9) Woodrow Wilson and the Great War

In 1882, on recommendation of an advisory panel, the Navy Secretary William H. Hunt requested funds from Congress to construct modern ships. Despite initally being rejected, in 1883 they authorised the construction of 3 protected crusiers, USS Chicago, USS Boston and USS Atlanta, and the dispatch vessel known as USS Dolphin. Together the ships were known as the ABCD ships. 2 more protected cruisers were developed in 1885, the USS Charleston and USS Newark. They also authorised the first battleships in the Navy, USS Texas and USS Maine. The ABCD ships proved to be excellent vessels.

The Navy Act of 1890 authorised building 3 battleships USS Indiana, USS Massachusetts and USS Oregon, followed by USS Iowa. The US Navy was brought from 12th place in 1870 to 5th place among the world navies. Battle tactics, especially long-range gunnery, became a central concern.

William Henry Seward is an example of a man who wanted to purchase land and establish a kind of empire. After the Civil War he became an ardent expansionist, even considering the purchases of Greenland and Iceland. He believed American trade would also be helped by the purchase of overseas territory.

He believed, along with Lincoln, that the US needed a naval base in the Caribbean. When Congress reconvened in December 1866, Seward entered the chamber of the House of Representatives and sat down with the administration's enemy, Congressman Stevens. He pursuaded him to support an appropriation for more money to expediate the purchase of Samaná Bay, sending his son to the Dominican Republic to negotiate a treaty. Both attempts failed though.

In 1864 when Seward learned that Russian America (Alaska) might be up for sale, he pressed the Russians for negotiations. The Russian minister returned home on leave in 1866, and fearing the territory might be overrun by American settlers and lost, so he urged his government to sell it. He was given the authority to make the sale. He returned in March 1867 and negotiated with the Secretary of State. The treaty was signed on the 30th March 1867 and ratified by the senate on the 10th April.

The Spanish-American war was fought in 1898. Hostilites began following the explosion of the USS Maine in Havana Harbour, Cuba. It led to US intervention in the Cuban War of Independence. Revolts had been occuring for some years against Spanish rule and the US later backed these revolts after entering into the Spanish-American war. Anti-Spanish propaganda agitated US public opinion. After the sinking of USS Maine in Havana Harbour, and political pressure from the Democratic Party on the Republican President, William McKinley, pushed the president into a war he had wished to avoid.

McKinley signed a joint Congressional resolution demanding Spanish withdrawal and authorising the President to use military force to help Cuba gain independence on the 20th April. Spain severed diplomatic relations with the US the day after.

The 10-week war was fought in the Caribbean and the Pacific. Madrid sued for peace after American, Cuban and Philippine forces obtained the surrender of Santiago de Cuba and Manila, and 2 Spanish squadrons sunk in Santiago de Cuba and Manila Bay.

It resulted in the 1898 Treaty of Paris where favourable terms were negotiated for the US allowing it temporary control over Cuba, and they gained ownership of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippine islands.

Roosevelt's foreign policy, 'Big Stick Diplomacy', was the idea of negotiating peacefully while simultaneously threatening with a 'big stick', the military. He said it involved exercising intelligent forethought sufficiently far in advance of any likely crisis.

Taft's foreign policy, 'Dollar Diplomacy', aimed to further itself in Latin America and East Asia through use of its economic power by guaranteeing loans made to foreign countries. The state department became more active than ever in encouraging and supporting American bankers and industrialists in securing new opportunities abroard.

Wilson's foreign policy, 'Moral Diplomacy', was a system where support was given only to countries whose moral beliefs were the same as that of America. It promoted the growth of the nation's ideals and damages nations with different ideologies. It was used to support countries with democratic governments, and to economically injure non-democratic countries. He also hoped to increase the number of democratic nations, particularly in Latin America.

The US only joined WWI in 1917, and so were quite late. They joined following the sinking of a ship off the Irish coast and the interception of the Zimmermann Telegram to Mexico from Germany to form an alliance. The war ended a year later with only 50,000 US casualties. Culturally, it wasn't as big in America as it was in Europe, but returning soldiers came home to a lot of admiration and it heralded the crazy 1920s.