The Diplomatic Struggle for the Carolines, 1898

Quinn, Pearle E. (September 1945). "The Diplomatic Struggle for the Carolines, 1898". Pacific Historical Review. 14 (3): 290–302. doi:10.2307/3635892. ISSN 15338584 00308684, 15338584 .

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Abstract: The article titled “The Diplomatic Struggle for the Carolines, 1898” is a research paper published in the “Pacific Historical Review” on September 1, 1945. The article, written by Pearle E. Quinn, appears in volume 14, issue 3, and spans pages 290–302. It examines the diplomatic tensions and negotiations related to the Caroline Islands in the year 1898.

"At the Conference of the United Nations in San Francisco, there was considerable discussion of strategic islands in the Pacific. Among these islands are the Carolines, a group of atolls scattered over a vast expanse of ocean and lying north of New Guinea, east of the Philippines, south of Guam in the Marianas, and west of the Marshalls. Among the Carolines are some names that are familiar because they have appeared in headlines -Yap and Truk (Chuuk) for instance -and some less familiar such as Ponape (Pohnpei) and Kusaie (Kosrae). The United States might have come into possession of all of these islands in 1898 when, as a result of our victories, the Spanish empire in the Pacific was in liquidation. Our Department of State and our representatives at the peace conference with Spain took a lukewarm interest in acquiring one of the islands as a possible cable station, but neither our statesmen nor our public opinion considered the Carolines of enough strategic importance to be worth more than a perfunctory effort to get them. But there were others who did realize the strategic importance of these atolls. They made the effort and secured them. How the Germans went to work and in the end obtained the Carolines and our blessing is an interesting story revealing the immaturity of our diplomacy at the moment of our debut as a world power and our lack of knowledge and interest in a part of the world destined, because we were a world power, to become increasingly important to us..."

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MAG: 2318991495
OpenAlex: W2318991495
CorpusID: 159613748