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History Of U.S. Foreign Relations - Reluctant World Power

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keywords: wwi, president woodrow wilson, u-boat submarine warfare, russian revolution 1917, league of nations, adolph hitler, benito mussolini, invasion of poland, president franklin d. roosevelt, attack of pearl harbor

Synopsis: Compilation of major U.S. events and politics beginning on the eve of World War I and ending with the attack on Pearl Harbor...(read more)

Date: 1910's-1940's
Duration: 00:28:37
Sound: Yes
Color: Monochrome
Type: Public Domain
Language: English
Location: The World

Show All U.S. Foreign Relations Titles

Foreign Relations - Reluctant World Power

History Of U.S. Foreign Relations - Reluctant World Power

00:00:38:22

Street scenes of people, automobiles, buildings of a major American city in 1914, probably New York City. Several images of President Woodrow Wilson.

00:1:32:09

Event that lead to WW1. June 28, 1914 Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated and Europe is plunged into WW1. Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. WW1 Scenes of troops in trenches and heavy artillery guns firing. President Wilson proclaims American neutrality and states thank God we are not involved. The American people approve.

00:02:38:19

August 3, 1914. Germany invades neutral Belgium and later declared war on Russia, France and Great Britain. Former President Theodore Roosevelt denounces President Wilson's policy of neutrality.

00:03:09:17

Germany declares unrestricted warfare on all ships and declared a war zone around the British Isles for all ships. RMS Lusitania passenger liner departing New York City and is sunk by a German submarine U-Boat off the Irish coast. German u-boat launching a torpedo depicting the attack on the RMS Lusitania. Scenes of debris floating on the ocean.

00:04:43:06

February 1917. Germany resumes unrestricted warfare on all ships. Scenes of sinking ships and rescue of survivors after attack by German u-boats. German U-Boat sinks six more American ships. President Wilson breaks relations with Germany. President Wilson before the U.S. Congress asking for declaration of war against Germany. America enters WW1. Volunteer Army recruits and patriotic parades.

00:05:43:05

American Army troops embark for Europe. Arrival of American troops in Europe are greeted with cheers. WWI American troops in battle, battlefield scenes of troops rushing forward, artillery shell firing and explosions, machine guns firing, tanks, and planes dropping bombs.

00:06:44:10

Scenes of the Russian Revolution of February 1917 took place in the context of heavy military setbacks during the WW1 which left much of the Russian Army in a state of mutiny. In Russia the Russian Tsar's government is overthrown. Soon thereafter the Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin take control. To end Russia’s participation in the First World War WW1, the Bolshevik leaders signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in March 1918.

00:07:04:20

President Wilson put forth a 14-point proposal for a just and lasting settlement to be enforced by a new world body; The League of Nations.

00:07:25:00

Fighting on the Western front in WW1. With fresh American troops the Allies deal Germany several crushing defeats and with Germany near collapse, the Kaiser is overthrown and the new German government signs an armistice. All is finally quiet on the Western Front scenes of rifles & helmets of fallen soldiers. Celebrations of end of WW1 in cities of the world.

00:08:03:18

December 1918. President Wilson arrives in France to attend the Paris Peace Conference. 27 nations send delegates, but crucial decisions are made by Wilson, Italian Premier Orlando, French Premier Clemenceau, and British Prime Minster Lloyd George. On June 18, 1919 the Versailles Treaty was signed. President Wilson returns home in hopes of having Congress ratify the treaty and become a member of the League of Nations. In November 1919 the U.S. Senate fails to pass the Versailles Treaty, the United States does not join the League of Nations and America returns to its isolation policy of the past.

00:12:12:04

Geneva 1920 the League of Nations meets without the United States in attendance. The war has left Europe deeply in debt to the United States. Germany is expected to pay war repatriations and France occupies the Rohr Valley when Germany defaults on payment. There are riots, border disputes, and little wars and Europe is again in turmoil. In Italy Benito Mussolini becomes dictator and in 1923 Adolf Hitler of Germany began his rise to power, is arrested and sent to prison where he begins to compose his manifesto Mein Kampf. Scene of Vladimir Lenin in casket in 1924. Image of a young Joseph Stalin as he comes to power in Russia after death of Vladimir Lenin.

