What were the factors that led to American Expansionism in the early years of the 20th century? Can you see any connection between the imperialism of the McKinely - Wilson administrations and our entry into WWl?

American expansionism is a term that refers to the political, economic, military and cultural influence that the United States has on the world today, assuming that this country imposes its power in an expansionist way. This concept became popular after the end of the Spanish-American War of 1898. Proponents of this concept range from classical theorists of imperialism in Marxism - who see such a phenomenon as a byproduct of capitalism - to liberal and conservative contemporary theorists in their analyzes of American foreign policy. These terms often have a negative connotation, especially when discussing US military superiority.

The factors that influenced the beginning of American expansionism were mainly the fall of the great colonial powers towards the end of the 19th century. Spain ended up losing its colonies in 1898, while Britain and France lost power in Europe against the development of Germany as a regional power. Already since the distribution of Africa at the Berlin Conference in 1877 there was a drop in the influence of the historical powers against other European nations with less colonial participation in earlier times, such as Belgium or Germany.

This led to American leaders seeing a power vacuum in the western world, so they began using their territories acquired in the 19th century as centers of power. In this way, they began to influence both the Pacific Ocean (Hawaii, Guam) and the Caribbean (Puerto Rico, Cuba), which led to de facto control of Latin America.

Once this situation was raised, Presidents McKinley and Wilson deliberately began to influence these centers of power. Thus, when the war broke out in Europe, the United States was faced with the opportunity to prevent the emergence of such a new European superpower. By limiting Germany after it had sufficiently damaged Britain and France, the United States became the main dominant power of the West.