Between the Wars

President Woodrow Wilson's idealistic hopes for world peace through collective security clash at Versailles with the harsh old-world real-politik of Europe, which wanted to punish Germany. The resultant punitive treaty, in effect, sows the…

The ultimate failure of Woodrow Wilson destroys himself in his desperate struggle for the League of Nations. The President and the Senate fight for control of American foreign policy: the Senate wins. Wilson is opposed by a powerful coalit…

The forces favoring peace through disarmament clash with the forces for peace through military strength. In 1921, the world's first major disarmament conference limits the post war arms race, and the most important strategic weapon of the …

Disillusioned by the horrors of World War I, the U.S. tries to isolate herself from the rest of the world. Strict immigration quotas are imposed and a mistrust of foreigners and minorities ushers in an ugly period of racism and ethnic disc…

The Depression is a traumatic national experience which shatters U.S. self-confidence and paralyzes foreign policy, thus leading to further isolationism. The world-wide depression gives rise to national dictators, but we are so preoccupied…

"The individual does matter in history" -- a contrast of the style of FDR and Hitler shows how technological change and individual charisma can change history. FDR uses a new medium (radio) to political advantage; Hitler utilizes the new s…

Both Hitler and Roosevelt appreciated the value of mass communications. FDR began his series of "fireside chats" to reassure and inform the people while Hitler assigned Josef Goebbels as Minister of Propaganda to control the public through…

This overview of U.S.-Japanese relationships from the turn of the century until 1933 is a story of conflict. Japan emerged from World War I as a major power, but American diplomats made little effort to understand the Oriental mind. Our Ja…

From the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 until the Roosevelt administration officially recognized the U.S.S.R. in the first detente in 1933, American relations with the Soviet Union were mistrustful and hostile. Cold War attitudes can be trac…

FDR's "The Good Neighbor Policy", his greatest foreign policy success, was a key development in reversing the U.S. imperialistic attitude toward Latin America. For over a century, the Monroe Doctrine had been invoked to justify interventio…

The short-lived but brutal Italian-Ethiopian War leads to an examination of Italian Fascism, the character of Mussolini and how he came to power. Mussolini ruled with apparent effectiveness and was hailed by leaders of the anti-Communist w…

The Spanish Civil War was a microcosm of the ideological conflict of this century. When Spanish fascists under Franco rebel against the republican government, full-scale civil war erupts. Mussolini and Hitler send troops to Franco's aid. S…

Hitler's assumption that England would not go to war to defend Poland triggers World War II. As the Nazis sweep over Europe and launch their air attack on Britain, American public opinion waivers between desire to help Britain and fight to…

The close personal friendship between Roosevelt and Churchill had a profound effect on the history of the Western world. Roosevelt posted "lend-lease" as the most practical means of allowing the U.S. to remain neutral while arming Britain …

In 1937 Japan was bent on establishing an empire. Encouraged by lack of Western resistance, Japan took control of French Indochina, the Dutch Indies, Burma, Malaya, and the Philippines. By mid-1941, Roosevelt had enforced a total embargo, …

Some of the great questions that arises from WWII is: Did FDR know in advance about Pearl Harbor? Was the Japanese attack unprovoked? FDR knew that he could not lead a divided nation into war, that the only was the United Stats could enter…