American imperialism is a term that refers to the political, economic, military, and cultural influences of the United States. The concept of the American Empire was first popularized as a result of the Spanish-American War of 1898.
The United States actively entered the struggle for colonies outside the North American continent at a time when the territorial division of the world was already completed. Under these conditions, the armed seizure of certain territories automatically led to a war with the European powers. This is exactly what happened in 1898 with Spain. But wars with more powerful European powers were not always possible and desirable for US imperialism - it avoided direct military clashes with strong opponents.
Another important feature of the colonial expansion of the United States at the beginning of the 20th century was the fact that Latin America and East Asia were the primary objects of this expansion.
All this led to the fact that the formation of the colonial empire of the United States had a certain peculiarity. This empire consisted not only of the territorial possessions legally belonged to the United States, but also of a number of countries enjoying formal legal state and political independence, as well as certain territorial zones in which the military-political domination of American imperialism was carried out.
The victory in the Spanish-American war, as a result of which the United States established complete control over the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific region adjacent to the Latin American coast, helped revive Washington’s interest in realizing the idea of building an inter-ocean canal. The geoeconomic and geostrategic opportunities of this project have acquired special significance for the United States in the conditions of imperialist aspirations that have embraced all the leading countries of the world. Roosevelt attached paramount national importance to this idea.
The success of American hegemony was due to the fact that it was a new type of imperial hegemony that did not require territorial control over the countries of the periphery. It turned out that a decisive influence on governments can be exerted without the accession of territories. Economic assistance acted as an instrument of control even more than military power.
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