In 1910, Smedley Butler arrived in Nicaragua with 250 marines.1  And between 1912 and 1933, US Marines were a mainstay in the Central American country, which included reinforcements and the bombing of the Nicaraguan city of Ocotal in 1927.2  So what led to US involvement and subsequent occupation?

American officials justified the intervention to the American public as a quest to remove Nicaragua’s evil tyrant president, Jose Santos Zelaya, from office and to pacify the belligerent nation.  However, the situation was a bit more complicated than that, as one would expect. 

In the years leading up to US military involvement, Nicaragua had been competing with Panama in hopes of luring United States investors into their country to build a canal connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.3  For various reasons, the United States ended up choosing Panama as its canal host.  Understanding the profit potential of having an artificial waterway in their country, the Nicaraguan president, Zelaya, then began negotiating with Germany and Japan to give them the rights to build a competing canal.⁴  This was no bueno for the United States.  Not only would a competing canal cut into revenues, but the US was also competing against Germany for control over various Caribbean ports.

In addition to negotiating canal terms with competing countries, Zelaya also began providing aid to groups in neighboring Central American countries with ambitions of reuniting the divided, resource-rich nations.⁵  Once again, this wasn’t good for the United States.  Zelaya’s moves had the potential to lead to war between the small countries, which would threaten the Panama Canal project and threaten other US business interests, so the Nicaraguan leader had to be removed.

The US subsequently labeled Zelaya as a danger to peace in Central America, and began its maneuvering by controlling and inhibiting foreign investment into the country, which harmed Nicaragua’s economy, and by supporting Zelaya’s opposition.  In 1909, United States officials were handed an opportunity to send forces to Nicaragua when Zelaya captured and executed two American citizens amongst a number of local rebels.⁶  Thus, US military forces were sent to intervene in December of 1909, and the pressures led Zelaya to give up his position as Nicaragua’s president, and he fled the country.  His successor, Jose Madriz, didn’t even last a year in the position as pressure from the US and rebel forces pushed him out in the summer of 1910.⁷  This began a revolving door of US-backed, conservative leaders in Nicaragua, ones who were friendly to US banking and business interests.

In 1912, unrest amongst the Nicaraguan population began to mount, as its citizens were angry with the new leadership for allegedly selling out to New York bankers.⁸  When opposing forces, led by conservative Luis Mena, rebelled against the US-backed regime of Adolfo Diaz, the US Secretary of State Philander Knox requested military support from President Taft; after all, they were interfering with American businesses, like those of Brown Brothers & Company and J & W Seligman & Company.⁹

Consequently, over 1,000 US Marines, including Smedley Butler, landed in Nicaragua in 1912, and they promptly secured the country for Diaz to remain as leader.¹⁰  The victory not only protected American business interests and gave them much control over the country’s economic affairs, but it also led to the ratification of the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty in 1916.¹¹  This act gave the US exclusive rights to build a canal in Nicaragua, and though they hadn’t intended on building a waterway there, it prevented other countries from doing so, which was crucial to the US maintaining financial and political power in the region.

After fighting seized, the US withdrew a large share of Marines from the small country, but several remained throughout the next two decades.  A large faction of Nicaraguans continued to feel bitter and angry toward the US and its “puppet” leaders filtering in and out of Nicaraguan office.  They felt taken advantage of.  Resentment toward US-supported leadership eventually culminated into a rebellion and civil war in 1927, leading to a renewed influx of US military forces.  Over 2,000 US Marines intervened in the fighting, which included the Battle of Ocotal, where several bombs were dropped from American aircraft onto Nicaraguan rebels.¹²  The insurgents’ resolve remained strong, however, as they continued to fight until the US Marines were finally withdrawn in 1933. 

Though US intervention led to US casualties, many Nicaraguan deaths, left Nicaragua in disarray and led to the brutal, 40-year long dictatorship of the Somoza regime, President Zelaya was removed from office in favor of US-friendly leaders, the safety of American business interests were protected, Brown Brothers & Co and J & W Seligman & Co were able to secure investments in the National Bank of Nicaragua and the Pacific Railway of Nicaragua, and the US procured the rights to a canal for only $3 million through the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty, which protected their project in Panama.  The occupation was a win for a few individuals, as usual.