Download 01 US Foreign Policy 1920-1941

US Foreign Policy: 19201941
Daniel W. Blackmon
Coral Gables Sr. High
Charles Evans Hughes
• Secretary of State under Harding and
Coolidge
• Not accurate to describe him as
“Isolationist”
• Foreign policy is actually quite active
Washington Naval Conference
1921
• Hughes wished to avoid a destabilizing
naval armaments race.
– Hughes proposed a reduction in fleets
– Hughes proposed a 10 months moratorium on
new ship construction
• Three new treaties
Five Power Pact 1922
• Established a ratio of capital ship tonnage
between the US / Great Britain / Japan /
Italy / France of 5:5:3:1.75:1.75
• Japan agreed to this ratio since they had
only Pacific interests whereas the US and
Great Britain had Pacific and Atlantic
interests
Nine Power Pact
• All conferees agreed to respect China's
territorial integrity and uphold the Open
Door
Four Power Pact
• The US, Great Britain, France, and Japan
agree to a mutual Pacific non-aggression
pact.
Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)
• The pact outlawed offensive war as an
instrument of national power.
• 62 nations signed it.
– That included Germany, Italy, and Japan.
– It was wonderful. War was now illegal. What
a relief.
The Mukden Incident: 9/18/1931
• Japanese troops attack Manchuria and
establish a puppet state of Manchukuo.
(Ienaga 60)
Tydings-McDuffie Act 3/24/1934
• Provided for the independence of the
Philippines following a twelve year
transition period
Johnson Debt Default Act
4/13/1934
• Prohibited financial transactions with any
foreign government which had defaulted
on World War I loans (which was everyone
except Finland)
Manchukuo 4/18/1934
• Japan declares a protectorate over the
puppet state of Manchukuo
Night of the Long Knives 6/13/1934
• Hitler purges the Nazi Party of Ernst
Roehm and other leaders of the SA
• The Army had seen the SA as a rival. It
can now support Hitler’s foreign policy
wholeheartedly
Adolf Hitler: the Führer
• Death of President Paul von Hindenburg:
8/2/1934
• Adolf Hitler becomes Führer, combining
the offices of Chancellor with President.
– The Army swears an oath of “unconditional
obedience” to him, personally
London Naval Conference
10-12/1934
• Attempted to expand limits on naval
construction to heavy and light cruisers
Assassination of Sergei Kirov
12/1/1934
• Inspired by the Night of the Long Knives,
Stalin has a potential rival assassinated,
then blames it on agents of Leon Trotsky
• The Great Purge begins
Japan Denounces Washington
Treaties 12/19/1934
• Japan formally repudiates the Four Power,
Five Power, and Nine Power Treaties
The Road to War 1935
• Walter Millis, The Road to War popularized
the conclusions of the Nye Commission
Neutrality Act of 1935
• US establishes an arms embargo on sales
to all belligerents, whether the aggressor
or the victim
Versailles Treaty Repudiated
• Germany repudiates military clauses of the
Versailles Treaty 3/16/1935
– Germany begins openly to rearm, expanding
the Army beyond the 100,000 level required
by Versailles
Nye Commission 2/24/1936
• Investigated munitions makers and World
War I
• Concluded that the US had entered World
War I to protect the profits of the munitions
makers and bankers who were profiting
from the war.
Neutrality Act of 1936
• Forbade loans to any belligerent nation
Neutrality Act of 1937
• Forbade US citizens from traveling on the
vessels of belligerent nations
• Required belligerent nations to purchase
any goods on a “Cash-and-Carry” basis.
– The intent, of course, was to see to it that the
US did not find itself being dragged into World
War I. . . .
Abrogation of the Platt Amendment
8/24/1934
• FDR is implementing his Good Neighbor
Policy
Italy Invades Ethiopia 10/3/1935
• Great Britain asks for League sanctions.
These are a disaster:
Italy Invades Ethiopia 10/3/1935
• (1) oil was not embargoed, hence, no truly
vital product was cut off
• (2) Britain did not close the Suez Canal to
Italian vessels
• (3) the sanctions did hurt Italy, and caused
Italy to strengthen economic ties to
Germany
Italy Withdraws from the League
• The failure of League sanctions discredits
the League, and is a triumph for Mussolini.
