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Chapter Ten: Expansionism and
World War I
Becoming a World Power
• Imperialism: policy of establishing
economic, political and military
dominance over weaker nations on
humanitarian and moral grounds.
• The United States had a long standing
wish for non-intervention, but often
intervened themselves
• Monroe Doctrine: in early 1800’s, US
told Europe to stay out of the Western
Hemisphere
Need for Imperialism?
• Senator Albert J. Beveridge (Indiana)
– “Most future wars will be conflicts for
commerce.”
• Called openly for US to open new
markets
– American Farmers
– Manufacturers
• Investors
– Wanted foreign markets to invest in
Foes of Imperialism
• Not everyone liked the idea of forcing
US control on others
• United States founded by breaking
away from foreign control
• Nation Magazine, 1902: “We made war
on Spain four years ago for doing the
very thing of which we are now guilty
ourselves.”
US in the Caribbean
• President Theodore Roosevelt
– “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”
• “The Big Ditch” – The Panama Canal
– Canal through Central America
(specifically Colombia) would allow ships
to more easily sail from Atlantic to Pacific
• Hay-Herrán Treaty
– US wanted to pay $10 million upfront
plus $250 thousand annually for land
– Six mile wide canal zone that would save
sixty days travel time
– Colombia wanted more money
Introducing: Panama
• United States decided not to negotiate with
Colombia
• USS Nashville sailed to region to support
local rebels; arrived on November 2, 1903
• November 4, 1903: Panama declares
independence from Colombia; recognized by
US (of course)
• Colombia, faced with local resistance plus US
opposition, ended up with nothing
• Panama agreed to US terms (of course) and
over the next decade the Panama Canal was
built.
US Expansion
• US feared European intervention into South
America, despite the Monroe Doctrine
• Dominican Republic owed European nations,
including Germany, money
– The Dominican Republic’s unstable government
fought over control of funds to pay Europe with
• President Teddy Roosevelt sent US troops in to
control Dominican Republic and ensure
European nations would stay out of the United
States’ neighborhood
• Roosevelt Corollary: President declared that
the US would be a “police force” for the Western
Hemisphere, extending the Monroe Doctrine
Dollar Diplomacy
• New President in 1909: William Howard Taft
• Diplomacy: the art of conducting
international business
• Agreed with idea of “carry a big stick,” but
Taft’s weapon was cash: he favored
monetary control rather than military
control
• Encouraged bankers to lend money to
Central American countries and to invest
in those countries’ businesses
• Interest on US loans made countries
even more economically unstable, and even
more dependent on US for aid: the US
had unofficial control without ever
threatening war
The United States in Asia
• US looked to China to open new
markets for trade
• 400 million inhabitants attractive to both
US businesses and to missionaries that
wanted to convert “heathens” to
Christianity
– Built hospitals and schools
• New converts, it was believed, would
certainly buy US products
An Open Door
• Secretary of State John Hay asked for
an “open door” policy in China to ensure
no country would dominate the market
• Russia, Japan, Britain and France also
feared control by others, and
temporarily agreed to the request
• America would have free access to
China without having to fight another
nation
• Chinese fate decided by other nations:
an insult to the idea that they were free
Boxer Rebellion
• Boxers: members of a secret Chinese
society that hated foreign influence in their
country
• 1900: Rioted in Beijing (Chinese capitol)
• Foreigners, diplomats, and Chinese
Christian converts were held for almost
sixty days
• Freed by foreign army made up of
Americans, Russians, Germans, French,
British and Japanese
• China forced to pay $333 million and
house foreign troops
The Philippines
• US freed Philippines from Spanish control
during Spanish-American War (1898)
• Teller Amendment: addition to Cuban
constitution granting country complete
independence from United States at the
end of the war
• With a catch: the US could intervene
legally anytime if they felt they needed to
• Philippines expected the same treatment
from the US
Philippines: Asian Port
• United States viewed control of
the Philippines as important for
success in Asian trade
• Natural resources (especially
rubber) attractive to US,
especially close to Asia
• President McKinley annexed
islands
– US “feared anarchy”
– “Educate…uplift…civilize”
population
Filipino Resistance
• Guerilla war fought from 1902 to 1906
– Guerilla war: fighting by small,
independent bands, using tactics such as
sabotage and sudden ambush
• Led by Emilio Aguinaldo
• 120,000 American troops fought
– 4,200 casualties
• Filipino losses:
– 15,000 rebel soldiers
– 200,000 civilians
Russo-Japanese War
• US wanted no dominant power in
Asia: a country with strength could
keep the United States out of Asian
markets
• Japan: militarized quickly starting in
1870s, but lacked natural resources
• 1904: Japan attacks Russia to gain
area on the mainland
• US supports Japan over Russia
– Russia controlled more Asian land and was
the greater threat
Russo-Japanese War cont.