00:15:28:11

Image of New York City street sign at Wall Street & Broadway in 1931as the United States is gripped by the Great Depression. Scenes of unemployed people walking the street. Unemployed man selling apples from a wooden crate during the depression apple seller.

00:15:48:08

The Japanese invasion of Manchuria September 18, 1931. After the Japanese Army attacks Manchuria Japan and is branded an aggressor and withdraws from the League of Nations.

00:16:15:03

An economic collapse of Germany in 1933 brings Adolph Hitler to power. By year-end Germany also withdraws from the League and Hitler announces Germany will re-arm. Various scenes depicting Hitler's rise to power.

00:17:13:14

Scenes of the Great Depression, long line of unemployed men, sign reads No Men Wanted, unemployed men sitting or sleeping on bench. Scenes of an Okie camp during the depression in America.

00:17:20:07

The Neutrality Act signed on August 31, 1935 resulted from recommendations of the Nye Committee that concluded the U.S. entry into WW1 had been orchestrated by bankers and arms dealers for profit reasons. This act imposed a general embargo on trading in arms and war materials with all parties in a war.

00:18:01:00

October 3, 1935. Mussolini invades Ethiopia, brief scenes of the Italian- Ethiopian war. 1936 civil war erupts in Spain. Hitler sends German troops into the Rhineland March 7, 1936. Scenes of ant-war advertisements began to appear in national magazines in America. President Roosevelt gave I hate war speech in his 1936 presidential campaign. In 1936 the Rome-Berlin Axis coalition was formed between Italy and Germany.

00:20:19:12

July 1937 Japan begins a full scale invasion China with the bombing of Chinese cities and in December 1937 Japanese aircraft attacked and sunk the U.S.S. Panay. Scenes of survivors leaving the USS Panay.

00:21:03:11

1938 Hitler sends troops into Austria, Czechoslovakia is next. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain meets with Hitler. Chamberlain returns to England after signing the Munich Agreement which gave the Sudetenland to Germany. Six months later Hitler occupies the remainder of Czechoslovakia with tanks and troops.

00:23:17:12

August 1939, Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov and German Foreign Minster Ribbentrop sign non-aggression pact, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Within a week after signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact Germany invades Poland starting WW2. June 1940 the Nazi Army sweeps into the lowlands and into Paris. The German Luftwaffe began bombing Britain. William Allen White, Kansas newspaper editor, organizes Committee To Defend America and tells the American people America is protected now by the British fleet. September 3, 1940 America turns-over 50-destroyers to the British Navy called Lend-Lease plan in exchange for American bases on British soil.

00:25:05:00

The America First Committee is formed to oppose the growing involvement in the war. Charles Lindberg, a member of the American First Committee states England was losing the war. Wendell Wilkie speaks in favor of involvement and states England will win the war. President Franklin D. Roosevelt states America must become the arsenal of democracy. Scenes of war materials flowing to England from America. President Roosevelt also orders a ban on export of scrap iron to Japan and other economic sanctions that will effect the military efforts of Japan. Japan had signed a treaty of military alliance with Hitler and Mussolini. This Alliance was know as the Pact of Steel.

00:26:28:02

June 1941. Germany invades Russia in a surprise attack. American began sending war materials to Russia.

00:26:45:02

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill drafted the Atlantic Charter at the Atlantic Conference codenamed Riviera in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. The Atlantic Charter made clear that the United States was supporting the United Kingdom in the war. The Axis powers interpreted these diplomatic agreements as a potential alliance against them. Japan occupies French Indo-China. President Roosevelt responds by places trade restrictions on Japan and freezes Japanese assets in the United States. Japan sends an envoy to Washington.

00:27:18:04

On December 1, 1941 a Japanese carrier force is ordered to proceed to Hawaii. On December 7, 1941. Japanese planes attack Pearl Harbor. Images of Japanese planes taking off from Japanese aircraft carrier in first wave attack of attack on Pearl Harbor. Bombs falling and explosions on Pearl Harbor targets. Japanese plane releases torpedo. Destruction of ships and planes at Pearl Harbor. The next day, December 8, 1941, Congress declares war on Japan. Three days later Germany and Italy declare war on the United States.