(Bell 206-8)
Germany Reoccupies the
Rhineland 3/7/1936
• Germany denounces the Locarno Treaty
and German troops reoccupy the
Rhineland. (Eubank xii)
– A clear cut violation of both the Versailles and
Locarno Treaties.
– Neither Great Britain nor France are prepared
to act.
– This is the policy which became known as
APPEASEMENT
Spanish Civil War Begins
• The Spanish Army in Morocco, led by Lt.
Col. Juan Yagüe Blanco, (the "Hyena of
Asturias“) rebelled against the Republican
government
• Francisco Franco arrived from the
Canaries to take command.
Spanish Civil War Begins
• The rebels seize control of North Africa but
cannot get to the metropolis, since the
navy and air force remain loyal.
Spanish Civil War Begins
• Benito Mussolini provided aircraft to
Franco to transfer the battle hardened
Army of Africa to Spain.
• Adolf Hitler chipped in with more transport
aircraft.
• Without this assistance, the Nationalists
would have failed.
Rome-Berlin Axis
• Spain has led to the two fascists dictators
to make common cause.
• Fortunately for the world, neither Hitler nor
Mussolini really coordinated their goals or
actions.
Anti-Comintern Pact
• Germany and Japan sign the
Anticomintern (Anti Communist
International) Pact.
• Both nations share a common enemy:
Communist Russia.
Incident at the Marco Polo Bridge
7/7/1937
• Using the pretext of a shooting incident at
the bridge dividing Manchukuo from
China, the Japanese Kwangtung Army
invades China.
Hossbach Memorandum 11/5/1937
• Hitler outlined Germany’s need for
Lebensraum (living space) in Europe and
his plans to wage war to obtain it.
Hossbach Memorandum 11/5/1937
• His audience incluldes Foreign Minister
Constantin Freiherr von Neurath, his Gen.
Werner von Blomberg, War Minister and
Gen. Werner von Fritsch, his Chief of Staff
and Hermann Goering, head of the
Luftwaffe.
Panay Incident 12/12/1937
• Japanese naval aircraft attack and sink the
US gunboat Panay on the Yangtze River.
Anschluss 3/13/1938
• Hitler marches into Austria and annexes it
to Germany
• This is another clear violation of the Treaty
of Versailles.
• Once again, neither Great Britain nor
France were willing to act
Munich Agreement 9/29/1938
• Hitler now began demanding cession of
the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia to
Germany.
Munich Agreement 9/29/1938
• Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and
French President Eduard Daladier fly to
Munich, meet with Mussolini and Hitler
and agree to a German partition of
Czechoslovakia.
• Germany would occupy the Sudetenland
Munich Agreement 9/29/1938
• France and Great Britain guarantee the
new borders--surely a great comfort to the
Czechs, who were not invited to the party.
– Both nations were honor bound by the Treaty
of Versailles to defend Czech territorial
integrity
Munich Agreement 9/29/1938
• Hitler assures Chamberlain that he had
no more territorial demands.
Munich Agreement 9/29/1938
• Chamberlain returns to Britain with the
agreement and says he has secured
"peace in our time."
Munich Agreement 9/29/1938
• Winston Churchill said at the time that the
government had been given a choice
“between war and dishonor. They have
chosen dishonor, and they shall have war.”
Munich Agreement 9/29/1938
• This is the high tide of the policy of
appeasement
Germany Absorbs Bohemia
3/15/1939
• Hitler lied when he promised Chamberlain
that he had no further territorial demands
• Belatedly, Chamberlain and Daladier
realize that Hitler’s ambitions threaten the
very foundations of Western civilization.
Poland’s Borders Guaranteed
3/30/1939
• Great Britain and France, hoping to deter
Hitler from further aggression, guarantee
Poland’s borders.
• Hitler thinks they are bluffing.
– They aren’t
Italy Invades Albania 4/7/1939
• Why should Hitler have all the fun?
• Britain and France offer Greece and
Rumania guarantees of independence.
• Denmark, the Netherlands, and
Switzerland are added a few days later
Khalkin Gol 3/1939
• The Japanese Kwangtung Army crosses
into Soviet territory and entrenches.
• The Red Army severely mauls them
Khalkin Gol 3/1939
• The Japanese Army now wants no part of
the Soviets.
