6. Imperialism¶
Core Argument¶
The closing decades of the nineteenth century witnessed the birth of modern imperialism as Germany, France, Britain, and Belgium carved up Africa, Asia, and the Middle East in a frantic competition for markets, territory, and raw materials. The United States entered this scramble late, finding itself at a distinct disadvantage relative to older European powers. The Panic of 1893 intensified competition over markets, particularly with Britain in the Pacific and South America. In response, the US adopted protectionism through the McKinley Tariff of 1890, seized a colonial empire via the Spanish-American War of 1898, and built a formidable navy. Politicians such as Henry Cabot Lodge, William McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt championed aggressive foreign policy as a means of lifting the nation out of depression. Imperialism also served a crucial social and political function in Europe, where militant working-class organisation and mass strikes threatened the established order.
The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 had proclaimed the Americas closed to European colonisation, but the Roosevelt Corollary of 1904 extended this to claim an exclusive US right to "lead" the entire continent. The Spanish-American War began after the battleship Maine exploded in Havana harbour, providing a pretext for intervention despite Spain having already agreed to US reform terms. The US seized Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, paying Spain $20 million for the latter. In 1903, the US orchestrated Panama's independence from Colombia to secure control of the Panama Canal Zone for $10 million. During the Philippine-American War, US forces employed scorched earth tactics, torture, and concentration camps, causing up to one million civilian deaths, while English was imposed as the official language.
The First World War's Allied leaders—Lloyd George, Clemenceau, and Wilson—claimed noble motives but acted as imperialist brigands. The Versailles Treaty imposed savage economic penalties on Germany, not a democratic peace. The US entered the war because its commercial interests lay in Britain not losing; between 1915 and April 1917, US loans to Britain and its allies were 85 times greater than those to Germany. The war transformed the USA into the world's dominant power and creditor. European Allies intended to pay their US debts by squeezing reparations from Germany, but Germany could not pay. Repayment plans collapsed, and by 1934 all debtors except Finland had defaulted. The US accumulated the largest gold stock in history, forcing other nations off the gold standard and worsening the Great Depression.
The Russian Revolution of 1917, led by the Bolsheviks, demonstrated that socialist revolution was possible and inspired American socialists like John Reed. Fearing the revolution's spread, the US ruling class unleashed a white terror against labour: draconian espionage laws, censorship, mass arrests, and violent strikebreaking. Socialist leader Eugene Debs was imprisoned for opposing the war. Under Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, a special antiradical division was established under J. Edgar Hoover. Thousands of suspected radicals were arrested without warrants, held without bail, denied lawyers, and often beaten; most were later released. In Massachusetts, anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were convicted on murder charges in a politically motivated trial; Judge Thayer declared he wanted to convict "those anarchist bastards." Despite international protests, they were executed. John Dos Passos's 1919 recounts the lynching of Wobbly Wesley Everest in Centralia on Armistice Day. After a parade attacked the union hall, Everest drew the mob away from IWW secretary Britt Smith. He shot several attackers, including ex-soldier Dale Hubbard, nephew of a big lumberman. Captured, his teeth were bashed in. A woman prevented an initial hanging. That night, the jail was stormed; a guard handed Everest over. A businessman castrated him with a razor. Everest begged to be shot. They hanged him from a bridge. The coroner reported Everest had escaped and hanged himself, shooting himself full of holes. His body was buried in an unmarked packing box. Six captured loggers were imprisoned in Walla Walla. The Treaty of Versailles, with oil as the real motive, guaranteed future war rather than peace.