A Look Back to Look Forward: Insights from 1919-1933 Applied to America's 2011 Shift to the Pacific

Abstract

Upon the conclusion of the Spanish-American War, the 1898 Treaty of Paris forced Spain to cede Puerto Rico, parts of the West Indies, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States. Over the past 110 years, the United States has instituted a myriad of political, economic, and security policies to promote American interests with varying degrees of success. George Santayana, once famously said, Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Therefore, reflecting on the past specifically; the interwar period of 1919-1933 can provide insights to inform United States decisions with respect to the Asia-Pacific region today. This paper uses operational design to compare and contrast the strategic environment from 1919-1933 to today, then compare and contrast the problem the United States attempted to solve during these same two periods, and finally, examine the approach outcomes of the interwar period to inform U.S. decision making in the region today.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2013
Accession Number
ADA589196

Entities

People

  • Janell E. Eickhoff

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Commerce
  • Economic Sanctions
  • Economic Systems
  • Geography
  • Government Procurement
  • Governments
  • Intergovernmental Organizations
  • International Law
  • International Organizations
  • National Security
  • Second World War
  • Southeast Asia
  • Topography
  • Treaties
  • United States
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.