Transcript Document 7578544

Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
Curt-Engelhorn Chair in American History
Prof. Dr. Manfred Berg
Winter Term 2008/2009
The Reluctant Empire?
U.S. Foreign Relations in the
20th Century
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
1
Wilsonian Internationalism,
1913-1920
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Woodrow Wilson
Interventionism in the Caribbean
From Neutrality to War
Waging War
Making Peace
The Treaty Fight in the U.S. Senate
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
Woodrow Wilson,
1854-1924
 President of Princeton
University, 1902-1910
 Governor of New Jersey,
1911-1913
 US President, 1913-1921
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
Wilsonianism
 “It is a very perilous thing to
determine the foreign policy of a
nation in terms of material interest. It
not only is unfair to those with whom
you are dealing, but it is degrading as
regards your own action.”
 Woodrow Wilson, 1913
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
Veracruz, Mexico 1914
U.S. troops land south of Veracruz.
U.S. warships bombard San
Juan de Ulua fortress.
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The U.S. in Haiti,
1915-1933
Capture of Fort Riviere, Haiti, 1915
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The Haiti Occupation
 “We were all embued [sic] with the fact that
we were the trustees of a huge estate that
belonged to minors. That was the viewpoint
that I personally took that the Haitians
were our wards and that we were
endeavoring to make for them a rich and
productive property, to be turned over to
them at such time as our government saw
fit.”
 General Smedley Butler, 1922
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Europe 1914
Assassination of Archduke
Franz Ferdinand,
28th June 1914
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The Kaiser, 1859-1941
 German Kaiser and King of Prussia,
1888-1918
Kaiser Wilhelm II., 1905
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Neutrality
 The United States and its citizens
must be “neutral in fact as well as in
name…impartial in thought as well as
in action.”
Woodrow Wilson, August 1914
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The Lusitania, May 1915
 Illustration of the Sinking
 Press reaction, May 8, 1915
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Toward War
 January 1917: Peace Without Victory
 February 1917: Resumption of
Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
 March 1917: Zimmermann Telegram
 April 1917: U.S. Declares War on
Germany
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Woodrow Wilson, 1917
 “The World Must Be Made Safe For Democracy.”
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American Expeditionary Force
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War Propaganda
 War propaganda in 1917/18
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 War bond campaign
Vladimir Lenin, 1870-1924
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The 14 Points of
January 1918
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1. Open covenants of peace instead of secret diplomacy
2. Freedom of the seas
3. Free and equal trade
4. General disarmament to a level consistent with
domestic safety
5. A free and impartial adjustment of all colonial claims
6.-8.: Evacuation of Russia, Belgium, and France
9.-13.: All disputes of nationality, borders and territory
were to settled based on national self-determination
and autonomous development.
14. The formation of a “general association of
nations…for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees
of political independence and territorial integrity to
great and small states alike.”
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Military Intervention in
Russia, 1918-1920
 American troops parade in Vladivostok, August 1918.
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Wilson in Paris, 1918
President Woodrow Wilson's arrival in Paris on the Place de la Concorde.
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The Peace Conference,
1919
 Pictured from left to right: Lloyd George, Orlando, Clemenceau
and Wilson
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The League Covenant
 Art. 10:
“The Members of the League
undertake to respect and preserve as
against external aggression the
territorial integrity and existing
political independence of all Members
of the League.”
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Henry Cabot Lodge,
1850-1924
 U.S. Representative, 1887-1893
 U.S. Senator, 1893-1924
 Chairman of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, 1919-1924
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
William Borah, 1865-1940
 U.S. Senator, 1907-1940
 Chairman of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, 1924-1933
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
The Treaty Fight,
1919-1920
 Irreconcilables
 Mild
Reservationists
 Hard
Reservationists
 Wilson Loyalists
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