TR made distinction between “civilized” & “uncivilized” nations• Based on race & economic development

Civilized nations should intervene in “backwards” nations

Believer in strong navy• Asst. Sec. of Navy & author of The Naval War of

1812• U.S. had 2nd largest navy in the world by 1906

TR negotiated peace between Japan & Russia in 1905 (Russo-Japanese War)• Made agreement w/ Japan to keep trade open• Earned him Nobel Peace Prize in 1906

Japan was quickly becoming the leading power in the Pacific• Limited some trade w/ U.S.

TR sent “Great White Fleet” around the world (1907-1909)• Show of strength, test for fleet, chance to gain public

support for naval build-up• Stop in Japan

“I hope that we can persuade our people on the one hand act in a spirit of generous justice and genuine courtesy toward Japan, and on the other hand to keep the navy respectable in numbers and more than respectable in the efficiency of its units. If we act thus we need not fear the Japanese. But if we… show ourselves opulent, aggressive and unarmed, the Japanese may sometime work us an injury.”

--President Theodore Roosevelt, June 1905--

Intervention in Latin America• U.S. navy used to scare Germany after it attacked

Venezuela (1902) • Took control of Dominican customs in 1903• Platt Amendment allowed U.S. to intervene in

Cuba U.S. troops used there in 1906 to stop rebellion

Announced Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine in 1904• 1. U.S. had right to oppose European intervention

in Latin America• 2. U.S. had right to intervene in Latin American

countries if they were struggling to maintain order U.S. would act as international police power

“It must be understood that under no circumstances will the U.S. use the Monroe Doctrine as a cloak for territorial aggression. We desire peace with all the world, but perhaps most of all with the other peoples of the American continent.”

--Theodore Roosevelt, 1905--

U.S. hoped to take over French canal zone for $40 million (1902)

Colombia refused to approve of purchase though

U.S. then helped organize & support a Panamanian revolt• Panama gained independence & gave U.S. rights

to canal; Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty• Canal completed by 1914, under budget• Canal Zone split Panama in two

“If I had followed traditional, conservative methods I would have submitted a dignified State paper of probably 200 pages to Congress & the debates on it would have been going on yet; but I took the Canal Zone & let Congress debate; & while the debate goes on the canal does also.”

--Theodore Roosevelt, 1911--

Taft’s foreign policy goals: Increase U.S. investments to undeveloped

regions• “Substituting dollars for bullets”

Stability in Latin America• Intervention in Nicaragua

Maintain open door in Asia• Failed railroad attempt in Manchuria

Wilson had little experience in international affairs

Carried on Roosevelt & Taft’s approach• Marines sent to Haiti (1915)• Military gov’t in Dominican Republic (1916)• Bought Virgin Islands (1916)

Much political turmoil in Mexico in 1910s Wilson refused to recognize gov’t led by

Victoriano Huerta U.S. & Mexico nearly went to war in 1914 Then Wilson supported a new gov’t led by

Pancho Villa, but later rescinded support• Villa killed Americans in northern Mexico & New

Mexico (1916)• Wilson sent Pershing w/ 10K men to capture Villa, no

success

Huerta had U.S. sailors arrested in Tampico (1914)

Wilson used incident as reason to seize Veracruz

Fighting led to casualties for both sides Nearly a war Venustiano Carranza replaced Huerta

The Collapse of Peace Imperialist ambitions Nationalism Militarism Alliances

• Triple Entente=Britain, France, & Russia• Triple Alliance=Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy

Intense rivalries between Germany & Britain, also Germany & France

Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated on June 28, 1914 (heir to A-H throne)• Assassin, Gavrilo Princip,

was a Serbian nationalist• Many Serbians hoped to

annex Bosnia Bosnia was part of A-H empire

Germany & Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia

Serbia gained Russian support Germany declared war on Britain &

France Britain declared war on Germany WWI was under way

Wilson asked Americans to be “impartial in thought as well as deed”

British propaganda made Germans look evil/barbaric

Ignored German blockade & continued to trade with Britain & France

German’s used submarine warfare, U-boats

Enemy ships sunk on site Sinking of the British liner Lusitania

• 1,198 deaths, including 128 American deaths• Ship was carrying munitions

Wilson continued policy of neutrality, but encouraged preparedness

Much anti-war sentiment from public Wilson’s 1916 election slogan=“He Kept

Us Out of the War”• Wilson won close election

After re-election discussed plans for a postwar world• Self-determination, league of nations

War in Europe locked in stalemate• Germans resorted to unrestricted submarine

warfare• Zimmermann Telegram

Mexico urged to ally with Germans & regain “lost provinces”

Russian Revolution (1917)

Wilson asked Congress for war on April 2, 1917• “We shall fight for the

thing which we have always carried nearest our hearts—for democracy…”

Congress declared war on April 6, 1917