Chapter 21 - America and the Great War
Theodore Roosevelt believed in the value and importance of using American power in the world
Roosevelt believed that an important distinction existed between the “civilized” and “uncivilized” nations of the world. “Civilized” nations, as he defined them, were predominantly white and Anglo-Saxon or Teutonic; “uncivilized” nations were generally nonwhite, Latin, or Slavic.
But racism was only partly the basis of the distinction.
Equally important was economic development.
He believed, therefore, that Japan, a rapidly industrializing society, had earned admission to the ranks of the civilized.
A civilized society, he argued, had the right and duty to intervene in the affairs of a “backward” nation to preserve order and stability.
That belief was one important reason for Roosevelt’s early support of the development of American sea power
Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for his work in ending the Russo-Japanese War.
To be sure the Japanese government recognized the power of the United States, he sent sixteen battleships of the new American navy (known as the “Great White Fleet” because the ships were temporarily painted white for the voyage) on an unprecedented journey around the world that included a call on Japan.
The incident helped persuade Roosevelt that European intrusions into Latin America could result not only from aggression but also from instability or irresponsibility (such as defaulting on debts) within the Latin American nations themselves.
As a result, in 1904 he announced what came to be known as the “Roosevelt Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine.
The United States, he claimed, had the right not only to oppose European intervention in the Western Hemisphere but also to intervene in the domestic affairs of its neighbors if those neighbors proved unable to maintain order and national sovereignty on their own.
The immediate motivation for the Roosevelt Corollary, and the first opportunity for using it, was a crisis in the Dominican Republic.
In 1902, the United States granted political independence to Cuba, but only after the new government had agreed to the Platt Amendment to its constitution
The most celebrated accomplishment of Roosevelt’s presidency was the construction of the Panama Canal, which linked the Atlantic and the Pacific.
At first, Roosevelt and many advocates of a canal favored a route across Nicaragua, which would permit a sea-level canal requiring no locks.
But they soon turned instead to the narrow Isthmus of Panama in Colombia, the site of an earlier, failed effort by a French company to construct a channel.
Although the Panama route was not at sea level (and would thus require locks), it was shorter than the one in Nicaragua
Roosevelt landed troops from the USS Nashville in Panama to “maintain order.” Their presence prevented Colombian forces from suppressing the rebellion, and three days later Roosevelt recognized Panama as an independent nation.
The new Panamanian government quickly agreed to the terms the Colombian senate had rejected.
Work on the canal proceeded rapidly, and it opened in 1914
Like his predecessor, William Howard Taft worked to advance the nation’s economic interests overseas.
But he showed little interest in Roosevelt’s larger vision of world stability
Taft’s secretary of state, the corporate attorney Philander C. Knox, worked aggressively to extend American investments into less developed regions. Critics called his policies “Dollar Diplomacy.”
It was particularly visible in the Caribbean. When a revolution broke out in Nicaragua in 1909, the administration quickly sided with the insurgents (who had been inspired to revolt by an American mining company) and sent troops into the country to seize the customs houses.
As soon as peace was restored, Knox encouraged American bankers to offer substantial loans to the new government, thus increasing Washington’s financial leverage over the country.
When the new pro-American government faced an insurrection less than two years later, Taft again landed troops in Nicaragua, this time to protect the existing regime.
The troops remained there for more than a decade.
Woodrow Wilson entered the presidency with relatively little interest or experience in international affairs.
Yet he faced international challenges of a scope and gravity unmatched by those of any president before him.
In many respects, he continued—and even strengthened—the Roosevelt-Taft approach to foreign policy.
But Wilson’s view of America’s role in the world was not entirely similar to the views of his predecessors, as became clear in his dealings with Mexico.
Wilson had envisioned a bloodless action, but in a clash with Mexican troops in Veracruz, the Americans killed 126 Mexican soldiers and suffered 19 casualties of their own.
Now at the brink of war, Wilson began to look for a way out.
His show of force, however, had helped strengthen the position of the Carranza faction, which captured Mexico City in August and forced Huerta to flee the country.
At last, it seemed, the crisis might be over.
But Wilson was not yet satisfied.
The major powers of Europe were organized by 1914 in two great, competing alliances.
