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Spanish American War Dbq Essay

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Albert Einstein, physics noble prize winner of 1921, once said "I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. Nothing will end war unless the people themselves decide not to go to war." This was basically what the United States was facing during the late 19th and early 20th century as it was presented with the decision to go to war in many occasions. For instance, having experienced an era of tremendous and lucrative industrialization, the United States soon found the need to look beyond its borders. With all the goods that had been produced during the Second Industrial Revolution, the United States had to act in accordance to what was most beneficial for the nation's economy. Thus, this resulted in …show more content…

For instance, in both the Spanish- American War and World War 1, it's evident that the use yellow journalism has been a major cause for war. This can be seen in the Spanish America War where newspaper reporters would 'coat the truth in yellow'. In other words, they would usually exaggerate or bend the truth in order to attract the attention of the public and sell more newspapers (basically for their own self-interest). According to the political cartoon in Document 2, one can see how the Spanish are depicted as some kind of wild brute that had just murdered a group of American sailors from the U.S.S Maine. Furthermore, this kind of reports inflamed the war effort by greatly infuriating the American public. This same concept can be seen in World War 1, where Anti-German propaganda was being used in order to turn the United States against Germany, as the propaganda greatly criticized German militarism and unprovoked invasion in Belgium. To add on, another similarity between the two wars being discussed in here was the sinking of some maritime vessel. For example, the sinking of the Lusitania as a result of Germany's illicit practice of unrestricted submarine warfare was a major factor for the United Sates entry into World War 1. According to Document 3 it states "The waters surrounding Great Britain and Iceland, including the English channel, are hereby declared to be within the war zone, and all enemy merchant vessels found in those waters after the eighteen of February, 1915 will be destroyed.'' This demonstrates how maritime vessels traveling along the English Isles were susceptible to attacks by German submarines, and unfortunately, this was the case for the merchant ship, the Lusitania (where 128 American passengers were killed, thus causing major disruptions among the American people). Moreover, this was the same for the U.S.S Maine during the

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