The territorial expansion of the USA in the 1840s represented an important phase on its way to becoming a world power. Historians have paid considerable attention to US foreign policy during this period but have largely neglected the significant impact of US expansion on Europe. Whereas they have written a great deal about European reflections on American democracy or slavery, they have largely overlooked the geopolitical response that US expansion provoked among Europeans during that decade. This omission is surprising given the fact that this reaction spread not only in governmental circles but also among the broad public: the policy of the USA and its position in the Americas became an important topic with serious consequences for both sides of the Atlantic. Europeans often criticized the USA for its aggressive policy, and they feared that with the rise of its power it would behave in the same way in all parts of the world. The article's principal aim is to reveal the European response to US territorial expansion and how the repercussions of this response on the USA contributed to the rise of pan-Europeanism, nationalism, imperialism, and colonialism from the mid-nineteenth century.

中文翻译：

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十九世纪中叶欧洲对美国扩张的反应


1840年代美国的领土扩张是其成为世界强国的重要阶段。历史学家对这一时期的美国外交政策给予了相当多的关注，但在很大程度上忽视了美国扩张对欧洲的重大影响。尽管他们写了大量关于欧洲对美国民主或奴隶制的反思，但他们在很大程度上忽视了美国扩张在那十年间在欧洲人中激起的地缘政治反应。这一遗漏令人惊讶，因为这种反应不仅在政府圈子中蔓延，而且在广大公众中蔓延：美国的政策及其在美洲的地位成为一个重要话题，对大西洋两岸产生了严重后果。欧洲人经常批评美国的侵略政策，他们担心随着美国实力的崛起，美国会在世界各地采取同样的做法。本文的主要目的是揭示欧洲对美国领土扩张的反应，以及这种反应对美国的影响如何促进了 19 世纪中叶泛欧主义、民族主义、帝国主义和殖民主义的兴起。