<P> The Great Rapprochement is a term used to describe the convergence of social and political objectives between the United Kingdom and the United States from 1895 until World War I began in 1914 . The large Irish Catholic element in the US provided a major base for demands for Irish independence, and occasioned anti-British rhetoric, especially at election time . </P> <P> The most notable sign of improving relations during the Great Rapprochement was Britain's actions during the Spanish--American War (started 1898). Initially Britain supported the Spanish Empire and its colonial rule over Cuba, since the perceived threat of American occupation and a territorial acquisition of Cuba by the United States might harm British trade and commercial interests within its own imperial possessions in the West Indies . However, after the United States made genuine assurances that it would grant Cuba's independence (which eventually occurred in 1902 under the terms dictated in the Platt Amendment), the British abandoned this policy and ultimately sided with the United States, unlike most other European powers who supported Spain . In return the US government supported Britain during the Boer War, although many Americans favoured the Boers . </P> <P> Victory in the Spanish--American War had given the United States its own rising empire . This new status was demonstrated in 1900--01, when the US and Britain, as part of the Eight - Nation Alliance, suppressed the Boxer Rebellion and maintained foreign Concessions (colonies) in Qing Dynasty China . </P> <P> The naval blockade of several months (1902 - 1903) imposed against Venezuela by Britain, Germany and Italy over President Cipriano Castro's refusal to pay foreign debts and damages suffered by European citizens in a recent failed civil war . Castro assumed that the Monroe Doctrine would see the U.S. prevent European military intervention, but at the time President Theodore Roosevelt saw the Doctrine as concerning European seizure of territory, rather than intervention per se . Roosevelt also was concerned with the threat of penetration into the region by Germany and Britain . With Castro failing to back down under U.S. pressure and increasingly negative British and American press reactions to the affair, President Roosevelt persuaded the blockading nations agreed to a compromise, but maintained the blockade, during negotiations over the details of refinacial the debt on Washington Protocols . This incident was a major driver of the Roosevelt Corollary and the subsequent U.S. Big Stick policy and Dollar Diplomacy in Latin America . </P>

How long has the united states been an empire
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