US Foreign Policy 1920 1941 Daniel W Blackmon

US Foreign Policy: 1920 -1941 Daniel W. Blackmon Coral Gables Sr. High

Charles Evans Hughes • Secretary of State under Harding and Coolidge • Not accurate to describe him as “Isolationist” • Foreign policy is actually quite active

Washington Naval Conference 1921 • Hughes wished to avoid a destabilizing naval armaments race. – Hughes proposed a reduction in fleets – Hughes proposed a 10 months moratorium on new ship construction • Three new treaties

Five Power Pact 1922 • Established a ratio of capital ship tonnage between the US / Great Britain / Japan / Italy / France of 5: 5: 3: 1. 75 • Japan agreed to this ratio since they had only Pacific interests whereas the US and Great Britain had Pacific and Atlantic interests

Nine Power Pact • All conferees agreed to respect China's territorial integrity and uphold the Open Door

Four Power Pact • The US, Great Britain, France, and Japan agree to a mutual Pacific non-aggression pact.

Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928) • The pact outlawed offensive war as an instrument of national power. • 62 nations signed it. – That included Germany, Italy, and Japan. – It was wonderful. War was now illegal. What a relief.

The Mukden Incident: 9/18/1931 • Japanese troops attack Manchuria and establish a puppet state of Manchukuo. (Ienaga 60)

Tydings-Mc. Duffie Act 3/24/1934 • Provided for the independence of the Philippines following a twelve year transition period

Johnson Debt Default Act 4/13/1934 • Prohibited financial transactions with any foreign government which had defaulted on World War I loans (which was everyone except Finland)

Manchukuo 4/18/1934 • Japan declares a protectorate over the puppet state of Manchukuo

Night of the Long Knives 6/13/1934 • Hitler purges the Nazi Party of Ernst Roehm and other leaders of the SA • The Army had seen the SA as a rival. It can now support Hitler’s foreign policy wholeheartedly

Adolf Hitler: the Führer • Death of President Paul von Hindenburg: 8/2/1934 • Adolf Hitler becomes Führer, combining the offices of Chancellor with President. – The Army swears an oath of “unconditional obedience” to him, personally

London Naval Conference 10 -12/1934 • Attempted to expand limits on naval construction to heavy and light cruisers

Assassination of Sergei Kirov 12/1/1934 • Inspired by the Night of the Long Knives, Stalin has a potential rival assassinated, then blames it on agents of Leon Trotsky • The Great Purge begins

Japan Denounces Washington Treaties 12/19/1934 • Japan formally repudiates the Four Power, Five Power, and Nine Power Treaties

The Road to War 1935 • Walter Millis, The Road to War popularized the conclusions of the Nye Commission

Neutrality Act of 1935 • US establishes an arms embargo on sales to all belligerents, whether the aggressor or the victim

Versailles Treaty Repudiated • Germany repudiates military clauses of the Versailles Treaty 3/16/1935 – Germany begins openly to rearm, expanding the Army beyond the 100, 000 level required by Versailles

Nye Commission 2/24/1936 • Investigated munitions makers and World War I • Concluded that the US had entered World War I to protect the profits of the munitions makers and bankers who were profiting from the war.

Neutrality Act of 1936 • Forbade loans to any belligerent nation

Neutrality Act of 1937 • Forbade US citizens from traveling on the vessels of belligerent nations • Required belligerent nations to purchase any goods on a “Cash-and-Carry” basis. – The intent, of course, was to see to it that the US did not find itself being dragged into World War I. .

Abrogation of the Platt Amendment 8/24/1934 • FDR is implementing his Good Neighbor Policy

Italy Invades Ethiopia 10/3/1935 • Great Britain asks for League sanctions. These are a disaster:

Italy Invades Ethiopia 10/3/1935 • (1) oil was not embargoed, hence, no truly vital product was cut off • (2) Britain did not close the Suez Canal to Italian vessels • (3) the sanctions did hurt Italy, and caused Italy to strengthen economic ties to Germany

Italy Withdraws from the League • The failure of League sanctions discredits the League, and is a triumph for Mussolini. (Bell 206 -8)

Germany Reoccupies the Rhineland 3/7/1936 • Germany denounces the Locarno Treaty and German troops reoccupy the Rhineland. (Eubank xii) – A clear cut violation of both the Versailles and Locarno Treaties. – Neither Great Britain nor France are prepared to act. – This is the policy which became known as APPEASEMENT

Spanish Civil War Begins • The Spanish Army in Morocco, led by Lt. Col. Juan Yagüe Blanco, (the "Hyena of Asturias“) rebelled against the Republican government • Francisco Franco arrived from the Canaries to take command.

Spanish Civil War Begins • The rebels seize control of North Africa but cannot get to the metropolis, since the navy and air force remain loyal.

Spanish Civil War Begins • Benito Mussolini provided aircraft to Franco to transfer the battle hardened Army of Africa to Spain. • Adolf Hitler chipped in with more transport aircraft. • Without this assistance, the Nationalists would have failed.

