“The Spanish-American War was the defining moment in modern U.S. history. It began the process by which the U.S. would establish itself as a world super power”. The Spanish-American War was known as the beginning process to the United States establishing itself as a world super power. This would be the beginning to becoming a strong and powerful Empire. This process to building a powerful Empire is something that America has built up for hundreds of years. This makes sense because America did go through a lot before the war even started. All America wanted to do in the first place was build a canal to connect North and South America for trade. The canal would make Americans life easier for trading with other countries. Spain did not want …show more content…
Cuba was finally free of Spain's control. With Cuba being free of Spain this is when America gets their benefits. America basically tells Cuba “Since we helped you get free of Spain’s control, you will let us build a canal,” and that was only one of the benefits America used to get what they wanted with Cuba. After the war there was a lot of things that needed to be talked about especially with where Cuba was with being free and/or how was in control of it. These things were going to have to be worked out with the governments. Other than that the Spanish-American war was more about America starting to gain control and power of an Empire that is still running today and what Americans hope will keep running for a long time. If you do not look at the Spanish-American war as the being of the process of America gaining power then you probably think that the process could have already started. For example like when monopolies were controlling America and when the citizens finally got a say and decided to take down all of those monopolies. Or, you could possibly think that the process had not started until World War 1 when America got involved and held there own against Germany and the other countries involved in World War 1. For someone to think that the process of America becoming an Empire had not started yet is not true is wrong in my opinion, seeing all that America has already been through and how well it has been keeping up with the other
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
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 major underlying reasons behind the Spanish-American War were simply extensions of the jingoism and slandering journalism trends in the U.S. during the late 19th century. Although the Spanish
The Spanish American war started in 1898 and was a fight for Cuba’s independence which resulted in 379 American casualties in combat. The Spanish American War was justified because of the Monroe Doctrine, Correspondence between the United States and Spain, and the Platt Amendment, which were all created to protect American morals and freedom.
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”.
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 started in 1898 and lasted about four months. Although the war might have seemed focused on freeing Cuba from Spain and gaining independence for Cuba and the Philippines, it was actually stimulated by nationalism and commercialism. Commercialism was a major factor when declaring war because the United States depended on Cuba and the Philippines for trade and business with other countries, especially in Asia and Latin America. Another major factor for the war was that the United States wanted to spread its Anglo-Saxon culture around the world and emerge as a world-wide power. Other minor motives for the war include the United States coming to the aid of the Cubans in their revolt against Spain and the feeling that
The Spanish American war signaled America's rise and the relative decline of the European powers. The war also led to America getting territories and colonies in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, the territories and colonies conclude Philippines, Cuba, and a host of other territories. The investment of the Philippines in particular led to permanent American involvement in Asian affairs.
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 Spanish-American war occurred in 1898 between the United States and Spain where the U. S. interrupted Cuba’s struggle for independence which resulted into the Philippine revolution. Some historians explain that the war publicized by the Hearst and Pulitzer newspapers which blame the sinking of the ship U. S. Maine on Spain, which had been sent to protect America’s interest and Americans living there. There was rising pressure on Congress to push the President to retaliate and go to war with Spain, but the main reason was for Cuba to gain their independence from the Spanish colonization. By defending their move they said that Spain attacked them first. The U. S. came out by using strategy to impose a naval blockade of Cuba and attack the Spanish Navy in the Philippines which was successful. (America goes to war, 2016). The war ended as a result of a treaty signed in Paris which allowed the U. S. to have provisional authority over Cuba took over Guam, Puerto Rico and purchased the Philippine Islands for $20,000,000. (America as World Power, 2016) The U.S. emerged from that war as a world power.
On April 19th, 1898, the United States declared war on Spain. Over the next three months the United States, along with Cuban Rebels waged war against the Spanish forces in hopes of returning the Cuban lands back to its people. President McKinley who was pressured into war by yellow press, sent American forces into battle which ultimately led to the birth of a western hemispheric super power, the United States. The sinking of the USS Maine, the use of yellow press journalism, and the national uproar and motivation is what drove the Americans to victory.
Spanish American War: It was a war that happened in 1898 between Spain and the United States.
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.
American victory in the Spanish-American War brought Cuba, the Philippines and Puerto Rico into the American orbit. The war proved very popular with the American public. It was short and the America easily triumphed. What to do with the newly acquired territories proved controversial. The war turned America into and international imperial power. In 1900 a group started to fight what they perceived as the anti-American values of imperialism. The Anti-Imperialist League believed that imperialism went against the republican values of the American Revolution. They had no problem with expansion so long as the rights of the governed remained protected. Their major problem was how the former Spanish colonies became part of America. The population
The Spanish-American War was an ongoing war that was fought in 1898 between the United States and Spain. This was the war that ended the Spanish colonial rule over territories in the Americas and ended up resulting in U.S. gaining pieces of territories in western Pacific America and Latin America.