American Foreign Policy 1914-1941

Wilson’s Policy of Neutrality

Influenced by:

• Need for moral justification always

• Public opinion

• Christian principles

• Geography

• Pacifist and Liberal leanings

• Preference towards a small militia over a national army

• Isolationist sentiment → long term

• Belief of perfect freedom

Definition of Benevolent Neutrality

Conducting foreign policy from a moral standpoint

Influenced by:

• Keeping truism of American thought while spreading beliefs and civilisation

• Democratic Party Foreign Policy since 1900

• Condemning militarism and expansionism

• Pro-involvement in other things → trade, diplomacy = movement away from complete isolationism

Change From Pre-Wilson

• Wanted to correct the human rights errors of the 19th century

• Negatively impacted by Mexican civil war and new threat after failure to capture Pancho Villa

• Reorganising peace eg. League of Nations while attempting to stay out of WW1

• Willing to exert influence in the Mexican Civil War by refusing to recognising President Huerta - but with moral justification (he came into office un-democratically)

MAIN causes of WW1

M = militarism (something USA wanted to stay away from by avoiding a national army or conscription)

A = alliance system (getting more closely drawn in through trade and ‘habit of giving’, on top of policing style foreign policy, but no military pacts with EU countries)

I = imperialism (actively against empire building, Wilson looking to move away from Roosevelt’s activism in military engagement)

N = nationalism (pride in manifest destiny and American superiority, wishing to promote democratic principles in other countries rather than purely annex territory)

Why did the USA get drawn into WW1 - longer term

• Bryan resigning as Secretary of State, reducing the pacifist forces promoting non-intervention

• Growing enmity with Japan over Pacific colonies

• ‘Rape of Belgium’ inflaming US democratic convictions and drawing on the long term sentiment of Manifest Destiny

• German submarine warfare causing a break-off of diplomatic relations in 1917

  • Reduced in 1916 with the Sussex Pledge but began again in 1917 with ‘unrestricted warfare’

  • Germans would hit US submarines and ships if suspected of carrying military equipment or ammunition

  • German blockade treated captured ships far worse than British

• Increasing international trade and supplying the allies meant non-intervention in its purest form was impossible

  • USA had already supplied $2.25 billion in loans

  • U.S. exports to Europe rose from $1.5 billion dollars in 1913 to $4 billion in 1917.

• Role as a world power on which countries involved in WW1 relied

Catalysts for getting drawn into WW1

• Cruise ship Lusitania sunk in 1915 by the Germans → propaganda (remember the Lusitania): 115 Americans killed

• Russian Revolution 1917 meant that all allies were democratic → now have the moral justification to pursue benevolent neutrality

• The Zimmerman Telegram

  • Germany offering to give Mexico the Southern US over which they’d warred if they declared war on the United States on the side of the Axis Powers

• Saviour sentiment - many wished to save their traditional allies

Role in WW1

• After entering, only had a standing force of 200,000, and mobilisation started slowly with only sending 250,000 overseas in January 1918

• May 1917 - draft imposed - first compulsory conscription ever in the USA

• Originally time consuming to call up and train men but as momentum started the economy mobilised more and more rapidly to support war effort

• 4.8 million served overall with 1.4 million seeing service in the American Expeditionary Force

• Disdain for defensive mentality lead them to pursuing a more active attack strategy

  • Chateaux-Thierry

  • Belleau Wood

  • Meuse-Argonne September 1918 - 1.2 million troops involved in pushing the German lines back on a broad front

Turning point in US foreign policy

• Championing democracy = internal ideals become external

• Now unavoidable influence on the European Union

  • Germans attacking US boats - now seen as big enough to be a threat

  • Held a position of prestige to call upon in conflict after war ended

  • Now a major Pacific power

• Shift away from isolationism paralleled the departure from neutrality

• Being involved in the decisive battles of the war enhanced nationalism, power and prestige

  • Encourages the USA to intervene again in later conflicts

  • Economic incentive to become more interventionist → trade would decline with other countries if they did not stop conflicts

• Began the ‘Wilsonism Ideal’ - America wanted to lead and champion the creation of a more peaceful world

• America becoming the creditor nation as a consequence

• Neutrality clashes with massive upheaval in responsibility

• Wilson’s long term legacy encompassed foreign involvement - NATO, League of Nations, UN

Not a turning point in foreign policy

• Intervention in Spanish-American war and creation of colonies could be argued to be the first break from non-interventionism and therefore WW1 represents continuity, not change

• Many people saw it as dangerous involvement and indicative of trajectory that should not be pursued

  • Public opinion reverted back to the opposition seen during Roosevelt’s presidency

  • Traditional principles strong enough to hold until 1941, even when challenged in 1939

• Disillusionment of Wilson’s ideal of staying out of the war but still being a key participant

• Direction of foreign policy changed at home further back into isolationism than under Taft or Roosevelt - turning point but in the negative direction

Wilson’s 14 Points

• Main aim - prevent wars from ever happening again by enforcing free trade, disarmament, economic freedom and the banning of secret military alliances

• Intervention = collecting over 2000 reports from around the world on countries’ policies and using their mistakes to base the 14 point programme

• Idea that if the USA got involved in leading these new ideals, countries would be able to self determine and therefore the USA could withdraw involvement → end goal of interventionism was isolationism (makes sense)

• Point 14 = USA joining the League of Nations which proved the increasing desire to get involved in leading this new world

• USA as a mediator - long term continuation of the idea of US superiority

• Senate did not ratify the US entry into the League of Nations - already showing the shift back into isolationism

• The Treaty of Versailles barely integrated the 14 points despite Germany wishing to attempt them - repetition of mistakes that led to WW2