Strategic Projects of the American Foreign Policy at the End of the 19th and Thе Beginning of 20th Century

Abstract

Тhе discussions of the moves of the US foreign policy at the close of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th centuгy have proceeded under the sign of the initial determination of the geographic zones of commercial interests and strategic influence. Those two major components in the discussinos sometimes do matter quite independently of each other, sometimes are intertwined in а unseparable entity, and sometimes depend оп each other. But their very interrelation and interaction have born expansionism as а dominating tendency in the moves of the US foreign policy. Expansionism was а result both of the intemal development апd the natural drive to impose its influence abroad. It had а number of manifestations апd strategic variants - territorial, commercial, strategically motivated, etc. Expansionism had displayed certain remote manifestations it the policy of "pressure through friendiship" aimed at the elimination of the European Great Powers' influence bу means of establishing friendly relations with some small апd dependent countries оn the continent of Europe. However, expansionism was not the only tendncy in the developement of the US foreign policy. The interrelation and mutual neutralization of expansionism and the other concepts of foreign policy determined the general aspect of the American foreign policy during that period.