The “Triple Entente” linked Britain, France, and Russia.
The “Triple Alliance” united Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Italy.
The chief rivalry, however, was not between the two alliances, but between the great powers that dominated them: Great Britain and Germany—the former long established as the world’s most powerful colonial and commercial nation, the latter ambitious to expand its own empire and become at least Britain’s equal
With support from Germany, Austria-Hungary launched a punitive assault on Serbia.
The Serbians called on Russia to help with their defense.
The Russians began mobilizing their army on July 30.
Things quickly careened out of control.
By August 3, Germany had declared war on both Russia and France and had invaded Belgium in preparation for a thrust across the French border.
On August 4, Great Britain— ostensibly to honor its alliance with France but, more importantly, to blunt the advance of its principal rival— declared war on Germany.
Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire formally began hostilities on August 6.
Italy, although an ally of Germany in 1914, remained neutral at first and later entered the war on the side of the British and French.
The Ottoman Empire (centered in Turkey) and other, smaller nations all joined the fighting later in 1914 or in 1915.
Within less than a year, virtually the entire European continent and part of Asia were embroiled in a catastrophic war.
Wilson called on his fellow citizens in 1914 to remain “impartial in thought as well as deed.” But that was an impossible task, for several reasons.
Some Americans sympathized with the German cause (German Americans because of affection for Germany, Irish Americans because of hatred of Britain).
Many more (including Wilson himself) sympathized with Britain.
Wilson was only one of many Americans who fervently admired England—its traditions, its culture, its political system; almost instinctively, these Americans attributed to the cause of the Allies
Economic realities also made it impossible for the United States to deal with the belligerents on equal terms.
The British had imposed a naval blockade on Germany to prevent munitions and supplies from reaching the enemy.
As a neutral, the United States had the right, in theory, to trade with both Britain and Germany; but for Americans to trade with Germany, they would have to defy the British blockade
Months later, on May 7, 1915, a German submarine sank the British passenger liner Lusitania without warning, causing the deaths of 1,198 people, 128 of them Americans.
The ship was, it later became clear, carrying both passengers and munitions; but most Americans considered the attack what Theodore Roosevelt called it: “an act of piracy.”
A few weeks later Germany attacked the unarmed French steamer Sussex, injuring several American passengers.
Again Wilson demanded that Germany abandon its “unlawful” tactics; again the German government relented, still hoping to keep America out of the war.
Despite the president’s increasing bellicosity in 1916, he was still far from ready to commit the United States to war.
One obstacle was American domestic politics.
Facing a difficult battle for reelection, Wilson could not ignore the powerful factions that continued to oppose intervention.
The question of whether America should make military and economic preparations for war provided the first issue over which pacifists and interventionists could openly debate.
Wilson at first sided with the antipreparedness forces, denouncing the idea of an American military buildup as needless and provocative.
As tensions between the United States and Germany grew, however, he changed his mind
The election was behind him, and tensions between the United States and Germany remained high.
But Wilson still required a justification for American intervention that would unite public opinion and satisfy his own sense of morality
On the rainy evening of April 2, two weeks after German submarines had torpedoed three American ships, Wilson appeared before a joint session of Congress and asked for a declaration of war
By the spring of 1917, Great Britain was suffering such vast losses from attacks by German submarines—one of every four ships setting sail from British ports never returned—that its ability to continue receiving vital supplies from across the Atlantic was in question.
Within weeks of joining the war, a fleet of American destroyers began aiding the British navy in its assault on German submarines
Many Americans had hoped that providing naval assistance alone would be enough to turn the tide in the war, but it quickly became clear that American ground forces would also be necessary to shore up the tottering Allies.
Britain and France had few remaining reserves
There were only about 120,000 soldiers in the army in 1917 and perhaps 80,000 more in the National Guard.
Neither group had any combat experience; and except for the small number
Some politicians urged a voluntary recruitment process to raise the needed additional forces.
Among the advocates of this approach was Theodore Roosevelt, now old and ill, who swallowed his hatred of Wilson and called on him at the White House with an offer to raise a regiment to fight in Europe.
Wilson rejected his offer.
In the new age of warfare, he sensed, the old tradition of civilians becoming officers and recruiting troops (a common practice in the Civil War), seemed obsolete.
