Figure 1.--The Dominican Republic did not play any real role in World War I. Its primary export was sugar which were continued to Allied countries. The Diominican war experience was an American intervention. We think this snapshot shows American Marines in the Dominican Republic. All we know for sure is the photograph was taken in 1918.

President Woodrow Wilson was elected (1912) and inherited the crisis in the Dominican Republic. The Wilson administrations attempted to mediate among the warring parties, but the disorder was only temporarily abated. U.S. officials compelled the resignation of the succeeding president, José Bordas (1914). World War I erupted in Europe (1914). This raised American concerns, primarily with the security of the newly opened Panama Canal. The Dominican debt and continued to increase as well as political instability. President Wilson demanded greater U.S. control of Dominican finances and the replacement of its military with a police force headed by an American appointee (1915). Turmoil and political instability in the Dominican Republic resulted in American intervention. Dominican opposition to this led to the collapse of a newly installed government of President Juan Isidro Jiménez. His acceptance of U.S. demands proved widely unpopular. American authorities held back custom funds to Jiménez and instead announced a military intervention to support Jiménez who opposed the intervention. The United States might not have intervened, but the War in Europe changed the American assessment. American officials were concerned about possible German use of the country as base for attacks on the United States, especially the Panama Canal. A conflict erupted on the streets of in Santo Domingo between 800 supporters of President Juan Isidro Jimenes and 500 followers of Desiderio Arias, the Minister of War, basically a caudillo (May 1916). The U.S. Government responded with military action. U.S. troops landed in Santo Domingo and coastal towns (May 1916). Jiménez resigned. Dominican leaders attempted to negotiate with the U.S. Government, but William Russell, the U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic, had been instructed not to concede any U.S. demands. Elections were scheduled for December 3, but none if the candidates were willing to cooperate with the occupying American authorities. U.S. occupation resulted in considerable Dominican and international criticism. U.S. Marines occupied the country (late 1916). The most notable event during the War was that the American cruiser USS Memphis was wrecked by a tidal wave at Santo Domingo (August 1916). The United States thus replaced the Dominican government with direct U.S. military rule November 1916). This was overseen U.S. Navy Captain Harry Knapp who cited violations of the 1907 Treaty. The Marines set up a Military Government (MG) overseen by Knapp. Political factions attempted to organize guerrilla campaigns with very limited success. The military government maintained most Dominican laws and institutions and managed to pacify the general population. The stability as well as the demand for commodities as a result of the war revived the Dominican economy. There was significant infrastructure construction. The MG also reduced the nation's debt, built a road network that at last connected all regions of the country, reduced political violence, and created a professional National Guard to replace the warring partisan units. These were all accomplishments that no Dominican Government had managed to achieve, largely diverting much of the Customs income. U.S. officials insisted that Dominican authorities sever diplomatic relations with Germany after the United States declared war (April 1917). The Dominican Republic played no real role in the War. Its primary export was sugar which added to Allied resources. he U.S. Marines built roads, schools, and communications and sanitation facilities as ell as other projects. The occupation was unpopular, but the armed opposition was limited and confined to the countryside. Left wing critics of America manufacture absurd numbers of Dominicans killed by the Marines in their effort to imagine a non-existent American empire. One source reports that during the American interventions, there were 146 Marine deaths in Haiti where a similar intervention was playing out. 【Schmidt, p. 103.】 and 144 Marines killed in the Dominican Republic. 【"Americans Killed in Action"】 The Dominican constabulary reported 74 casualties. The Dominican insurgents sustained some 950 killed or wounded. 【Dosal】 The Dominican intervention is one of a series of American actions in the Caribbean and Central America (Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, and Nicaragua) which became known as the Banana Wars. 【Langley】 Authors like Langely and authors focusing on the Dominican Republic blame the American occupation for the difficulties that Latin American has building modern societies and prosperous economies. 【García Peña】 Even including the differently motivated actions in Cuba, Mexico, and Panama, this charge is absurd on its face. There are some 35 American republics, 17 if if you just want to count the Spanish colonies and 18 if you count Portuguese Brazil. And the developments in the countries in which the United States intervened or had significant relations are not greatly different than in the countries in which the United States did intervene. And the problems limiting modern development were already notable before American began these interventions in the 20th century. This is because of the nature of the Spanish colonial empire. Policies like the inquisition and the Repartimiento/Encomienda. These policies created societies where the land and wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few wealthy land owning families and a landless peasantry of Amer-Indians and/or former slaves imported from Africa. The Unites States had nothing to do with this and did not even exist when instituted.

Sources

Dosal, Paul. "The Caribbean War: The United States in the Caribbean, 1898-1998," Cercles 5 (2002). pp. 39-55.

García Peña, Lorguia. "One Hundred Years After the Occupation". North American Congress on Latin America. (May 25, 2016). Garcua Peña writes, "A century later, the legacies of the U.S. military intervention of the Dominican Republic persist." Actually, the Dominican Reoublic is making considrabke economic strides because of its close relationship to the United States, It is Cuba which cut its American relations that is languishing in poverty and economic failure. He charges that the American intervention "remains hidden from public memory". I hope he notes that this website does not hide it. Nor have historians. His thesis is absurd. He is contending that over four centuries of Spanish colonial and independent rule continuing the Soanish social system is of littkle imoprtbnce, but a decade of Americcan interventiion was resonsible for Dominican economic problems.

Langley, Lester D. The Banana Wars: An Inner History of American Empire, 1900–1934.

Schmidt, Hans. The United States Occupation of Haiti, 1915–1934 (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1995).

"Americans Killed in Action," American War Library.

Created: 8:44 PM 5/4/2024
Last updated: 8:44 PM 5/4/2024