• This means that Japanese aggression will
tend to move towards the East Indies—on
a collision course with the US and Great
Britain
Pact of Steel 5/22/1939
• Germany and Italy sign an alliance
Hitler Briefs His Generals
8/22/1939
• Hitler tells his generals that Poland must
be destroyed.
• He emphasizes that they must "close their
hearts to pity and act brutally, with the
greatest harshness." (Sontag 376-7)
Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
8/23/1939
• Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact signed.
If either became involved in a war, the
other would remain neutral.
• Secret provisions divided Poland into
halves.
• Russia received a free hand in Finland,
Estonia and Latvia; Germany in Lithuania.
Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
8/23/1939
• An economic treaty is also signed, in
general favorable to Germany. It permits
Germany to make large purchases of
critical materials
Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
8/23/1939
• Hitler is a winner from the pact, despite the
high price.
• He believes that Britain and France will not
fight with the Soviet Union out of the
equation.
– Even if they do fight, he has cleared his
Eastern flank. He can quickly crush Poland
and concentrate force against the West.
Germany Invades Poland 9/1/1939
• Great Britain and France declare war on
Germany several days later.
• World War II in Europe has begun
The Soviets Invade Poland
9/17/1939
• They also invade Latvia, Lithuania, and
Estonia
The Soviets Invade Finland
11/30/1939
• Stalin’s purpose was to push the border
away from Leningrad
The Sitzkrieg / Phoney War
• From September to May, nothing appears
to be happening on the Western Front
• Most observers believe that the war on the
Western Front will be a war of attrition, as
World War I was
Germany Invades Denmark and
Norway 4/9/1940
• Hitler’s purpose was to secure his access
to Swedish iron and Finnish nickel, both of
which had to be shipped via Norway
Germany Invades Holland and
Belgium 5/10/1940
• Both countries are neutral
• The French and British move all of their
mobile forces to meet the German thrust
The Germans Break Through at
Sedan 5/13/1940
• The Panzers drive to the English Channel,
trapping the BEF and most of the French
Army.
• The Allies have lost the Battle for France
Dunkirk 5/27/1940
• The British evacuate 300,000 British and
French troops
Italy Invades France 6/10/1940
• Mussolini decides to get his share of the
loot
Vichy France 6/22/1940
• Marshal Henri Petain forms a very right
wing government in the south of France
that is quite subordinate to the Germans
US Reaction
• American public opinion shifts: while
hoping to avoid war, most Americans now
see Germany as posing a serious threat to
U.S. security; thwarting German victory
becomes an ultimate goal.
Winston Churchill: 5/13/1940
• “ I would say to the House, as I said to
those who have joined this government:
"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil,
tears and sweat."
Winston Churchill: 5/13/1940
•
We have before us an ordeal of the
most grievous kind. We have before us
many, many long months of struggle and
of suffering.
Winston Churchill: 5/13/1940
•
You ask, what is our policy? I can say:
It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with
all our might and with all the strength that
God can give us; to wage war against a
monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the
dark, lamentable catalogue of human
crime. That is our policy.
Winston Churchill: 5/13/1940
• You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in
one word: It is victory, victory at all costs,
victory in spite of all terror, victory,
however long and hard the road may be;
for without victory, there is no survival.
Winston Churchill: 5/13/1940
• Let that be realised; no survival for the
British Empire, no survival for all that the
British Empire has stood for, no survival
for the urge and impulse of the ages, that
mankind will move forward towards its
goal.
Winston Churchill: 6/4/1940
• “Even though large tracts of Europe and
many old and famous States have fallen or
may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and
all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we
shall not flag or fail.
Winston Churchill: 6/4/1940
• “We shall go on to the end, we shall fight
in France, we shall fight on the seas and
oceans, we shall fight with growing
confidence and growing strength in the air,
we shall defend our Island, whatever the
cost may be,
Winston Churchill: 6/4/1940
• “we shall fight on the beaches, we shall
fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight
in the fields and in the streets, we shall
fight in the hills; we shall never surrender,
Winston Churchill: 6/4/1940
• “and even if, which I do not for a moment
believe, this Island or a large part of it
were subjugated and starving, then our
Empire beyond the seas, armed and
guarded by the British Fleet, would carry
on the struggle,
Winston Churchill: 6/4/1940
• until, in God's good time, the New World,
with all its power and might, steps forth to
the rescue and the liberation of the old.
