THIS FAR AND NO FURTHER
A Timeline of Events Surrounding the Radical Right's Attempt to Subvert American Democracy
Written and Compiled by Black Max
1897-1960
1898-1914
1898
- The sultan of Turkey, Abdulhamid II, receives a secret report about clandestine German oil exploration in Ottoman Mesopotamia, now Iraq.
Oil profiteering and the "oiligarchy"
The Kaiser's desire for a German-Turkish alliance and his professed sympathies to the region's Muslims conceals a desire to secure the region's oil for Germany in opposition to Russia's rich Caucasus oil fields. European efforts to secure the Ottoman Empire's oil reserves contribut to the instability in the region and is one of the reasons for World War I. During the war, large new oil discoveries in the US, along with Britain's oil from Persia, will give the Allies a clear advantage against its opponents. Germany will try and fail to stir opposition to the Allies in Turkey and Mesopotamia, as well as Muslims in Russia's Caucasus. Germany suffers a further blow in 1916, when Romania, the source of most of its oil, joins the Allies. The destruction of Romania's Ploesti oil field machinery by British commandos cripples the German war effort, and plays a key role in its defeat. (Kevin Phillips) - A second Zionist Congress is held in Basle, Switzerland;
Second Zionist Congress
this time the delegates determine to seek an agreement with Turkey to assist in smuggling Russian Jews through Turkey into Germany, which is emerging as the protector of the crumbling Ottoman Empire. (Dan Cohn-Sherbok)
1903
- Britain's Foreign Secretary Lord Lansdowne tells Zionist leader
Creation of Jewish nation
Theodore Herzl that he will back the creation of a Jewish state in East Africa; the idea is soon abandoned due primarily to bitter opposition from Russian Jews. Herzl then attempts to secure the support of Pope Pius X in creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine, but the Pope resists, insisting that Jews must embrace Christianity if he is to support such an idea. Herzl dies on July 3, 1904; the 7th Zionist Congress refuses to support the idea of a Jewish state anywhere besides Palestine. The idea of creating a Jewish homeland in Eretz Israel remains the guiding policy of Zionists throughout the twentieth century. By this time, over 25,000 Jews are residing in Palestine. The Jewish city of Tel Aviv is founded north of Jaffa on land purchased from the Turks. (Dan Cohn-Sherbok)
1903 - 1905
- Britain explores the possibility of creating a Zionist home state in East Africa, largely in the area around what is now known as Kenya.
Creation of Jewish nation
In the process of pre-colonization, thousands of indigenous Kikuyu are massacred. Later, the British government will tout the area for colonization for British citizens. This is one part of the historic "scramble for Africa" that involved colonization efforts by Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, and, most infamously, King Leopold II of Belgium. The colonized territories, some 40 colonies and protectorates, will provide the basis for the modern nation-states of Africa. (Caroline Elkins)
1908
- Oil
Oil profiteering and the "oiligarchy"
is discovered in Persia (now Iraq). (A Timeline of Oil and Violence)
1909
- Woodrow Wilson,
"Culture Wars"
president of Princeton University, tells a meeting of the Federation of High School Teachers, "We want one class of persons to have a liberal education, and we want another class of persons, a very much larger class of necessity in every society, to forego the privilege of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific manual tasks." (Lewis Lapham)
1911
- The US Navy, along with ground forces,
US occupation of China
maintain a military presence in China until 1941. From 1922-1927, US troops battle against nationalist uprisings. (ZMag)
1912
- US
US actions in Latin America
Marines are sent to protect economic interests in Honduras. US forces remain in Honduras through 1933. (ZMag) - The first oil wells are drilled in Venezuela.