Rome-Berlin Axis • Spain has led to the two fascists dictators to make common cause. • Fortunately for the world, neither Hitler nor Mussolini really coordinated their goals or actions.

Anti-Comintern Pact • Germany and Japan sign the Anticomintern (Anti Communist International) Pact. • Both nations share a common enemy: Communist Russia.

Incident at the Marco Polo Bridge 7/7/1937 • Using the pretext of a shooting incident at the bridge dividing Manchukuo from China, the Japanese Kwangtung Army invades China.

Hossbach Memorandum 11/5/1937 • Hitler outlined Germany’s need for Lebensraum (living space) in Europe and his plans to wage war to obtain it.

Hossbach Memorandum 11/5/1937 • His audience incluldes Foreign Minister Constantin Freiherr von Neurath, his Gen. Werner von Blomberg, War Minister and Gen. Werner von Fritsch, his Chief of Staff and Hermann Goering, head of the Luftwaffe.

Panay Incident 12/12/1937 • Japanese naval aircraft attack and sink the US gunboat Panay on the Yangtze River.

Anschluss 3/13/1938 • Hitler marches into Austria and annexes it to Germany • This is another clear violation of the Treaty of Versailles. • Once again, neither Great Britain nor France were willing to act

Munich Agreement 9/29/1938 • Hitler now began demanding cession of the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia to Germany.

Munich Agreement 9/29/1938 • Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French President Eduard Daladier fly to Munich, meet with Mussolini and Hitler and agree to a German partition of Czechoslovakia. • Germany would occupy the Sudetenland

Munich Agreement 9/29/1938 • France and Great Britain guarantee the new borders--surely a great comfort to the Czechs, who were not invited to the party. – Both nations were honor bound by the Treaty of Versailles to defend Czech territorial integrity

Munich Agreement 9/29/1938 • Hitler assures Chamberlain that he had no more territorial demands.

Munich Agreement 9/29/1938 • Chamberlain returns to Britain with the agreement and says he has secured "peace in our time. "

Munich Agreement 9/29/1938 • Winston Churchill said at the time that the government had been given a choice “between war and dishonor. They have chosen dishonor, and they shall have war. ”

Munich Agreement 9/29/1938 • This is the high tide of the policy of appeasement

Germany Absorbs Bohemia 3/15/1939 • Hitler lied when he promised Chamberlain that he had no further territorial demands • Belatedly, Chamberlain and Daladier realize that Hitler’s ambitions threaten the very foundations of Western civilization.

Poland’s Borders Guaranteed 3/30/1939 • Great Britain and France, hoping to deter Hitler from further aggression, guarantee Poland’s borders. • Hitler thinks they are bluffing. – They aren’t

Italy Invades Albania 4/7/1939 • Why should Hitler have all the fun? • Britain and France offer Greece and Rumania guarantees of independence. • Denmark, the Netherlands, and Switzerland are added a few days later

Khalkin Gol 3/1939 • The Japanese Kwangtung Army crosses into Soviet territory and entrenches. • The Red Army severely mauls them

Khalkin Gol 3/1939 • The Japanese Army now wants no part of the Soviets. • This means that Japanese aggression will tend to move towards the East Indies—on a collision course with the US and Great Britain

Pact of Steel 5/22/1939 • Germany and Italy sign an alliance

Hitler Briefs His Generals 8/22/1939 • Hitler tells his generals that Poland must be destroyed. • He emphasizes that they must "close their hearts to pity and act brutally, with the greatest harshness. " (Sontag 376 -7)

Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact 8/23/1939 • Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact signed. If either became involved in a war, the other would remain neutral. • Secret provisions divided Poland into halves. • Russia received a free hand in Finland, Estonia and Latvia; Germany in Lithuania.

Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact 8/23/1939 • An economic treaty is also signed, in general favorable to Germany. It permits Germany to make large purchases of critical materials

Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact 8/23/1939 • Hitler is a winner from the pact, despite the high price. • He believes that Britain and France will not fight with the Soviet Union out of the equation. – Even if they do fight, he has cleared his Eastern flank. He can quickly crush Poland concentrate force against the West.

Germany Invades Poland 9/1/1939 • Great Britain and France declare war on Germany several days later. • World War II in Europe has begun

The Soviets Invade Poland 9/17/1939 • They also invade Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia

The Soviets Invade Finland 11/30/1939 • Stalin’s purpose was to push the border away from Leningrad

The Sitzkrieg / Phoney War • From September to May, nothing appears to be happening on the Western Front • Most observers believe that the war on the Western Front will be a war of attrition, as World War I was

Germany Invades Denmark and Norway 4/9/1940 • Hitler’s purpose was to secure his access to Swedish iron and Finnish nickel, both of which had to be shipped via Norway

Germany Invades Holland Belgium 5/10/1940 • Both countries are neutral • The French and British move all of their mobile forces to meet the German thrust

The Germans Break Through at Sedan 5/13/1940 • The Panzers drive to the English Channel, trapping the BEF and most of the French Army. • The Allies have lost the Battle for France

Dunkirk 5/27/1940 • The British evacuate 300, 000 British and French troops

Italy Invades France 6/10/1940 • Mussolini decides to get his share of the loot

Vichy France 6/22/1940 • Marshal Henri Petain forms a very right wing government in the south of France that is quite subordinate to the Germans

US Reaction • American public opinion shifts: while hoping to avoid war, most Americans now see Germany as posing a serious threat to U. S. security; thwarting German victory becomes an ultimate goal.

