United States of America as an Emerging World Power 1890-1920

Description

This study is one of the very few books that deals with how the United States changed its foreign policy from one-sided neutrality (i.e. its self-recognition as being neutral) to a policy of becoming an active belligerent as an associate power on the side of the allied powers, France and Great Britain. The study shows that the roots of Americas becoming an international power lie with the Monroe Doctrine and its numerous corollaries, and that politics of overseas possessions had already begun in 1859 with the claiming of the Midway Islands, in 1869 with the purchase of Alaska, continuing with the Spanish-American War, the Panama Canal, and Gunboat Diplomacy. All these developments, up to and including WWI, are discussed in light of the prevailing economic aspects of colonialism, foreign policy, and the framework of British, French, German, and American propaganda. The discussion of the sinking of the Lusitania includes the latest research. The presentation of the Zimmermann Telegram includes a new examination of the original coded copy of the telegram and a new English translation thereof, contrasted against the official translation as found in the Congressional document. The books appendices include Woodrow Wilsons Peace Without Victory and War Message speeches; Senator George Norriss and Senator Robert M. LaFollettes anti-war speeches before Congress; and Wilsons Fourteen Points with counter-arguments of Theodore Roosevelt.