Background
The crumble of the Spanish Empire in the early 19th century and The Virginius Affair raised tensions between the USA and The Spanish Empire. In the early 19th century, the Spanish colonies in North America rebelled against their King. These Latin American Wars of independence left Spain with only Cuba and Puerto Rico as colonies. This severely shattered and weakened the Spanish Empire, making it’s leftover colonies look like juicy targets that were governed by unjust and corrupt foreigners. Forty years later, Cuba was also beginning to revolt. An American ship hired by Cuban revolutionaries was supplying rebels with munitions and supplies when it was captured and detained by a Spanish ship. The Spanish accused the ship's crew
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The war demonstrated the power and ability of the US army to wage a successful and decisive war against another country which was considered powerful, even if the odds were not fair in reality. More importantly, the potency of the American navy was demonstrated. The Spanish Navy had suffered crushing defeats at the hands of the US Navy in the battles of Manilla Bay and Santiago de Cuba. Both the of battles were highly reported on by the media and new of US victory was reported far and wide. This allowed the US to project its power through its navies just like they were intended to. The new American warships were state of the art and could rival those of all but the most powerful countries in the world, further increasing US power. On top of power gains, the US also physically gained new territory after the war. Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines were all annexed by the US and a protectorate was established in Cuba until it was given its independence in 1902. The United States was now a power that could exert its influence on a global scale and through the newly annexed territory, an American Empire was …show more content…
The territorial expansion of the USA allowed expansion of its economic influence and naval presence in Asia and the Caribbean. The ships of the time relied on coal to run and bases like Puerto Rico in the Caribbean and Guam in the Pacific allowed for American merchant and military vessels to refuel and extend their operating range. The Philippines were especially important because they provided a base in East Asia, which is where the Chinese consumers of American products were. American vessels could go farther and be closer to American ports when trading. This, in turn, allowed expansion of consumer markets. Consumers were very important with the amount of manufactured goods produced in mainland United States increasing and the increasing need of someone to sell these goods to. All of these things allowed the United States to make a lot of money and with this money they could invest in armed forces, the economy, and development, further increasing the power it had as a nation and as the embodiment of liberal
Although there are many reasons why the Spanish-American war took place, the most important was Spain's resentment of Cuba's desire to also become an independent nation. Since Cuba was one of Spain's last territories, they were unwilling to allow independence. As a result, conflict between the two parties erupted. Since Cuba was smaller and less equipped to fight than Spain, their economy took a tumble. Due to the fact that the United States had a great deal of money invested in Cuba's sugar resources, many Americans felt the need to wage war. Additionally, there were separate events that caused anger to American Citizens. One such event was the destruction of a U.S. ship used to protect the American citizens in Cuba. Although the ship's
Cuba “held an economical potential that attracted American business interests and a strategic significance for any Central American canal” (Goldfield, Abbott and Anderson, p 638). Cuban rebellion “erupted again in 1895 in a classic guerrilla war… [and] American economic interests were seriously affected” (book pg638). The Spaniards started confining the locals to concentration camps “where tens of thousands died of starvation and disease” (book pg 638). This gained a lot of publicity throughout America as journalist’s were reporting the harsh treatment, which helped persuade our nation to intervene. Furthermore, this led to growing tension between Spain and
The Spanish-American War in 1898 was a point where American’s demonstrated their power and true colors. America wanted to free the Cubans from Spain, but it was not purely out of the interest of the Cubans. America was in it for the Philippines. Spain had control of the Philippines, and the Philippines were located in close proximity to China. The issue here was that the Philippines was not interested in having the U.S. around and rebelled against the American forces (47) .The U.S. wanted to capitalize on the economic struggles in China and the Philippines was
The Spanish-American war consisted of a series of influential battles that pitted America and many of Spain’s colonies against Spanish rule, and ended with Spain losing its colonies and America gaining control over more and more land. In 1898, America joined a war being pit against Spain to force the Spanish to relinquish all control of their colonies, including Guam, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. This same war ended only a few months later, with Spain suffering huge losses and America gaining money and territories. The Spanish American war could be split into three main points of interest: How and why the Spanish American war started, The battles of Manila, Santiago de Cuba, Asomante, and Las Guasimas ( And the Rough Riders) , and the aftermath of the war. One of the most interesting territories was Cuba. Although the Spanish american war was not a long and costly war, it changed many people's lives indefinitely.
Cuba, a Spanish colony, had been in rebellion since 1895. The brutal Spanish response turned American sympathies to the Cuban insurgents. The US Battleship Maine arrived in Havana Harbor in January 1898 with a dual mission to protect American interests and present the Spanish with a show of force. At 9:40 PM on the evening of February 15, an
In 1895 Cuba rebelled against Spain to declare their independence. Americans were outraged with the Spanish after they had killed off a quarter of the Cuban population. Newspapers flooded with propaganda and pressure for the U.S. to intervene and help the Cuban revolution. Americans felt that it was there duty to help Cuba and freeing them from Spain’s control. Not only did they feel it was the humanitarian thing to do but the Cuban rebellion also damaged American business in Cuba.