Oil profiteering and the "oiligarchy"
Royal Dutch Shell and, later, Standard Oil begin extensive development of Venezuela's rich oil fields, the fifth largest in the world. By 1929, Venezuela becomes the second biggest oil producer in the world, after the US, and the world's largest oil exporter. Venezuela's economy drastically transforms into an oil revenue-based economy, with the result that its agricultural production falls to virtually nothing and it falls behind in industrializing relative to other Latin American countries. (Venezuela Analysis) - November: Democrat Woodrow Wilson wins the presidency after a hotly disputed Democratic convention
Wilson presidency
and a powerful third-party challenge from Theodore Roosevelt, winning with only 42% of the popular vote. (Encyclopedia Americana/Grolier)
1913
- May: A young Austrian, Adolf Schicklgruber, moves to Munich, Germany. Schicklgruber,
Rise of Nazi Germany
who in years later will take his putative father's name of Hiedler (Hitler), is already steeped in anti-Semitic rhetoric and a belief in the innate superiority of the so-called Aryan race. He will later be found unfit for military service in the Austrian army, but will enlist in the Bavarian military, and wins two Iron Crosses for valor and the reputation for an unquestioning belief in authority. "Respect the superior, don't contradict anybody, obey blindly," he says in 1924. In 1918 he is diagnosed by a military physician as a hysteric and possible psychopath. Like many German partisans, Hitler is shocked and outraged at Germany's surrender to the Allies. He will remain in the army after Germany's surrender, participating in a number of violent suppressions of socialist uprisings. For a brief time he will operate as a spy, and more importantly, becomes a senior functionary in the Education and Propaganda Department of the Bavarian Reichswehr Group. A key purpose of this group was to create a scapegoat for the outbreak of the war and Germany's defeat. The scapegoats were found in "international Jewry," communists and politicians across the party spectrum. (Wikipedia)
1914
- Turkey imposes strict measures to curtail Jewish immigration into Palestine.
Oppression of Jews
During the First World War, Palestinian Jews suffer great hardships due to Turkey's siding with Germany and the Central Powers against France, Germany, and Russia. (Dan Cohn-Sherbok)
Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand triggers World War I
- June 28: Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the presumptive heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, is assassinated, along with his wife, in Sarajevo by a Serbian terrorist.
World War I
Austria-Hungary's subsequent retaliatory attack on Serbia will trigger World War I. His assassin is Serbian national Gavrilo Princip, a member of the terrorist organization The Black Hand, an organization with some backing from the Serbian government, though there is some evidence that there was dissension between various factions within the organization, and that the Serbian government did not want to provoke a conflict with its neighbor and putative enemy nation. The assassination was nearly botched; a team of Serbian assassins are on site to attack Ferdinand's motorcade, but the first attempt, a thrown stick of dynamite, misses Ferdinand's car and detonates the following vehicle. The other assassins, including Princip, decide to abort the assassination, but Princip gets another chance after Ferdinand decides to go to the hospital to visit the victims of the bombing and takes a wrong turn. The providentially placed Princip fires twice into the car, wounding first Duchess Sophie and then Ferdinand himself. Both will die within hours. Like the bomb-throwing assassin, Princip attempts to commit suicide with cyanide pills, but neither attempt is successful. - Princip and his fellow assassin, Nedeljko Cabrinovic, are immediately seized by angry onlookers and given over to the police. Though the two assassins maintain silence, a third conspirator finally reveals the entire plot, including the fact that their guns had been supplied by Serbian government officials. Both Princip and Cabrinovic will die in prison. Austria-Hungary blames the government of Serbia for the assassination and issues an unrealistic ultimatum, known as the July Ultimatum, that is widely seen as a violation of the principle of national sovreignity; British foreign minister Edward Grey calls it "the most formidale document I have ever seen addressed by one State to another that was independent." The American Legion denounces it as a "vicious document of unproven accusation and tyrannical demand." Austria-Hungary insists that Serbia must accept all of the conditions. To the surprise of most of Europe, Serbia accepts all of the ultimatum except one point; Austria-Hungary then decides that Serbia has failed to accept the ultimatum, and, refusing to negotiate, declares war on July 28, 1914. Though the assassination and the following invasion of Serbia is the immediate cause of World War I, the assassination is usually considered more of a pretext to the war than an actual cause. (Wikipedia, Wikipedia, Peter Singer)
1914 - 1918
- April: One of several American incursions into Mexico comes when local authorities in Vera Cruz arrest a group of American sailors for tearing up the local bars;
US actions in Latin America
though the sailors are quickly released with apologies from Mexican president Victoriano Huerta, Wilson isn't satisfied -- he demands a 21-gun salute from the Mexicans to the sailors' vessels. Huerta refuses, and Wilson asks Congress for authority to send troops. The House of Representatives agrees, but the Senate is still debating the issue when an impatient Wilson sends troops to occupy Vera Cruz and the nearby city of Tampico. The Senate will later ratify the incursion, noting that its purpose was not "to make war upon Mexico," but the Mexicans probably feel differently: troops occupy Vera Cruz for seven months, a hundred Mexicans die in naval bombardments, and the Huerta government collapses. Toppling Huerta is a major goal of the Wilson administration, who uses the Veracruz incident as a pretext for an incursion. (ExWar, ZMag, Peter Irons)