• President Teddy Roosevelt negotiated a
peace between the two nations in 1905
• Japan gained:
– Land in Korea
– Ports in China
– Railroads in Southern Manchuria
• Russia
– Kept North Manchuria
• Japan forced to stay out of Philippines
Racial Politics
• Asians discriminated against
in US
– Japanese had embarrassed
Russians
– San Francisco schools
segregated Japanese
• President Teddy Roosevelt
built stronger Navy to support
overseas market: the Great
White Fleet
– 16 battleships toured the world
as a show of the United States’
power
– Stopped in Japan in 1908
Entering the 1910s
• The United States were recognized for
the first time as policemen of the world
– Incursions into South America and Asia
– Panamanian Independence (for the Canal
Zone)
– Negotiations between Russia and Japan,
as well as between the major powers of
Europe
• US economy for the first time was very
dependent on nations around the world
– Instability elsewhere could hurt the US
World War I
Europe Explodes
President Wilson
• Woodrow Wilson: former
university president elected US
President in 1912
• Believed strongly in the idea of
self-determination: the right of
people to choose the form of
government they live under
and to control their internal
affairs
• Wilson often went against his
own beliefs, particularly in
Mexico
Mexican Revolution
• Mexican ruler Porfirio Diaz fell in 1911
after thirty years of rule
• Under Diaz, Mexican economy was
strong enough to attract foreign
investors
– 90% of mines, railroads and industry
controlled by Americans, British and
Germans
• Peasants and middle-class overthrew
Diaz
Mexican Revolution cont.
• Replacement: Francisco Madero
• Foreign investors and US government
feared that foreign-owned property
would be taken by new Mexican
government
• US wanted to help Victoriano Huerto
perform a coup
• Coup: the act of seizing power and
overthrowing the government
• Huerto did it himself
US in Mexico
• Wilson decides to recognize Huerto and
stay out of Mexico…then changes his
mind
• April 1914: several US sailors arrested
in port of Tampico
• Mexico apologized
– US demanded a 21-gun salute to the
American flag
– Mexico wanted the same to theirs
• US uses incident to send in Marines
US in Mexico cont.
• US Marines occupy Veracruz for six months
– Anti-American riots broke out
– European press spoke out against US
• Wilson, surprised at criticism, pulls out
• 1915: new Mexican leader Venustiano
Carranza
• Wilson backs new President, causing rebel
leader Pancho Villa to kill 18 US miners in
Mexico and 17 Americans in New Mexico
• 15,000 US troops went into Mexico, looking
for Villa until 1917
Entangling Alliances
• Alliance: a pact or association of
nations joined in a common cause
Triple Entente:
Great Britain
France
Russia
Central Powers:
Germany
Austria-Hungary
Ottoman Empire
Aligned nations promised to defend each
other in case of war
Assassination
June 28, 1914: Austrian
heir Archduke Franz
Ferdinand assassinated
in Sarajevo by Serbian nationalist
• Serbian government played no part, and
actually attempted to arrest the assassin
before he could kill the heir to the
Austrian throne
Assassination: Aftermath
• Late July: Austria-Hungary demands to
enter Serbia to apprehend killers,
expecting Serbia to deny them access,
leading to the war Austria wanted.
– Gives ultimatum: final demand implying a
threat of serious penalties if not met
• Surprisingly, Serbia allows most of the
Austrian demands…
• Austria-Hungary decides to attack anyway
Alliances
• Austria wants to attack Serbia…
• Russia obligated to defend Serbia…
• Germany obligated to defend Austria…
• France obligated to defend Russia…
• Britain obligated to defend…Belgium?!
The alliance system forced nations into
a small, local war they had nothing to
do with
War Plans
• Germany, lying between France and
Russia, faces a war on two fronts
• Russian Army: huge, hard to mobilize
– Mobilization: preparation for war, including
military and civilian efforts
• Germany plans to attack (and defeat)
France before Russians can reach
Germany
• The plan: go through Belgium
War Begins
• Germany’s “Schlieffen Plan” wanted to surround
French troops, bypassing line of soldiers on
French/German border by going north --- through
Belgium
– Line along border heavily guarded by French forts
and troops
• Belgium allied with Great Britain for defense back
in 1839. Germany thought Britain would ignore
old alliance… they didn’t
• When German troops entered neutral Belgium,
Great Britain declared war on Germany
– Neutral: not taking sides in a dispute
War Timeline
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June 28: Ferdinand Assassinated
July 28: Austria declares war on Serbia
July 29: Austria invades Serbia
August 1: Germany declares war on Russia
August 3: Germany declares war on France
August 4: Germany invades neutral Belgium
August 4: Britain declares war on Germany
August 4: USA wants nothing to do with the
whole affair
Great War
• Small war between Serbia and Austria had
escalated to all of Europe: called the “Great
War.”