The military did its best to keep up morale among men who spent most of their time living in the trenches, but it was a difficult task.
The trenches were frequently shelled and even when calm were muddy, polluted, and infested with rats.
But when soldiers had time away from the front, they were usually less interested in the facilities the Red Cross tried to make available for them than in exploring the bars and brothels of local towns.
More than one in every ten American soldiers in Europe contracted the venereal disease during World War I, which inspired elaborate official efforts to prevent infection and to treat it when it occurred.
In some respects, the AEF was the most diverse fighting force the United States had ever assembled.
For the first time, women were permitted to enlist in the military—more than ten thousand in the navy and a few hundred in the marines.
They were not allowed to participate in combat, but they served auxiliary roles in hospitals and offices.
Nearly 400,000 African Americans enlisted in or were drafted into the army and navy as well.
The marines would not accept them.
The engagement of these forces in combat was intense but brief.
Not until the spring of 1918 were significant numbers of American ground troops available for battle.
Eight months later, the war was over
The experience of American troops during World War I was very different from those of other nations, which had already been fighting for nearly four years by the time the U.S. forces arrived in significant numbers.
Although the American forces had trench experiences of their own, they were very brief compared to those of the European armies.
Large assault against the Germans in the Argonne Forest that lasted nearly seven weeks.
By the end of October, despite terrible weather, they had helped push the Germans back toward their own border and had cut the enemy’s major supply lines to the front.
Faced with an invasion of their own country, German military leaders now began to seek an armistice—an immediate cease-fire that would, they hoped, serve as a prelude to negotiations among the belligerents.
Pershing wanted to drive on into Germany itself; but other Allied leaders, after first insisting on terms that made the agreement little different from a surrender, accepted the German proposal.
On November 11, 1918, the Great War shuddered to a close.
World War I was a proving ground for a range of military and other technologies.
The trench warfare that characterized the conflict was necessary because of the enormous destructive power of newly improved machine guns and higher-powered artillery
The new forms of technological warfare required elaborate maintenance. Faster machine guns needed more ammunition.
Motorized vehicles required fuel and spare parts and mechanics capable of servicing them.
Theodore Roosevelt believed in the value and importance of using American power in the world
Roosevelt believed that an important distinction existed between the “civilized” and “uncivilized” nations of the world. “Civilized” nations, as he defined them, were predominantly white and Anglo-Saxon or Teutonic; “uncivilized” nations were generally nonwhite, Latin, or Slavic.
But racism was only partly the basis of the distinction.
Equally important was economic development.
He believed, therefore, that Japan, a rapidly industrializing society, had earned admission to the ranks of the civilized.
A civilized society, he argued, had the right and duty to intervene in the affairs of a “backward” nation to preserve order and stability.
That belief was one important reason for Roosevelt’s early support of the development of American sea power
Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for his work in ending the Russo-Japanese War.
To be sure the Japanese government recognized the power of the United States, he sent sixteen battleships of the new American navy (known as the “Great White Fleet” because the ships were temporarily painted white for the voyage) on an unprecedented journey around the world that included a call on Japan.
The incident helped persuade Roosevelt that European intrusions into Latin America could result not only from aggression but also from instability or irresponsibility (such as defaulting on debts) within the Latin American nations themselves.
As a result, in 1904 he announced what came to be known as the “Roosevelt Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine.
The United States, he claimed, had the right not only to oppose European intervention in the Western Hemisphere but also to intervene in the domestic affairs of its neighbors if those neighbors proved unable to maintain order and national sovereignty on their own.
The immediate motivation for the Roosevelt Corollary, and the first opportunity for using it, was a crisis in the Dominican Republic.
In 1902, the United States granted political independence to Cuba, but only after the new government had agreed to the Platt Amendment to its constitution
The most celebrated accomplishment of Roosevelt’s presidency was the construction of the Panama Canal, which linked the Atlantic and the Pacific.
At first, Roosevelt and many advocates of a canal favored a route across Nicaragua, which would permit a sea-level canal requiring no locks.
But they soon turned instead to the narrow Isthmus of Panama in Colombia, the site of an earlier, failed effort by a French company to construct a channel.
