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The term "sphere of influence" first appeared in the division of [[Africa]] at the Berlin Conference of 1884 – 1885, which apportioned dominance of the continent between [[Britain]], [[Belgium]], [[France]], [[Germany]], [[Italy]], [[Portugal]], and [[Spain]]. In 1885, a [[bilateral]] agreement between [[Great Britain]] and [[Germany]] divided control of the Gulf of Guinea between them. Each undertook not to interfere in the interests of the other in its designated sphere. In 1890, the two concluded a similar division of spheres of influence in East Africa.

The term "sphere of influence" first appeared in the division of [[Africa]] at the Berlin Conference of 1884 – 1885, which apportioned dominance of the continent between [[Britain]], [[Belgium]], [[France]], [[Germany]], [[Italy]], [[Portugal]], and [[Spain]]. In 1885, a [[bilateral]] agreement between [[Great Britain]] and [[Germany]] divided control of the Gulf of Guinea between them. Each undertook not to interfere in the interests of the other in its designated sphere. In 1890, the two concluded a similar division of spheres of influence in East Africa.

The "[[Monroe Doctrine]]" was the first formal declaration of a sphere of influence by any country, though the term itself was not used in [[diplomacy]] until 1885. In its original form, it was an effort to deny extra-hemispheric powers spheres of influence that might threaten [[U.S.]] [[security]]. (The 1904 'Roosevelt Corollary' transformed it from an instrument of strategic denial into an active assertion of U.S. dominance of the Hemisphere.) Proclaimed by U.S. President [[James Monroe]] December 2, 1823, on the advice of Secretary of State [[John Quincy Adams]], the Monroe Doctrine demanded the respect of [[European]] [[colonial]] powers for the independence of states in the Western Hemisphere and declared that any effort on their part to "extend their system to any portion of [the] hemisphere [would be seen] as dangerous to [U.S.] peace and safety." In 1864, as the U.S. was preoccupied with its [[civil war]], France installed [[Archduke Maximilian|Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph von Hapsburg-Lorraine]] as the emperor of [[Mexico]]. In 1865, with the [[American Civil War]] behind it, the U.S. massed 40,000 troops on the Mexican border and demanded that the French remove him. The French withdrew their forces from Mexico. Maximilian was then captured and executed by the forces of Benito Juárez.

==Western hemisphere==

In 1895, the United States threatened to go to war with Britain if it intervened in [[Venezuela]].

The "[[Monroe Doctrine]]" was the first formal declaration of a sphere of influence by any country, though the term itself was not used in [[diplomacy]] until 1885. In its original form, it was an effort to deny extra-hemispheric powers spheres of influence that might threaten [[U.S.]] [[security]]. (The 1904 'Roosevelt Corollary' transformed it from an instrument of strategic denial into an active assertion of U.S. dominance of the Hemisphere.) Proclaimed by U.S. President [[James Monroe]] December 2, 1823, on the advice of Secretary of State [[John Quincy Adams]], the Monroe Doctrine demanded the respect of [[European]] [[colonial]] powers for the independence of states in the Western Hemisphere and declared that any effort on their part to "extend their system to any portion of [the] hemisphere [would be seen] as dangerous to [U.S.] peace and safety." In 1864, as the U.S. was preoccupied with its [[civil war]], France installed [[Archduke Maximilian|Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph von Hapsburg-Lorraine]] as the emperor of [[Mexico]]. In 1865, with the [[American Civil War]] behind it, the U.S. massed 40,000 troops on the Mexican border and demanded that the French remove him. The French withdrew their forces from Mexico. Maximilian was then captured and executed by the forces of Benito Juárez.

 

The 1904 [[Roosevelt Corollary]] to the Monroe Doctrine amended it to proclaim a U.S. right to intervene [[militarily]] to correct "flagrant and chronic wrongdoing by a [[Latin American]] nation." The U.S. had already seized [[Cuba]] and [[Puerto Rico]] from [[Spain]], threatened to go to war with Great Britain over Venezuela 1895, and intervened to detach [[Panama]] from [[Colombia]] in order to build the [[Panama Canal]]. It subsequently invaded [[Nicaragua]], [[Honduras]], [[Mexico]], [[Haiti]], the [[Dominican Republic]], [[Guatemala]], Cuba, Panama, [[Costa Rica]], and [[Grenada]] and engaged in [[covert]] [[regime change]] operations in many of these countries as well as in [[Chile]], Venezuela, and [[Bolivia]].  

In 1917, a German proposal of an alliance with Mexico helped persuade the United States to enter [[World War I]].

In 1917, a German proposal of an alliance with Mexico helped persuade the United States to enter [[World War I]].

==Post-World War II==

==Post-World War II==