Battle of Britain Begins 7/10/1940
• Germany must control the airspace above
the English Channel in order to invade
Great Britain
The Destroyer Deal 9/3/1940
• FDR circumvents isolationists by trading
50 over-age destroyers desperately
needed by the British for naval/air bases in
the West Indies, a brilliant and mutually
beneficial action.
The Destroyer Deal 9/3/1940
• FDR will begin getting the US involved in
the war.
• He must tread carefully, since the public is
opposed to entry if at all possible
Italy Invades Egypt 9/14/1940
• The British counter attack and drive the
Italians back
Tripartite Pact 9/27/1940
• Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis formed;
European and Pacific wars are now linked.
There is, however, no real coordination of
war effort.
Italy Invades Greece 10/28/1940
• Mussolini invades Greece. The Greeks
stop his offensive cold.
Election of 1940
• FDR is re-elected for a precedent
shattering third term in office
• He believed that he should not leave office
when the international situation was so
threatening
US Embargo
• US embargoes scrap metal to Japan
“Arsenal of Democracy”
• FDR begins the process of US
rearmament.
• He is prepared to produce weapons and
other material for the Allies
• He is hoping that the US will not have to
fight
– But he is not optimistic
“Four Freedoms” Speech
•
•
•
•
•
freedom of speech,
freedom of religion,
freedom from want,
freedom from fear:
this represents the ideology of democracy.
Lend Lease Act
• The Lend-Lease Act to assist anyone
resisting aggression is passed.
• Initial beneficiaries are primarily Great
Britain and China.
• FDR compares it to lending a garden hose
to a neighbor whose house is on fire.
– Actually, we were neither lending nor leasing,
but giving
US Seizes Axis Shipping
• All Axis shipping is US ports is seized
• This is not the act of a neutral
US Occupies Greenland
• The US extends anti-submarine patrols
farther into the Atlantic
• This assists the British
Germany Invades Yugoslavia and
Greece 4/6/1941
• Britain had sent troops to assist the
Greeks.
• Hitler does not want British troops so close
to the Romanian oil fields
• He is also angry at a coup d’etat in
Yugoslavia
Soviet-Japanese Non-Aggression
Pact 4/13/1941
• Japan is now committed to expansion in
the East Indies rather than farther into
Manchuria
US Freezes Axis Assets
• All Axis financial assets in the US are
frozen
Barbarossa 6/22/1941
• Germany invades the Soviet Union
• The bloodiest, most savage war in human
history begins.
• Hitler embarks on a fatal course of action,
a two front war with Russia in front of him
and Great Britain (backed by the United
States) to his rear
US Occupies Iceland
• US extends antisubmarine patrols still
further
Japan Invades Indochina
7/28/1941
• Japan wants to cut the supply of Lend
Lease material to China, which is being
flown over “The Hump”: the Himalayas.
• Vichy France is in no position to stop the
Japanese
Japan Invades Indochina
7/28/1941
• FDR freezes Japanese assets and
embargoes oil sales to Japan;
• without a compromise, a Pacific war is
now inevitable within 6 months
The Atlantic Charter 8/14/1941
• FDR and Churchill meet at sea to publish
a set of Allied principles
Greer Incident 9/4/1941
• US destroyer is torpedoed by a German
submarine
– This was in inviolation of standing orders
– Hitler was trying not to provoke the US
• FDR issues a “shoot on sight” order
• This is definitely not the act of a neutral
USS Kearny 10/17/1941
• US destroyer is torpedoed by a German
U-boat
USS Reuben James 10/20/1941
• US destroyer is sunk by a German U-boat
Soviet Winter Counter Offensive
12/4/1941
• The German drive on Moscow is stopped
and then thrown back
• Hitler has failed to defeat the USSR in one
campaign
• Germany has passed the apex of its
strength
“A date which will live in infamy”
• The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor
• In the following days, they attack the
Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaya, and the
Dutch East Indies
Germany and Italy Declare War on
the US
• Hitler was not obligated to declare war on
the US, and there is no reason to believe
that the US would have declared war on
Germany
• At this point, the Axis has no chance of
victory whatsoever.
– But the cost of Allied victory will be terrible.