• Many believed this would be the war to end all
wars. Early belief: war would be over by
Christmas 1914 (about five months)
Early War: East
• Eastern Front (Germany/Austria vs
Russia): Central Powers had little
trouble entering economically troubled
Russia, demoralizing Russians and
calling into question the leadership of
the czar (Russian word for “king”.)
• By 1917, Russian Czar overthrown by
revolution
– First democracy, then Communism
– Communists pull Russia out of war
Early War: West
• Western Front
(Germany vs
France/Britain):
trench warfare gave
neither side an
advantage. Troops
dug in and faced
machine gun fire that
mowed down
advancing lines. Little
ground was gained by
either side.
Early War cont.
• After five months of fighting…
– 315,000 French had died
– 280,000 Germans had died
– British lost 60,000 in one day
• Battle of the Somme
• One million total dead by the end of
1914
Life on the Front
• Trench warfare, with old war
strategies meeting newly
invented equipment, resulted in
a virtual standstill
– Advancing soldiers met with
machine gun fire
– Cold, damp trenches filled with
mud, rats, and lice --- lots of
disease
– No Man’s Land: stretch of land
between opposing trenches, filled
with barbed wire and the bodies
of gunned-down troops
Life on the Front: Weapons
Inventions used for the first time in WWI:
• Machine guns
– Just one soldier could man the nest
•
•
•
•
•
Flamethrowers
Barbed wire
Airplanes
Submarines
Poison gas
– Gas mask
Life on the Front: Gas
• Poison gas used widely for the first time in
World War I, first by Germany, then by Britain
and France as well
• Types
– Chlorine gas killed almost immediately, suffocating
the soldier
– Mustard gas took longer to produce symptoms,
but was more easily distributed and thus more
deadly
• Delivery
– Cylinders fired would release giant clouds of gas
– Gas also included on regular artillery shells
Life on the Front: Gas cont.
• Protection: gas masks were the only
line of defense against enemy gas
attacks
• Misfires: wind direction and speed
often changed or was initially
misjudged, causing attacks to backfire
• Germany’s first gas attack on
Russian troops was first blown
back onto the German soldiers,
then changed course AGAIN,
landing on the Russians
• Britain’s first gas strike killed more
of their troops than Germany’s
Battle of Verdun
• Began in late
February 1916, and
lasted until late
December
• Fort at Verdun: more
a psychological
target than a tactical
one, meant to hurt
French morale and
kill as many troops
as possible
Battle of Verdun cont.
• Germany attacked and gained
ground, only to lose it back to
France
• By December
losses were too
huge and Germany
stopped the attack
• Over a half-million
fatalities between
the two sides
United States
Struggle for Neutrality
Myth of Neutrality
• US President Woodrow Wilson desired to stay out
of the war
• Immigrants often supported the country they
came to the US from, but didn’t want to enter the
war
– Emigrate: leave one country to live and work in
another
• US businesses traded with both sides, primarily
with France and Britain, and tried to convince
Americans to side with the Allies
• Britain provided all war news, resulting in
coverage biased towards the Allies
– Slanted toward one side or against something
Submarine Warfare
• Germany developed the submarine to
fight British blockade of Germany,
sinking both enemy ships and merchant
ships carrying trade goods between
countries
The Lusitania
• May 7, 1915: German submarines attacked
the Lusitania, a British passenger ship.
More than 1000 passengers died, including
128 Americans.
Closer to War
• Despite US protests to Germany,
President Wilson vows to keep the
United States out of the war
– Re-elected in 1916
– Slogan: “He kept us out of war!”
• Wilson actually wanted an Allied victory
– $2.25 billion loaned to Allies
– Post-war settlement could prevent
future wars
Zimmerman Telegram
• In January 1917, Great Britain turned
over an intercepted telegram: Arthur
Zimmerman, a German official, sent
Mexico a message asking that nation to
invade the US from the south in
exchange for land that Mexico had lost
in the 1840s (Texas, New Mexico,
Arizona.)
More Submarine Attacks
• At the end of January 1917, Germany
announced it would not cease unannounced
submarine attacks
• British blockade was starving the German
people
• More US ships were sank between February
and April
• March 15: Russian Czar falls, all Allied
powers are now democracies
• April 2, 1917: President Wilson asks for, and
receives, declaration of war against Germany