Spheres of influence

  • Our War of 1812

    Our War of 1812

    Great Britain was fought in part to annex Canada.
  • 1846

    President James K. Polk justified the Mexican-American War to expand our borders by falsely asserting that an American soldier had been killed on American soil by the Mexican military. General Ulysses S. Grant condemned the war as “wicked” in his War Memoirs.
  • 1893

    1893

    the United States collaborated in the overthrow of Hawaii’s monarchy. Annexation followed five years later.
  • 1898

    1898

    Spanish-American War was fought to expand our sphere of influence in the Caribbean and the Pacific. We acquired the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico. We occupied Cuba militarily until it enshrined the conditions of the Platt Amendment in the Cuban Constitution.
  • 1903-1914

    1903-1914

    The United States intervened militarily in Panama to secure its independence from Colombia, and to negotiate a treaty to construct and exercise sovereignty over the Panama Canal.
  • 1914-1917

    1914-1917

    the United States intervened militarily in Mexico, including the capture of Vera Cruz and General John Pershing’s northern expedition, in response to Pancho Villa’s raids.
  • 1916-1924

    1916-1924

    We occupied the Dominican Republic militarily in response to threatened insurrections that threatened our interests.
  • 1926-1933

    1926-1933

    The United States occupied Nicaragua militarily including fighting the rebel forces of Cesar Sandino against a Nicaraguan government we supported.
  • 1954

    1954

    the United States overthrew the Socialist government of Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz in favor of a genocidal military dictatorship.
  • 1961

    1961

    the United States launched the ill-starred Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro
  • 1962

    1962

    the United States quarantined the shipment of Soviet offensive missiles to Cuba to force the dismantling of Soviet missiles already there when the United States had Jupiter nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles aimed at the USSR along its border with Turkey.
  • 1973

    1973

    we collaborated in the overthrow and killing of Chilean President Salvador Allende because we opposed his Marxist-Socialist politics.