Although the Panama route was not at sea level (and would thus require locks), it was shorter than the one in Nicaragua
Roosevelt landed troops from the USS Nashville in Panama to “maintain order.” Their presence prevented Colombian forces from suppressing the rebellion, and three days later Roosevelt recognized Panama as an independent nation.
The new Panamanian government quickly agreed to the terms the Colombian senate had rejected.
Work on the canal proceeded rapidly, and it opened in 1914
Like his predecessor, William Howard Taft worked to advance the nation’s economic interests overseas.
But he showed little interest in Roosevelt’s larger vision of world stability
Taft’s secretary of state, the corporate attorney Philander C. Knox, worked aggressively to extend American investments into less developed regions. Critics called his policies “Dollar Diplomacy.”
It was particularly visible in the Caribbean. When a revolution broke out in Nicaragua in 1909, the administration quickly sided with the insurgents (who had been inspired to revolt by an American mining company) and sent troops into the country to seize the customs houses.
As soon as peace was restored, Knox encouraged American bankers to offer substantial loans to the new government, thus increasing Washington’s financial leverage over the country.
When the new pro-American government faced an insurrection less than two years later, Taft again landed troops in Nicaragua, this time to protect the existing regime.
The troops remained there for more than a decade.
Woodrow Wilson entered the presidency with relatively little interest or experience in international affairs.
Yet he faced international challenges of a scope and gravity unmatched by those of any president before him.
In many respects, he continued—and even strengthened—the Roosevelt-Taft approach to foreign policy.
But Wilson’s view of America’s role in the world was not entirely similar to the views of his predecessors, as became clear in his dealings with Mexico.
Wilson had envisioned a bloodless action, but in a clash with Mexican troops in Veracruz, the Americans killed 126 Mexican soldiers and suffered 19 casualties of their own.
Now at the brink of war, Wilson began to look for a way out.
His show of force, however, had helped strengthen the position of the Carranza faction, which captured Mexico City in August and forced Huerta to flee the country.
At last, it seemed, the crisis might be over.
But Wilson was not yet satisfied.
The major powers of Europe were organized by 1914 in two great, competing alliances.
The “Triple Entente” linked Britain, France, and Russia.
The “Triple Alliance” united Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Italy.
The chief rivalry, however, was not between the two alliances, but between the great powers that dominated them: Great Britain and Germany—the former long established as the world’s most powerful colonial and commercial nation, the latter ambitious to expand its own empire and become at least Britain’s equal
With support from Germany, Austria-Hungary launched a punitive assault on Serbia.
The Serbians called on Russia to help with their defense.
The Russians began mobilizing their army on July 30.
Things quickly careened out of control.
By August 3, Germany had declared war on both Russia and France and had invaded Belgium in preparation for a thrust across the French border.
On August 4, Great Britain— ostensibly to honor its alliance with France but, more importantly, to blunt the advance of its principal rival— declared war on Germany.
Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire formally began hostilities on August 6.
Italy, although an ally of Germany in 1914, remained neutral at first and later entered the war on the side of the British and French.
The Ottoman Empire (centered in Turkey) and other, smaller nations all joined the fighting later in 1914 or in 1915.
Within less than a year, virtually the entire European continent and part of Asia were embroiled in a catastrophic war.
Wilson called on his fellow citizens in 1914 to remain “impartial in thought as well as deed.” But that was an impossible task, for several reasons.
Some Americans sympathized with the German cause (German Americans because of affection for Germany, Irish Americans because of hatred of Britain).
Many more (including Wilson himself) sympathized with Britain.
Wilson was only one of many Americans who fervently admired England—its traditions, its culture, its political system; almost instinctively, these Americans attributed to the cause of the Allies
Economic realities also made it impossible for the United States to deal with the belligerents on equal terms.
The British had imposed a naval blockade on Germany to prevent munitions and supplies from reaching the enemy.
As a neutral, the United States had the right, in theory, to trade with both Britain and Germany; but for Americans to trade with Germany, they would have to defy the British blockade
Months later, on May 7, 1915, a German submarine sank the British passenger liner Lusitania without warning, causing the deaths of 1,198 people, 128 of them Americans.
The ship was, it later became clear, carrying both passengers and munitions; but most Americans considered the attack what Theodore Roosevelt called it: “an act of piracy.”
