What Is The Role Of The United States During The Russo-Japanese War And The Panama Canal

Foreign policy is a policy pursued by a nation in its dealings with other nations, designed to achieve national objectives. The United States tends to the world's problems. They were the push over that won the Allies World War I. A U.S. Native, George Patton, revolutionized war artillery with a machine gun strapped to a car. This was the base idea of tanks. Some of the biggest events in which the U.S. intervened in were: the Russo-Japanese War and the Panama Canal. The Russo-Japanese War began as a dispute between Russia and Japan, over Manchuria. In 1904, the Japanese attacked the Russian fleet at Port Arthur before formal declaration of war had even been received in Moscow. This surprised the Russian navy, gaining Japan an early victory.
Later, Japan was starting to run out of supplies and men, so they asked Theodore Roosevelt to mediate a peace agreement. The two countries meet, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1905, to discuss the peace treaty. The main topic at the peace meeting was Japan claiming that Russia owed them for damages and they wanted control of Sakhalin Island. The Treaty of Portsmouth formally ended the war of 1904-05. Japan received control of Korea, South Manchuria, and southern Sakhalin Island. While the Russia's was power weakened, but they didn't have to pay for damages to Japan. For his stellar negotiations, Theodore Roosevelt received the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize. In the end, both countries agreed to respect each other's possessions and interests in East Asia and the Pacific (Americans 1099). During the with Spain, American ships in the Pacific had to steam around the tip of South America in two-month voyages to join the U.S.
fleet off the coast of Cuba. Though, traveling around South America was a problem for nearly every country. The French Compagnie Universalle du Canal Interocéanique(Interoceanic Canal Company) began construction on a connecting canal. This canal would unite the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, making traveling the world a quicker voyage. Ferdinand de Lesseps led the project. In the end, the rain and the Chagres River destroyed what engineering and hard labor had wrought. Mudslides buried men, supplies, and machines. And from the freshwater pools that lay everywhere, a deadly plague of insects rose. The French were desperate and asked the U.S. to buy the land from them, and continue construction. In 1902, the United States reached an agreement to buy rights to the French canal property and equipment for a sum not to exceed $40 million. Theodore Roosevelt, the current president then, asked Colombia for the rights to build the Panama Canal. The Colombians were unhappy that something might be built in their land, and the Panamains were unhappy that they were under the rule of Colombia. While agreements were being settled with Colombia, Phillipe Bunau-Varilla helped organize the Panamain revolution against Colombia. November 3, 1903, the U.S. Navy warships declared Panama's independence (Americans 1100). Congress payed Colombia $25 million to compensate the country for lost territory. Later that year, the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty with Panama gave the United States perpetual control of the canal for a price of $10 million and an annual payment of $250,000. During construction, yellow fever had hit hard, killing many workers. September 26, 1913, the canal's first trail run was a success. The Panama Canal was completed in 1914. When Roosevelt visited to check the progress on the canal, he became the first U.S. President to leave the country.
The Panama Canal shortened the voyage from San Francisco to New York by more than 8,000 miles. Having the canal, made the U.S. the dominant military power in Central America. As shown, the Russo-Japanese War and the Panama Canal changed the world. Sometimes getting in other nations business, can be beneficial to all. Theodore Roosevelt was one of the leaders that had a big effect in other nations's affairs. Roosevelt once said, "In foreign affairs we must make up our minds that, whether we wish it or not, we are a great people and must play a great part in the world. It is not open to us to choose whether we will play that great part or not. We have to play it. All we can decide is whether we shall play it well or ill."