IB History of the Americas HL2
Unit 2 Study Guide
Industrialism, Imperialism and World War 1865-1921
The central question of history:
What happened and why does it matter?
Three fundamental concepts that illuminate the study
of U.S. History:
1. Conflict between different groups and among
members of a particular group
2. Conflict between American ideals (i.e. justice for
all) and "the real world"
3. Desire for progress and improvement
Three guiding questions for this unit:
A. Why did the U.S. turn from isolationism to
imperialism?
B. What were the effects of U.S. imperialism?
C. How did the Great War affect the U.S., Canada
and Cuba?
History of the Americas Topics
History of the Americas Topic 5. Emergence of the Americas in global affairs 1880‑1929
This topic focuses on modernization in the region, and its impact on foreign policy. It explores the
involvement of the nations in the First World War. Modernization [Topic 4] shaped the new nations and
its effects created the basis for a major shift in the foreign policies of the region. By the end of the
century, for example, the United States played a more active role in world affairs, and in the affairs of
Latin America in particular, thus transforming inter-American relations. When the First World War
broke out in Europe, several American countries were involved in the conflict. When the war ended, its
impact was felt in the economic, social and foreign
policies of the participating countries.
• United States’ expansionist foreign policies: political,
economic, social and ideological reasons
• Spanish–American War: causes and effects (1898)
• United States’ foreign policies: the Big Stick; Dollar
Diplomacy; Moral Diplomacy; applications and impact
on the region
• United States and the First World War: from neutrality
to involvement; reasons for US entry into the First
World War; Wilson’s peace ideals and the struggle for
ratification of the Versailles Treaty in the United States;
significance of the war for the United States’
hemispheric status
• Involvement and participation of either Canada or one
Latin American country in the First World War: reasons
for and/or against participation; nature of participation
• Impact of the First World War on two countries of the
Americas: economic, political, social, and foreign
policies
Macintosh HD:Classes: History Americas: 2013-14:Unit 2:ha u2 sg 2013.docx
IB History of the Americas HL2
Names and Terms
Farewell Address 207-208
Monroe Doctrine 267-268
Unit 2 Study Guide
Chapter 18
economic leaders covered in
class (Carnegie, Rockefeller,
Edison, Vanderbilt, Morgan)
vertical integration 520
trusts 630-31
labor unions 531-33
immigration (1880-1920)
544-545
progressivism 628
Alfred Mahan 610
yellow journalism 612
“Remember the Maine!” 612
Teller Amendment 613
Treaty of Paris 619
Anti-Imperialist League
620
Philippine-American War
620
Insular cases 622
Foraker Act 622
Platt Amendment 622
Open Door policy 623
Chapter 21
isolationism 603
imperialism 603
reciprocity 606
Chapter 24
Panama Canal 691
Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty
692
Roosevelt Corollary 693
“dollar diplomacy” 693
moral diplomacy 694
Mexican Revolution 695
Sussex pledge 698
Zimmermann telegram 700
Fourteen Points 712
reparations 713
Treaty of Versailles debate
715
irreconcilables 715
reservationists 715
A supplemental Names
and Terms List will be
provided.
Important Concepts
1. You should have a clear understanding of early (pre-1898) American policies toward Latin American
nations, efforts to increase trade with those nations, and the growth of American economic interests.
2. Arguments for American expansionism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries might be
classified into three categories:
economic arguments, as represented by John A. Kasson and James G. Blaine;
political/military (aka strategic) arguments as represented by Theodore Roosevelt and Alfred Mahan;
social (racial and religious) arguments as represented by John Fiske and Josiah Strong.
You should be able to explain these arguments, ideally with publication titles or quotations.
3. Clearly explain anti-imperialist arguments, including identification of specific anti-imperialists and
which arguments they made.
4. Knowledge of the course of the Spanish-American War is not required. However, you should be able
to clearly explain what interests the U.S. had in Cuba, who in the U.S. supported intervention and why,
and the results of the war including the Treaty of Paris, the Philippine War, and the Platt Amendment.
5. You must have solid knowledge and clear understanding of American involvement, including longer
term effects, in at least two of the following times and places:
Cuba 1898-1929
Panama/Colombia 1898-1914
Mexico 1910-1917
6. You should be able to explain why the US stayed out of WWI and why it later entered the war.
7. You should be able to describe Woodrow Wilson’s involvement in creating the Treaty of Versailles,
the fight for ratification of the treaty, and explain why it ultimately failed.
8. You should be able to discuss the economic, political and social impact of WWI on the U.S.
Macintosh HD:Classes: History Americas: 2013-14:Unit 2:ha u2 sg 2013.docx