Three Important Foreign Policies Affected US History From 1865-1940

The treaty of Versailles was a treaty signed at the end of World War I by Germany and the Allies. United States, Great Britain, France, and Italy negotiated the treaty at the peace conference held in Versailles beginning January 18, 1919. The treaty reduced Germany’s armed forces to very low levels and prohibited Germany from possessing certain kinds of weapons, it also established Germany’s liability for reparations. The treaty was supposed to ensure peace and help Europe recover from the war. In my opinion the treaty did not help with any of those two subjects.

American foreign policy during the 1890s was based on many factors that each acted as an individual justification for our country’s behavior as a whole. Racism, nationalism, commercialism, and humanitarianism each had its own role in the actions America took against other nations.

Some of the main ideas in the Treaty of Versailles are that Germany had to take the blame for starting the war. That was a big part because people got justice out of that. Germany also had to pay a lot of money for the damage that were done during the war. Next Germany was not allowed to own submarines or have an Air Force. They were only allowed to have a navy of six battleships, and an Army of just 100,000 men. In addition, Germany was not allowed to place any soldiers next to France. And lastly Germany lost lots of land in Europe, their colonies were given to Britain and France. There are many examples of this treaty still today, in modern times. It had big effects in earlier times as well. But first here are a few examples of how much

American foreign policy from 1890-1930 was driven primarily by our businesslike economic and strategic considerations based on American self-interest. With westward expansion over, there had to be a new way for the United States to continue expansion. In the name of maintaining our innovative spirit and political ideology, our conquest for money, resources and trade took us outside of our borders for the first time. After all, how could we continue this upward monetary and resource tick if we didn’t expand? All countries are very self-centered and driven by their own success, and ours is no different in this respect. Going from a country that could large in part be ignored, to a real world power

McKinley’s presidency starting in 1896 restored American prosperity through the use of higher tariffs and the return to a gold standard. Foreign nations became dependent on the United States’ prosperity because economic problems, such as crop failures, were affecting their stability. This along with many other factors developed America’s strong sense of nationalism. The concept of social Darwinism was applied not only to domestic concerns, but to foreign concerns as well. Americans felt that their previous abilities to empower themselves over the Native Americans set as a precedent for their capability to influence foreign nations. America looked beyond its borders for new markets because after the closing of the frontier, a fear of

Over the years 1930 through 1941 the goals of American foreign policy generally changed. In the earlier years America dealt with war and fought with other countries. America was not very smart in learning to stay out of war. Over the years, America became more neutral and attempted to stay out of war as much as possible. Throughout the years, important figures wrote documents to support America’s journey and decisions.

The construction of the Panama Canal has a number of important foreign policy implies, First it led to the United States' supporting independent factions, who separated the republic of Panama from Colombia, and it also led to the granting of sovereign land rights to the United States over the Panama Canal Zone. The Panama Canal had massive suggestions for

The Treaty of Versailles ended World War I, and because Germany had lost the war, the treaty was very harsh against Germany. The treaty stated that Germany must accept full responsibility for the previously ended war and pay thirty three billion dollars for the damages that remained from the war. This treaty left Germany and the citizens with a shattered economy and chaos. The Treaty of Versailles left many Germans angry and frustrated due to the long term effects it

Germany was believed to be the cause of World War one, which made other European countries want to severely hurt Germany’s military and economy so that Germany couldn’t achieve future aggressions. The peace treaty called the Treaty of Versailles did just that. On June 28, 1919, the major powers in Europe, other than Germany, negotiated Germany’s punishment for the war. Germany’s military was limited to 100,000 men, they lost many of their colonies, they were forced to disarm their troops from the Rhineland, and worst of all they were forced to pay for all of the destruction caused by the war, which totaled to about 40 billion dollars. The Treaty of Versailles crushed Germany; they were weak and desperate, until Nazi Germany came to power.

With a two-ocean navy, U.S. had become a major military power. “Victory in the Spanish-American War transformed the United States, a former colony, to an imperial power. Many Americans saw this development as a natural part of the nations “Manifest Destiny”—the belief that expansion of the United States was both right and inevitable” (loc.gov) Ending Conflict President McKinley made a peace term and the Spanish accepted, allowing America and the Spanish to negotiate. That was the Treaty of Paris.

Was signed by Britain, Spain, and France on February 10th 1763. It gave up all French territory in mainland North America which ended military threat posed by the French to the British colonies.

Theodore Roosevelt's decisions were vital in the battles at San Juan Hill and Kettle Hill. He was one of the leading factors in these victories. Shortly after these battles the Spanish American War came to an end. Spain had to grant America a large amount of land. The Treaty of Paris gave the U.S. Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. The war destroyed the Spanish Empire and ushered in the American Empire (T.R. the Rough Rider).

States felt obligated to expeditiously and decisively assert itself in a world predicated on imperial power. America’s first foray into European-style intervention, the rash and jingoistic Spanish-American War proved vital in catalyzing American interventionism. This victory whet the appetites of the American commercial lobby creating an urgency to secure trade interests in the Caribbean, the Americas, and the Pacific. Integral to establishing American power and hegemony in Western hemispheric trade was a transisthmian canal. A return to Monroe Doctrine foreign policy bolstered by interventionist Manifest Destiny revived the Panama Canal Project, America’s Suez Canal.

In December of 1918, The Allies of Europe met in Versailles to Sign possibly one of the most changing documents in history. The document they signed nearly turned Europe upside down, broke down and put up many new social barriers, and definitely made history. The Document that the allied forces all gathered to sign was known as the Treaty of Versailles. Initially, the treaty intended to keep peace between the nations, however, forcing Germany to sign the treaty ended up as one of the worst decisions anybody could have made. The forced signing created tensions between Germany and other countries, let Germany rise back up to Power, Created an optimal situation for Germany to wage war, and ultimately caused World War II, resulting in one of

This Treaty however required Germany to accept the responsibility for Germany and Allied Nations for the damage caused during the war. This treaty forced Germany to disarm their army, make territorial concessions, and pay debt to leading countries. During this time Germany went through huge debt, paying over 132 billion Marks (About $31.4 billion) just to repair what the war had caused. These turn of events lead Germany to become weak in power.