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United States diplomatic history diplomatic history Banana Wars
U.S. Foreign Policy: The Banana Wars (1900-33)
Figure 1.--The United States during the early-20 century intervenbed in several Caribbaean and Central American countries. These intervenbtions are commomly called the Banana Wars. They were mosdtly conducted by the U.S. Navy and iits infantry arm, the Marine Corps. Here we see American sailors on shore leave during the 1920s having their photograph taken wi=th a little fruit vender, we believe in Haiti. These interventions have been used by Western historians to make a case thatbthe United states has had a malign impact on Latin America. There is in fact little eviudence of this.
America had a long history in the Caribbean, less so in the Spanish colonies of Central America. The Caribbean sugar islands were part of the Triangular Trade that became an important aspect of the colonial economy. First, slaves were delibered to the Americas (mostly the Carribbean), Second sugar, tobacco and later cotton were delivered to Europe, and Third (completing the triangle) rextulkes, rum and other manufactured goods were delivered to Africa. Na val action in the Caribbean played an impotant role in the Revolutionary War. Amrric's first foreign war was fought with France in the Caribbean (the Quasi War). America's focus was west throught the first half of the 19th century, resulting in a war with Mexico over the Southest (1846-48). There was a filbuster expeditioin in Central Amrerica (1850s). A major connection did not begin until the growth of American industry and finance in the late-19th century. American began investing in the region. The primary focus was sugar and fruit (especially bananas). The major first Goverment step was the Spanish American War which resulted in the liberation of Cuba and the acquisition of Puerto Rico (1898-99). The motivation was two fold. First to protect American investors. Second it was a moral crusade fomented by American newspapers which published lurid accounts of Spanish brutality in Cuba. Then came the Panama Canal. President Theodore Roosevelt began construction (1904). The Canal was completed (1914). This of course was the same year that World War I broke out in Europe. The result sas that the Caribbean and Central America became an area vital to national defense. Added to this was the discovery of oil in Venezuela. What followed was a series of interventions sometimes called the Banana Wars because the United Fruit Comopany was often involved. Interventions included: the Dominican Republic (1905), Cuba (1906), Nicaragua (1907), Honduras (1909), and Haiti (1915). Here we have listed only the first intervention. in most instances there were further subsequent interventioins. The United States purchased the Virgin Islands from Denmark (1917). There was also a more substantial intervention in Mexico (1917). This era was ended by Franklin Roosevelt and his Good Neighbor Policy (1930s). The countries on his list have had troubled histories and left-wing authors of course constantly blame this on the United Stares. Of course any honest historian with the slightest knowledge of history knows that this is a false nartive promoted with an ideological agenda. First, these countries had troubled histories before the American interventions. Second the history of the South Ametican countries with little American involvement have histories that were not disimilar to that of the Caribbean-Central American region. This is not to say the interventions were justified, beneficial, or successful. Those are legitimate issues that historians can legitably debate. It is to say that blaming Latin America's very real problems on the United States has no foundation in fact. And as we can see weith Mexico and other countries like the Asian Tigers, conections with the United States have been largely of great economic benefit for the countries concerned.
