republic• Example: Murders of Weimar Ministers by right wing

extremists• Example: Middle class proletarianized by inflation

Charles Dawes

Reparations, War Loans American Bonds Snafu

The Washington System in Asia

• Washington Naval Conferences, 1921-1922• Link demilitarization with Open Door and a re-

emergence of “dollar diplomacy”• US investment in China and Japan• Supported Japanese Civilian Governments• Problem: Worked so long as American money

flowed• Problem: Intersected with Revolution in China

Legacy of World War I in Asia

• 1914: Japanese occupy Shandong Peninsula• 1915: 21 Demands• May 4, 1919: News of Versailles settlement reaches

China• 1921: Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Founded• 1924-1927: First United Front: Guomindong

(GMD) and CCP cooperate against foreigners• 1927: Northern Expedition and White Terror• 1934-1935: Long March

The Great Depression

• 1927 Tokyo Stock Market Crashes• 1928 Berlin Stock Market Crashes• 1929 New York Stock Market Crashes• 1930-1933 Banking Crises spread world wide

Impacts

• In Asia: Down fall of the “Washington System”• Japanese Militarists control government• 1931 Mukden Incident: Manchurian Invasion• New puppet state: Manchukuo• 1936: Xian Incident• 1937: Marco Polo Bridge Incident: World War II

begins in Asia• Rape of Nanjing• 1937-1945: Second United Front

The Beginnings of Co-Prosperity

In Europe

• Breakdown of Versailles System• Hitler seizes power 1933• Hitler moves to overturn Versailles System:

Rearmament, leaves the League, Remilitarization of Rhineland, Anschluss with Austria, Munich Conference

• September 1, 1939: War in Poland

The Versailles System

Hitler’s Revisions to the Versailles System

Vienna Nazis Welcome Hitler

The Realities of Nazi Aggression

American Responses

• Economic Nationalism: Fordney-McCumber 1922 and Smoot-Hawley 1930

• No Collective Security Agreements in Europe• Non-Recognition of Japanese Aggression

(Stimson Doctrine)• FDR refuses cooperation with London

Economic Conference• “Good Neighbor” policy in Latin America

American Responses Continued• Nye Committee and Neutrality Legislation, 1934-1937: Cash

and Carry, Arms Embargo• FDR Wins Third Term. Pledges to keep America out of the

war • 1939-1941: Measures short of war: Peacetime Conscription

1940, renewed 1941 Destroyers for Bases and Lend Lease 1940-1941 (Extended to Russia, June 1941)

• Atlantic Charter, August 1941• Undeclared Naval War v. Germany• War through the back door: Hull-Nomura and Pearl Harbor

Fall 1941

Politics of the Second Front

• American Strategy: Europe First• Soviet Goals• British Goals• Turning Point: Stalingrad, August 1942-

February 1943• American Fears: Nightmare of a Closed World

World War II in Europe

War Time Conferences

• Churchill comes to Washington, 1942• Teheran 1943: Stalin, FDR, Churchill• Cairo and Quebec: Unconditional Surrender and

Morgenthau Plan• Yalta February 1945: Declaration on Liberated

Europe• Dumbarton Oakes: United Nations• Breton Woods: World Bank, IMF, GATT Global

Economic policy: No more 1930s

Post War Europe

The War in the Pacific

• Early Japanese offensives • Early US Victories: Midway and Guadalcanal• Two Plans: Army (MacArthur) v. Navy (King)• Jiang Jieshi and General Joseph Stilwell in China:

FDR’s fantasy of Republican China• Island Hopping: Saipan, Iwo Jima, Okinawa• Blockade and bombing: Tokyo February 1945• The Manhattan Project, Russia enters the war, and

Hiroshima

The War in Asia

Ambrose’s Thesis

• Where are the soldiers when the shooting stops? Why does this matter?