The Monroe Doctrine
What: The Monroe Doctrine declared that any European intervention in North or South America would be viewed as an act of aggression.
When: December of 1823
Who: issued by President James Monroe
Significance: According to Monroe, the United States consider
Roosevelt Corollary
What: The Roosevelt Corollary stated that the United States would intervene in Latin America on behalf of European nations. This would occur only if Latin American countries failed to repay financial debts.
When: 1904
Who: President Theodore Roosevelt
Sig
Big Stick Diplomacy
What: The term Big Stick Diplomacy describes President Theodore Roosevelt's policy of foreign relations, especially his Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.
Who: President Theodore Roosevelt and the United States
Significance: The term is based on the prover
Open Door Policy
What: The United States proposed an Open Door Policy, which allowed all nations to trade freely in China.
When: in the late 1890s
Who: issued by U.S. Secretary of State John Hay
Where: China
Significance: As European powers carved out spheres of influence
Yellow Press
What: Sensationalist, or exaggerated, style of journalism
When: during the late 1890s
Who: The articles appeared mainly in two New York newspapers: the New York Journal, published by William Randolph Hearst, and the New York World, published by Joseph Pul
Teller Amendment
What: Congress passed the Teller Amendment, which stated that the Cuban people would take control of the island and the government at the end of the war.
When: April 20, 1898
Who: Senator Henry M. Teller
Significance: In March 1898, President McKinley iss
Treaty of Paris
What: Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris to officially end the Spanish-American War.
When: December 10, 1898
Significance: In the treaty, Spain gave up its rights to Cuba. It also gave Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States. The Uni
Platt Amendment
What: The Platt Amendment brought Cuba under the control of the United States. The amendment declared that Cuba could not give any of its land to a foreign government other than the United States.
When: 1901
Significance: The Platt Amendment also limited
Selective Service Act
What: To quickly build and train its armed forces, the United States passed the Selective Service Act. This law required adult men ages 21 to 30 to register for random selection to military service.
When: May 1917
Significance: When the United States ente
War Industries Board
What: The War Industries Board was responsible for mobilizing the agricultural, industrial, and financial power of the United States during the war. It encouraged businesses to use mass production techniques to reduce waste and to give high wages to worke
War Bonds
What: To meet the costs of war, the U.S. government raised money by selling war bonds. Liberty Loan and Victory Loan bonds were purchased by citizens who could redeem them later for higher than the purchase price.
When: during World War I
Significance: Pa
Espionage and Sedition Act
What: Two acts of federal legislation made it a crime to speak or act against the war effort. The Espionage Act made it a crime to help the enemy or relay false information that interfered with a military mission. The Sedition Act made it a crime to make
Committee of Public Information
What: The Committee of Public Information was created by President Wilson to shape public opinion in support of the war.
When: during World War I
Who: Led by George Creel
Significance: The Committee of Public Information used the nation's artists and adve
Sinking of the RMS Lusitania
What: The British ocean liner RMS Lusitania was concluding a voyage from New York to the English port of Liverpool when it was struck by a German torpedo and sank.
When: May 7, 1915
Where: near the Irish coast
Who: Among the 1,198 killed, there were 128 A
Sussex Pledge
What: On March 24, 1916, A German submarine torpedoed a French ship, the Sussex, that the Germans thought was laying mines. It was actually a passenger vessel, and though it did not sink, the attack killed 50 people.
When: May 4, 1916
Significance: This c
Zimmermann Telegram
What: British intelligence decoded the text of a secret telegram sent to the government of Mexico from a German diplomat named Alfred Zimmerman.
When: 1917
Significance: The Zimmerman Telegram stated that if the United States were to go to war against Ger
Big Four
What: The Big Four, also known as the Council of Four, worked out the details of the peace following the end of World War I.
Who: Woodrow Wilson of the United States, David Lloyd George of Britain, Vittorio Orlando of Italy, and Georges Clemenceau of Fran
Fourteen Points
What: President Wilson gave a speech to Congress in which he outlined his ideas for postwar peace. Wilson's ideas were called the Fourteen Points for the specific number of recommendations he made to ensure peace.
When: January 8, 1918
Who: President Wood
League of Nations
What: an association of nations suggested by Woodrow Wilson and formed after World War I designed to solve disputes between nations
Significance: The League could place economic sanctions on a nation, such as preventing any member nations from trading wit
Treaty of Versailles
What: The Treaty of Versailles was signed to officially end World War I.
When: June 28, 1919
Where: the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles in France
Significance: The treaty created several new nations, including Poland and Yugoslavia, and change
Dawes Plan
What: The Dawes Plan called for American investors to loan $2.5 billion to Germany.
Who: American banker Charles G. Dawes
Significance: Dawes created a plan to keep the economic conflict in Europe from becoming worse after World War I. America would loan
expansionism
policy of growing a nation's physical territory or political influence
imperialism
policy of creating colonies in weaker nations in order to generate raw materials and have access to new markets
intervention
involvement by a foreign power in the affairs of another nation, typically to achieve the stronger power's aims
sphere of influence
an area or region over which a country has significant cultural, economic, military or political influence
nationalism
devotion to the interests of one's own nation; desire and plans for national independence
militarism
the policy of making military interest very strong; a political situation in which the military interest dominates government policy
convoy
group of merchant ships sailing under the protection of a group of battleships
conscientious objector
person who refuses to fight in a war, usually because of religious beliefs
demilitarized zone
area where no military activity is permitted
trench warfare
style of warfare that relied on a series of opposing dug-in defensive ditches
armistice
an agreement to end an armed conflict
demobilization
the period after an armed conflict when soldiers are sent home and industries reduce or halt their production of war materials
disarmament
the reduction or disbanding of a nation's army
reparations
compensation paid by a defeated nation-state to the victors after a war
sanctions
a penalty or punishment given for violating a law or directive