4 ms·

Eh, we took over half of Mexico in the 19th century and made the Philippines and Puerto Rico pseudo-colonies a decade or so before WWI. I would say we didn't wa

Eh, we took over half of Mexico in the 19th century and made the Philippines and Puerto Rico pseudo-colonies a decade or so before WWI. I would say we didn't want to get into continental European wars, perhaps due to capital/business interests vs. being isolationist.

adventured 6y ago
You make it sound like the US woke up one day, became expansionist and sought to conquer the Philippines or Puerto Rico. The US defeated Spain in a war of Spain's making, and the US then received those territories as a settlement because Spain lost. The US ended colonial dominance of the Philippines and set them free to become an independent nation beginning in 1934. And Puerto Rico? They persistently seek to remain attached to the US. No wonder: their GDP per capita is double that of Chile and triple that of Mexico or Argentina for contrast. Amusingly, it's even higher than Spain's GDP per capita. Similarly the US didn't wake up one day and decide to invade Mexico as an expansionist policy. Mexico started a war with the US and lost, some of their territory was ceded because of their mistake in starting that war. Historically it's a bad idea to start wars with vastly more powerful neighbors, it has commonly ended in losing territory. Despite being a superpower for seven decades, the US has maintained stable borders with its neighbors. It could have spent the last seven decades taking territory in North America, and it has chosen not to behave that way. For example the US fairly splits the Gulf of Mexico with Mexico, politely following reasonable border lines rather than going by who is more powerful; contrast that with what's going on in the South China Sea.
- jcranmer 6y ago
  > The US defeated Spain in a war of Spain's making The Spanish-American War was driven more by the US political intrigue than Spain's. The USS Maine's explosion in Havana harbor (where it had been sent to help protect US interests in the Cuban War of Independence) drove American paranoia about Spanish interference, which led to the US declaring war to deprive Spain of its remaining territories in the Americas. > The US ended colonial dominance of the Philippines The US Pacific detachment happened to be near Manila when war broke out, handily destroyed the Spanish fleet there, and then assisted the ongoing Philippine revolt. And then took the Philippines as a colony, suppressing the revolution they had just been supporting not a few months earlier. They only started granting the Philippines its independence in the 1930s. While American colonization was arguably more benign than other countries, don't kid yourself that it wasn't colonization, and don't kid yourself that it was done in accordance with the wishes of the local populations. > Similarly the US didn't wake up one day and decide to invade Mexico as an expansionist policy. Mexico started a war with the US American settlers started squatting in the region of Texas. When Mexico tried to assert its authority over Texas, the region rebelled and formed an independent country, which Mexico objected to but did accept to some degree as a de facto resolution. However, the Republic of Texas tried to claim as much land as it could--ideally as far as the Pacific Ocean, but usually cited as the Rio Grande border. After the US annexed Texas, it took the Rio Grande as the notional border, and moved its troops into the disputed region to provoke Mexico, taking the territory of Alta California as its prize in the ensuing conflict. Functionally speaking, it's actually not entirely unlike the Russian annexation of the Crimea in modern terms, if the Ukraine were to go to war against Russia's violation of its territory.
- saagarjha 6y ago
  > The US defeated Spain in a war of Spain's making I’m sorry? I thought the spark was the explosion of the USS Maine, which was swiftly blamed on the Spanish despite evidence for this being slim and a public itching to help out Spanish colonies in the Caribbean. The United States really did seem to have expansionist policies at the time. > Mexico started a war with the US Because American settlers started living in Mexican land?
  - valuearb 6y ago
    Spanish atrocities in Cuba had been a huge issue in the US for at least a decade. The Maine lit the spark, but there was already plenty of fuel for the fire.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

adventured 6y ago

You make it sound like the US woke up one day, became expansionist and sought to conquer the Philippines or Puerto Rico. The US defeated Spain in a war of Spain's making, and the US then received those territories as a settlement because Spain lost. The US ended colonial dominance of the Philippines and set them free to become an independent nation beginning in 1934. And Puerto Rico? They persistently seek to remain attached to the US. No wonder: their GDP per capita is double that of Chile and triple that of Mexico or Argentina for contrast. Amusingly, it's even higher than Spain's GDP per capita. Similarly the US didn't wake up one day and decide to invade Mexico as an expansionist policy. Mexico started a war with the US and lost, some of their territory was ceded because of their mistake in starting that war. Historically it's a bad idea to start wars with vastly more powerful neighbors, it has commonly ended in losing territory. Despite being a superpower for seven decades, the US has maintained stable borders with its neighbors. It could have spent the last seven decades taking territory in North America, and it has chosen not to behave that way. For example the US fairly splits the Gulf of Mexico with Mexico, politely following reasonable border lines rather than going by who is more powerful; contrast that with what's going on in the South China Sea.

jcranmer 6y ago
> The US defeated Spain in a war of Spain's making The Spanish-American War was driven more by the US political intrigue than Spain's. The USS Maine's explosion in Havana harbor (where it had been sent to help protect US interests in the Cuban War of Independence) drove American paranoia about Spanish interference, which led to the US declaring war to deprive Spain of its remaining territories in the Americas. > The US ended colonial dominance of the Philippines The US Pacific detachment happened to be near Manila when war broke out, handily destroyed the Spanish fleet there, and then assisted the ongoing Philippine revolt. And then took the Philippines as a colony, suppressing the revolution they had just been supporting not a few months earlier. They only started granting the Philippines its independence in the 1930s. While American colonization was arguably more benign than other countries, don't kid yourself that it wasn't colonization, and don't kid yourself that it was done in accordance with the wishes of the local populations. > Similarly the US didn't wake up one day and decide to invade Mexico as an expansionist policy. Mexico started a war with the US American settlers started squatting in the region of Texas. When Mexico tried to assert its authority over Texas, the region rebelled and formed an independent country, which Mexico objected to but did accept to some degree as a de facto resolution. However, the Republic of Texas tried to claim as much land as it could--ideally as far as the Pacific Ocean, but usually cited as the Rio Grande border. After the US annexed Texas, it took the Rio Grande as the notional border, and moved its troops into the disputed region to provoke Mexico, taking the territory of Alta California as its prize in the ensuing conflict. Functionally speaking, it's actually not entirely unlike the Russian annexation of the Crimea in modern terms, if the Ukraine were to go to war against Russia's violation of its territory.
saagarjha 6y ago
> The US defeated Spain in a war of Spain's making I’m sorry? I thought the spark was the explosion of the USS Maine, which was swiftly blamed on the Spanish despite evidence for this being slim and a public itching to help out Spanish colonies in the Caribbean. The United States really did seem to have expansionist policies at the time. > Mexico started a war with the US Because American settlers started living in Mexican land?
- valuearb 6y ago
  Spanish atrocities in Cuba had been a huge issue in the US for at least a decade. The Maine lit the spark, but there was already plenty of fuel for the fire.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]