Americans in fear for their lives in Havana was the beginning of what would become the Spanish-American War. Initially this was the Cuban War of Independence against Spain. In 1898 there was a riot caused by Cuban Spanish loyalists and it sparked fear into the Americans on the island. America sent the USS Maine to Havana in response. The USS Maine was sunk on February 15, 1898 by what many thought to be a mine. This sparked outrage into the American people. Journalist’s hands were on fire with the distain of what happened. They wrote that Spanish officials were to blame for what had happened. The media broke loose and all of America wanted to begin a war with Spain. President McKinley opposed war but the American peoples minds were set on
The Spanish American War was caused by many occasions. America strongly supported Cuba and disputed Spain’s actions. The main causes of The Spanish American war was the yellow journalism, the blowing up of “The maine”, and the de lome letter. This essay will be discussing the causes and effects of the Spanish American War.
The public was calling for the United States to intervene in the conflict between Spain and Cuba, Cuba was fighting for independence. The United States soon sent the USS Maine to protect American citizens and property. Public outcry reached a new found high when the USS Maine was sunk without any explanation from the Spanish. On April 24th of 1898 Spain officially Declared War on the United States, with the United States following suit a day later on April 25th of 1898. Bits and pieces of the Spanish American war were fought on all of Spain’s strongholds in the Caribbean and Pacific: Guam, The Philippines, Puerto Rico, and most notably Cuba. Of the fighting in Cuba some of the most interesting was by the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry better known as the Rough
Spanish - American WarTopic: Spanish American WarQuestion: How did the Spanish - American war start?Thesis: Getting treated badly by one another.The causes of the Spanish-American War relates directly to Cuba, and the sinking of the ships such as the U.S.S. Maine. 1In 1895, Cuba was extremely out of control and not organized at all , and was beginning to go against Spain. The American people were very disgusted in the way the cuban citizens were treated and by the way the Spanish treat the Cubans in the beginning of the Spanish - American war. The Cuban’s soon adopted a conception that the more damage that they did to the Cuban mainland, the faster the Spanish would leave Cuba, and the Americans would then help the Cubans to win their independence against the Spain. After they win their independence they would then be free without being mistreated by the Spaniards.The Americans soon came to Cuba in a try to help and assist the Cubans in their fight for freedom.2 The Spanish intervention with Cuba threatened the trade routes that America had near, and with Cuba. By helping the Cuban’s America would be saving itselfs economy because this would be the way to greatness . During this time you must remember that the U.S had a new and 1 https://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/2 https://amhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/printable/section.asp?id=7
America’s support for the ongoing struggle by Cubans and Filipinos against Spanish rule and the explosion of the battleship U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor are the major influences that led to the Spanish-American War. The Spanish-American War was a conflict between Spain and the United States in 1898. As Cuba was controlled by territorial expansion by the Spanish, Cubans fight for independence from Spain will arise. Cubans fight for Independence from Spain is what brought the U.S to intervene.
While public tensions before August 1898 were surely high, nothing turned the public against Spain like the tragic blowing up of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor. The lives of 260 American officers and men were lost. The yellow press and American investigators quickly blamed spanish officials in Cuba for the mysterious wreck. Although it is extremely unlikely that the spanish had anything to do with the Maine’s sinking, the War-Mad American public accepted this conclusion out of rage, overwhelmingly persuading President Mckinley to begin the war. McKinley personally did not want to fight a war against Spain, for he had seen enough bloodshed as a General in the Civil War. But the public, encouraged by the Cuban patriotic cause, yellow journalism, and the sinking of the Maine, clamored for a war. Finally, President McKinley yielded and gave the people what they wanted. He believed that the people should rule, even if they don’t know what’s best for themselves. Public pressure was the main reason we went to war with Spain, and the biggest cultivator of public unrest was the blowing up of “The Maine”.
To protect the interests of the nation, the United States sent the USS Maine into Havana Harbor, but on February 15, 1898, the unthinkable happened. The battleship exploded, killing 260 members of the crew. Without a thorough investigation, the U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry stated the explosion was caused by Spain. Doubt from the public was virtually absent and the United States declared war on Spain, beginning the Spanish-American War. The war resulted in a swift American victory, leading to the addition of multiple territories. Although the explosion is now known to have been caused by an internal fire, it caused American intervention and imperialism in both Latin America and islands in the Pacific
There were a plethora of important events that took place that prompted the beginning of The Spanish American war. The war was officially started in 1898, bringing joy to the citizens of America and dismay to then president William Mckinley. Before the war, Cuba had been fighting for independence from Spain. The Cuban’s had already lost in the ten year war earlier, which had been fought to gain their independence from Spain. In the state's, newspapers and other media sources were greatly exaggerating the horrors and atrocities being
War of 1812 and industrialization- The british blockade forced the united states to develop its own industries
The Spanish-American War was in 1898. It was an issue between the United States and Spain. The war began in the Cuban struggle for independence from Spain, which began in February 1895. Spain’s harsh measures to stop the rebellion were represented for the U.S. public by many newspapers, and American sympathy for the rebels rose. Spain announced an armistice on April 9 and speeded up its new program.
The people on the boat were headed towards Cuba to regulate the interests of Americans after a revolt against Spaniards. Due to the explosion America declared war which is known as the Spanish-American War of April 1898.
The revolts that were going on during this time made America not trust Spain and made America believe that Spain cannot control their affairs. Cuba had many revolts for example, “both sides in Cuba preferred war to reform, and the rebels declared for full independence” (342). On February 15th, 1898 an American ship named the Maine was visiting Havana, THE MAINE then exploded in the harbor and had 266 casualties. With no evidence Spain was the first to blame for this travesty Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed, “The Maine
In April of 1898 America finally declared war against Spain and this was as a result of the sinking of the Battleship Maine in Havana in February of the same year. After months of war and wrangles, the war came to an end after the signing of the Treaty of Paris on 10th of December 1898.1 The end of the war saw the Spaniards loss complete control over majority of their remaining empires aboard including Cuba, Philippines Islands, Puerto Rico, and Guam among other islands in South America and the Caribbean region. Majority of experts and historians believe are convinced that the Spanish-American War is the first media war in the world. This is due to the fact that the period prior to the war, majority of
One reason that Yellow Journalism had such a large effect of the public was the article was organized and presented to readers. A substantial characteristic of yellow journalism was having scare headlines in large print. The papers would put an event that would easily grab the attention of the readers, and would word the headline to make the readers want to the full article. The general public had no idea that what they were reading was untrue, so Americans grew angry and started clamoring to go to war with Spain. An example of the newspapers using this tactic was when the New York Journal posted a paper which headlines read: “CRISIS AT HAND Cabinet In Session, Growing Belief In SPANISH TREACHERY.” 14 The paper specifically put parts of the sentence in capitals so that someone who was just scanning the paper would get two lines, “CRISIS AT HAND” and “SPANISH TREACHERY.” This strategy played a large part in causing the Spanish-American war because of the effect that it had on the public. Besides the title and front page format, newspapers were able to affect the
The Mexican-American war, also known as the Mexican war happened between 1846 and 1848 with the participants being United States of America and Mexico. Texas, previously a Mexican state, was the primary cause of the war. A series of disagreements had occurred between Texans and the Mexican government leading to Texas declaration of its independence in 1836. Later, Texas decided to join the United States as the 28th state and this infuriated Mexico. Additionally, border disagreements came up with Mexico claiming the border was at Nueces River while Texas claimed it was at Rio Grande River. James K. Polk, the president, sent his army to protect the border which ended up in shooting between Mexican and American troops. It is after this that
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).