Filibuster (foreign policy)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

With the term filibuster (dt. Privateers ) is known historically in the 19th century American private citizens, the military and political operations against states in Central and Latin America by leading space and doing a imperialist policy of the United States wanted to convey. The term refers to as filibusters known privateer who in the 17th to the early 18th century in the Caribbean on behalf of France acted, later the term became the name of Caribbean pirates in general. From 1851 the term was then applied to political adventurers in the English language.

Often ideologically based on the Manifest Destiny or with reference to plans of the so-called Golden Circle , US private individuals operated military interventions in states in the Caribbean, Central and Latin American regions. In some cases, these private individuals had the support of the government of the United States (or at least parts of it) and were thus agents of US imperial (istic) politics, but their plans were often in explicit contrast to the American government. For example, Aaron Burr , who was accused of being a traitor because of the so-called Burr conspiracy , was referred to by his political opponents as a “filibuster”. The "filibustering" is also particularly connected to the anti-US government in Washington , but not necessarily secessionist plans by southern politicians in the period around the American Civil War . The theorist George Fitzhugh , who came from this environment ( Knights of the Golden Circle ), defined filibustering in 1858 as follows: "Wars of conquest waged by the strong against the weak, with little or no provocation."

Especially in the early history of the United States before and after the War of Independence , filibuster operations against the colonies of the Spanish Empire - namely Florida and Mexico - contributed to the expansion of the United States . In 1794, these precedents led to the passing of the Neutrality Act , which explicitly prohibited US citizens from waging war against states that were at peace with the United States at the time. Nevertheless, privately led military and political interventions in the politics of other countries continued to occur throughout the 19th century. The filibusters were active with their mercenary troops "on their own account".

The most famous filibuster can be considered William Walker (1824-1860), who worked in several countries in Central America. During the Civil War, he was one of the rival presidents of the Republic of Nicaragua from 1856 to 1857 . Other well-known filibusters were William Blount , Augustus Magee , George Mathews , George Rogers Clark , William Stephens Smith , Ira Allen , William A. Chanler , James Long and Gregor MacGregor .

Even Cecil Rhodes and others in connection with the colonial history especially the Cape Colony -emergent actors were contemporary hereafter described herein, as a filibuster.

See also

literature

  • Robert E. May: Manifest Destiny's Underworld: Filibustering in Antebellum America . University of North Carolina Press, 2002, ISBN 0-8078-2703-7 .
  • Charles Henry Brown: Agents of Manifest Destiny: The Lives and Times of the Filibusters. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 1980, ISBN 978-0-8078-1361-4 .

Remarks

  1. ^ Entry filibuster in the online edition of the Merriam-Webster (accessed March 31, 2017).
  2. ^ " Wars of conquest, waged by the strong against the weak, with little or no provocation." Quoted from Gary Schreckengost: The First Louisiana Special Battalion. Wheat's Tigers in the Civil War , Jefferson, NC 2008, p. 5; see. there also the chapter: “Tiger Roots. The Filibuster Wars to Southernize Latin America, "pp. 5-31.
  3. ↑ See e.g. B. Edward Aveling , The Flibustier Cecil Rhodes and his Chartered Company in the novel . In: The New Time . Review of intellectual and public life. 16.1897-98, Volume 1 (1898), Issue 6, pp. 182-188. Digilasisate