A few weeks later Germany attacked the unarmed French steamer Sussex, injuring several American passengers.
Again Wilson demanded that Germany abandon its “unlawful” tactics; again the German government relented, still hoping to keep America out of the war.
Despite the president’s increasing bellicosity in 1916, he was still far from ready to commit the United States to war.
One obstacle was American domestic politics.
Facing a difficult battle for reelection, Wilson could not ignore the powerful factions that continued to oppose intervention.
The question of whether America should make military and economic preparations for war provided the first issue over which pacifists and interventionists could openly debate.
Wilson at first sided with the antipreparedness forces, denouncing the idea of an American military buildup as needless and provocative.
As tensions between the United States and Germany grew, however, he changed his mind
The election was behind him, and tensions between the United States and Germany remained high.
But Wilson still required a justification for American intervention that would unite public opinion and satisfy his own sense of morality
On the rainy evening of April 2, two weeks after German submarines had torpedoed three American ships, Wilson appeared before a joint session of Congress and asked for a declaration of war
By the spring of 1917, Great Britain was suffering such vast losses from attacks by German submarines—one of every four ships setting sail from British ports never returned—that its ability to continue receiving vital supplies from across the Atlantic was in question.
Within weeks of joining the war, a fleet of American destroyers began aiding the British navy in its assault on German submarines
Many Americans had hoped that providing naval assistance alone would be enough to turn the tide in the war, but it quickly became clear that American ground forces would also be necessary to shore up the tottering Allies.
Britain and France had few remaining reserves
There were only about 120,000 soldiers in the army in 1917 and perhaps 80,000 more in the National Guard.
Neither group had any combat experience; and except for the small number
Some politicians urged a voluntary recruitment process to raise the needed additional forces.
Among the advocates of this approach was Theodore Roosevelt, now old and ill, who swallowed his hatred of Wilson and called on him at the White House with an offer to raise a regiment to fight in Europe.
Wilson rejected his offer.
In the new age of warfare, he sensed, the old tradition of civilians becoming officers and recruiting troops (a common practice in the Civil War), seemed obsolete.
The military did its best to keep up morale among men who spent most of their time living in the trenches, but it was a difficult task.
The trenches were frequently shelled and even when calm were muddy, polluted, and infested with rats.
But when soldiers had time away from the front, they were usually less interested in the facilities the Red Cross tried to make available for them than in exploring the bars and brothels of local towns.
More than one in every ten American soldiers in Europe contracted the venereal disease during World War I, which inspired elaborate official efforts to prevent infection and to treat it when it occurred.
In some respects, the AEF was the most diverse fighting force the United States had ever assembled.
For the first time, women were permitted to enlist in the military—more than ten thousand in the navy and a few hundred in the marines.
They were not allowed to participate in combat, but they served auxiliary roles in hospitals and offices.
Nearly 400,000 African Americans enlisted in or were drafted into the army and navy as well.
The marines would not accept them.
The engagement of these forces in combat was intense but brief.
Not until the spring of 1918 were significant numbers of American ground troops available for battle.
Eight months later, the war was over
The experience of American troops during World War I was very different from those of other nations, which had already been fighting for nearly four years by the time the U.S. forces arrived in significant numbers.
Although the American forces had trench experiences of their own, they were very brief compared to those of the European armies.
Large assault against the Germans in the Argonne Forest that lasted nearly seven weeks.
By the end of October, despite terrible weather, they had helped push the Germans back toward their own border and had cut the enemy’s major supply lines to the front.
Faced with an invasion of their own country, German military leaders now began to seek an armistice—an immediate cease-fire that would, they hoped, serve as a prelude to negotiations among the belligerents.
Pershing wanted to drive on into Germany itself; but other Allied leaders, after first insisting on terms that made the agreement little different from a surrender, accepted the German proposal.
On November 11, 1918, the Great War shuddered to a close.
World War I was a proving ground for a range of military and other technologies.
The trench warfare that characterized the conflict was necessary because of the enormous destructive power of newly improved machine guns and higher-powered artillery
The new forms of technological warfare required elaborate maintenance. Faster machine guns needed more ammunition.
Motorized vehicles required fuel and spare parts and mechanics capable of servicing them.
