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Thesis
While the Monroe Doctrine merely stated that European countries could not interfere in the Western Hemisphere, the Roosevelt Corollary established the grounds on which the U.S. would police the affairs in the Western Hemisphere, as well as encouraging U.S. interference in Europe and Asia. Despite the changing foreign policies that came with the election of new presidents, the U.S. followed a model of U.S. intervention in foreign countries leading up to the first World War. -
Opening Special Event: Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine was a U.S. policy prohibiting European influence in the Western Hemisphere. -
Key Event: Destruction of the Battleship Maine
The Maine was a U.S. battleship that sunk in a Cuban harbor, fostering support for a war with Spain. Though the destruction of the battleship was likely an accident, it provided a reason for the United States to go to war with Spain and replace Spain as the key influence in Cuba. -
Key Event: Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris formally ended the Spanish-American War and, in addition to granting Cuban independence, ceded the territories of Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States. -
Key Event: John Hay's Open Door Policy
John Hay, U.S. Secretary of State, issued the Open Door Note to declare that the U.S. had equal trade rights and opportunities in China. However, though European powers did not oppose Hay’s Note, the Chinese were indignant and voiced their opposition to the Open Door Policy in the Boxer Rebellion. -
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Key Event: The Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising that took place in China in response to the growing European and American influence in China. -
Key Event: Theodore Roosevelt Becomes President
Theodore Roosevelt unexpectedly became president in 1901 when William McKinley was assassinated. He implemented foreign policies of significant U.S. intervention and imperialism. He would become well known for his “Big Stick Policy.” -
Key Event: Roosevelt Corollary
The Roosevelt Corollary essentially granted the U.S. the authority to intervene in foreign countries wherever they saw fit. -
Key Event: Election of William Howard Taft
After his election, Taft implemented a policy known as "Dollar Diplomacy," which encouraged U.S. economic enterprises in foreign countries. -
Key Event: Election of Woodrow Wilson
With the election of Wilson came a policy known as "Moral Diplomacy," which advocated U.S. support only to countries that held the same moral beliefs as the U.S. -
Key Event: Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand and his wife were killed in Sarajevo, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia and Herzegovina, by Gavrilo Princip, a member of Young Bosnia and one of a group of assassins called the Black Hand. The assassination sparked World War One. -
Key Event: U.S. Entrance into WWI
Largely a result of support fostered from the patriotization of events such as the destruction of the Maine and the Zimmerman Telegram, the U.S. joined the Allied forces and entered WWI. -
Key Event: Failure of the U.S. to Join the League of Nations
The U.S. Senate rejected the League of Nations in 1919, largely because of Article X, which would have enforced international military cooperation. -
Closing Special Event: The U.S. Joins the United Nations
Though WWI was unable to convince the U.S. to join a major supernational alliance, the United States joined the United Nations following WWII.