Winston Churchill: 5/13/1940 • “ I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. "

Winston Churchill: 5/13/1940 • We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering.

Winston Churchill: 5/13/1940 • You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.

Winston Churchill: 5/13/1940 • You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.

Winston Churchill: 5/13/1940 • Let that be realised; no survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge and impulse of the ages, that mankind will move forward towards its goal.

Winston Churchill: 6/4/1940 • “Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail.

Winston Churchill: 6/4/1940 • “We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,

Winston Churchill: 6/4/1940 • “we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender,

Winston Churchill: 6/4/1940 • “and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle,

Winston Churchill: 6/4/1940 • until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.

Battle of Britain Begins 7/10/1940 • Germany must control the airspace above the English Channel in order to invade Great Britain

The Destroyer Deal 9/3/1940 • FDR circumvents isolationists by trading 50 over-age destroyers desperately needed by the British for naval/air bases in the West Indies, a brilliant and mutually beneficial action.

The Destroyer Deal 9/3/1940 • FDR will begin getting the US involved in the war. • He must tread carefully, since the public is opposed to entry if at all possible

Italy Invades Egypt 9/14/1940 • The British counter attack and drive the Italians back

Tripartite Pact 9/27/1940 • Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis formed; European and Pacific wars are now linked. There is, however, no real coordination of war effort.

Italy Invades Greece 10/28/1940 • Mussolini invades Greece. The Greeks stop his offensive cold.

Election of 1940 • FDR is re-elected for a precedent shattering third term in office • He believed that he should not leave office when the international situation was so threatening

US Embargo • US embargoes scrap metal to Japan

“Arsenal of Democracy” • FDR begins the process of US rearmament. • He is prepared to produce weapons and other material for the Allies • He is hoping that the US will not have to fight – But he is not optimistic

“Four Freedoms” Speech • • • freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, freedom from fear: this represents the ideology of democracy.

Lend Lease Act • The Lend-Lease Act to assist anyone resisting aggression is passed. • Initial beneficiaries are primarily Great Britain and China. • FDR compares it to lending a garden hose to a neighbor whose house is on fire. – Actually, we were neither lending nor leasing, but giving

US Seizes Axis Shipping • All Axis shipping is US ports is seized • This is not the act of a neutral

US Occupies Greenland • The US extends anti-submarine patrols farther into the Atlantic • This assists the British

Germany Invades Yugoslavia and Greece 4/6/1941 • Britain had sent troops to assist the Greeks. • Hitler does not want British troops so close to the Romanian oil fields • He is also angry at a coup d’etat in Yugoslavia

Soviet-Japanese Non-Aggression Pact 4/13/1941 • Japan is now committed to expansion in the East Indies rather than farther into Manchuria

US Freezes Axis Assets • All Axis financial assets in the US are frozen

Barbarossa 6/22/1941 • Germany invades the Soviet Union • The bloodiest, most savage war in human history begins. • Hitler embarks on a fatal course of action, a two front war with Russia in front of him and Great Britain (backed by the United States) to his rear

US Occupies Iceland • US extends antisubmarine patrols still further

Japan Invades Indochina 7/28/1941 • Japan wants to cut the supply of Lend Lease material to China, which is being flown over “The Hump”: the Himalayas. • Vichy France is in no position to stop the Japanese

Japan Invades Indochina 7/28/1941 • FDR freezes Japanese assets and embargoes oil sales to Japan; • without a compromise, a Pacific war is now inevitable within 6 months

The Atlantic Charter 8/14/1941 • FDR and Churchill meet at sea to publish a set of Allied principles

Greer Incident 9/4/1941 • US destroyer is torpedoed by a German submarine – This was in inviolation of standing orders – Hitler was trying not to provoke the US • FDR issues a “shoot on sight” order • This is definitely not the act of a neutral

USS Kearny 10/17/1941 • US destroyer is torpedoed by a German Uboat

USS Reuben James 10/20/1941 • US destroyer is sunk by a German U-boat

Soviet Winter Counter Offensive 12/4/1941 • The German drive on Moscow is stopped and then thrown back • Hitler has failed to defeat the USSR in one campaign • Germany has passed the apex of its strength

“A date which will live in infamy” • The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor • In the following days, they attack the Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies

Germany and Italy Declare War on the US • Hitler was not obligated to declare war on the US, and there is no reason to believe that the US would have declared war on Germany • At this point, the Axis has no chance of victory whatsoever. – But the cost of Allied victory will be terrible.