In 1890 the government passed the Naval Act and began to build. Nearly ten years later our fleet had grown to 160 vessels, with 6 of those being battleships. This aggressive approach to a bigger navy brought us from worst to third ranked world power, only behind Spain and Great Britain. During this same time, another influential territory was Hawaii. With American businessman being captivated by its lucrative sugar industry, we quickly made several trade agreements causing nearly all of Hawaii’s sugar production to be exported to the United States.
Spain treated Cuban revolutionaries horribly and yellow journalism-exaggerated news articles about the happenings in Cuba- emotionally affected Americans and swayed them in considering to help Cuba. The final draw that convinced the United States to intervene and go to war was the sinking of the military ship, the U.S.S Maine. The Ship exploded in Cuba and blame was put onto Spain. After the war ended, Cuba gained independence and the United States gained the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico. The war established that the United States was now a world power and furthered the U.S’s expansion overseas to the Caribbean, Central America and Asia(Document
The Spanish-American war was an important turning point of both sides. The U.S. became a recognized world power. They came out of the war “with far-flung overseas possessions and a new stake in international politics.” All of this would eventually lead to the U.S. playing a determining role in Europe’s affairs and the rest of the planet. Spain was also affected and changed. The war freed them from imperial ideology. It allowed Spain to look to their future for the first time and consider, on their own terms, the knowledge of its historical being and it development. In a way, the was also liberated
America’s imperial moment arrived when they freed Cuba from Spanish rule. America had to do what was necessary to keep Spain at Bay. President McKinley cautiously lobbied to Spain that they stop destroying American property in Cuba. Since Spain was unwilling to compromise, in 1898, McKinley sent over the battleship Maine, to show that the United
During his presidency William McKinley said, “War should never be entered upon until every agency of peace has failed.” His message never fully reached the American people because in the late 19th century the people were longing for an opportunity to keep up with other empires and they took the first chance they approached. They saw war with Spain as a quick way to prove supremacy and saw plenty of benefits. The Spanish American war was inevitable for America because the people had a strong drive for global power and influence and although it was not completely necessary it resulted in positive outcomes and later greatly helped progress the country.
The Spanish war gave the United States an empire. At the end of the Spanish war the United States took Spanish colonies such as Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and many other islands. The creation of the American Empire leads to the end of the Spanish Empire. The United States wanted to build up the countries so that markets would open up and purchase American goods and to improve the American economy.
The battleship, USS Marine was stationed in Havana’s harbor to protect American interest in Cuba. An explosion destroyed the vessel on February 15, 1898. “A naval court of inquiry blamed the explosion on a mine, further inflaming public sentiment against Spain” (HIS104 U.S. History Since 1877 30-Jun-2008, OL20). Again, the press stirred up the public with stories and headlines of a Spanish conspiracy. American now demanded revenge for the deaths of 266 sailors (Faragher, J., 2008, Out of Many). President McKinley demanded that Spanish government end brutality of the Cuban people, engage in armistice, and promise the eventual independence of Cuba. Upon Spain’s refusal, McKinley asked for a declaration of war. (HIS104 U.S. History, Lecture, 30-Jun-2008, OL20). “In order to assure the world that it was fighting only for the good of Cuba and not for colonial gain, the US passed the Teller Amendment, which promised to make Cuba independent after the war was over” (SparkNotes: The Spanish American War, 1898-1901: Summary).
expanding it boarders in the early and mid 1800’s. Throughout the world in the 1880’s there was a large need for countries to gain places where they could get natural resources. Almost every Western European Nation was in need to imperialize. Examples of this were the scramble for Africa, and the spheres of influence. The cartoonist Thomas Nast depicts this in his cartoon “The worlds plunder” which appeared in Harper’s weekly in 1885. America’s need to I imperialize was similar to that of Europe. The way the U.S. went about gaining markets was no different then what they had done before to gain land. The U.S. looked to fighting to gain land and when they saw the Cubans wanted independence from Spain the U.S. looked to help Cuba to get land in return. Throughout the war there was yellow journalism to gain support from the American population. Also when the USS Maine got bombed the American immediately blamed it on Spain. Years later it was found the explosion happened internally and Spain couldn’t have bombed it. The U.S. easily defeats Spain and in return for helping Cuba the U.S. gained Puerto Rico, The Philippines, and Guam. After Cuba Got there independence the U.S. wanted to keep their influence in Cuba so they passed the Platt amendment which made Cuba a protectorate and gave the U.S. a naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It also would not let Cuba Make a treaty Without The U.S. The U.S. Justifies their actions for helping Cuba and gaining
The United States had been increasingly interested in China’s economic status, yet the U.S. just had gained the Philippines, Guam, and Hawaii as a result of the Spanish-