Spanish-American War marked the emergence of the United States as a world
power. This brief conflict between the United States and Spain took place
between April and August 1898, over the issue of the liberation of Cuba. In the
course of the war, the U.S. won Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippine Islands.
Background of the war
Spanish misrule. Until about 1860, American expansionists had hoped to acquire
Cuba. After the Civil War, interest in annexation dwindled, but Americans
continued to be displeased by Spanish misrule. A long and exhausting uprising
took place in the 1870's. In 1895, during a depression that made conditions
worse, a revolution broke out again and threatened to go on endlessly. The
Spanish forces were not powerful enough to put down the insurrection, and the
rebels were not strong enough to win.
American intervention. American newspapers, especially the "yellow press" of
William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, printed sensational accounts of
Spanish oppression, and carried seriously exaggerated reports that a quarter of
the population had died. They continually agitated for intervention. Many
Americans regarded conditions in Cuba as intolerable and began to demand that
the United States intervene. A few felt that the United States should also
acquire naval and military bases and become an imperial power.
In November 1897, President McKinley pressured Spain into granting Cuba limited
self-government within the Spanish empire. The rebels wanted nothing less than
independence, and continued to fight. Meanwhile, pro-Spanish mobs in Havana
rioted in protest against self-government. To protect Americans from the
rioters, the battleship Maine arrived in Havana harbor January 25, 1898. On
February 15, an explosion blew up the ship and killed about 260 persons on
board. The outraged American public immediately blamed Spain for the explosion,
but today many historians believe it was accidental and occurred inside the
ship.
"Remember the Maine" became a popular slogan, but forces already in operation
did more to bring about actual war. In March, President McKinley sent three
notes to Spain, demanding full independence for Cuba. Spain granted an
armistice. On April 19, Congress passed overwhelmingly a joint resolution
asserting that Cuba was independent. The resolution also disavowed any American
intention to acquire the island, and authorized the use of the army and navy to
force Spanish withdrawal. On April 25, the U.S. formally declared that a state
of war existed with Spain as of April 21.
Chief events
Manila Bay. The first important battle of the war took place in the Philippines.
The Asiatic Squadron of six ships under Commodore George Dewey sailed from Hong
Kong to Manila Bay. On May 1, 1898, it destroyed the entire Spanish fleet of 10
vessels without the loss of an American life or serious damage to any American
ship. Then Dewey blockaded Manila harbor while he waited for U.S. troops to
arrive.
Cuban blockade. Meanwhile, the North Atlantic Squadron under Rear Admiral
William T. Sampson had begun a partial blockade of Cuba while scouting in the
Caribbean Sea for a fleet that had left Spain under Admiral Pascual Cervera y
Topete. Finally, on May 28, American ships located Cervera's fleet, which had
anchored in the landlocked harbor of Santiago de Cuba, on the southeastern part
of the island. While the navy placed a blockading force outside the harbor, the
army hastily prepared to send an expeditionary force to assault Santiago by
land.
Land battles. On June 22, Major General William R. Shafter began landing 15,000
troops at Daiquiri and Siboney, near Santiago. The Spaniards offered little
resistance during the landing and deploying of troops. Joyful newspaper reports
of this helped make celebrities of the Rough Rider Regiment and its commanders,
Colonel Leonard Wood and Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt.
General Shafter launched a full-scale two-pronged assault against Santiago on
July 1. He sent nearly half of his men against a small Spanish force strongly
defending a stone fort at El Caney. The remainder made a frontal assault on the
main Spanish defenses at Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill. By nightfall, the
Americans had taken the ridges commanding Santiago, but they had suffered 1,600
casualties. Both black and white Americans fought in the campaign. First
Lieutenant John J. Pershing wrote: "White regiments, black regiments ... fought
shoulder to shoulder, unmindful of race or color ... and mindful only of their
common duty as Americans."
As soon as Santiago came under siege, the governor of Cuba ordered Admiral
Cervera to run the naval blockade to try to save his ships. Cervera led the
ships out on July 3, heading in single file westward along the Cuban coast. The
pursuing American naval vessels, commanded by Commodore Winfield S. Schley, sank
or forced the beaching of every one of them. Again no serious damage occurred to
any American vessel.
After days of negotiations, Santiago surrendered on July 17. On July 25, Major
General Nelson A. Miles began an invasion of Puerto Rico which met almost no
opposition. Several contingents of U.S. troops arrived in the Philippines. On
August 13, they entered and occupied Manila, thus keeping the Filipino patriots
out. The cables had been cut, and Dewey did not realize that an armistice had
been signed the previous day.
Results of the war
The peace treaty. Sentiment grew within the United States to keep the spoils of
war, except for Cuba. In the Treaty of Paris, signed Dec. 10, 1898, Spain
granted Cuba its freedom. Spain ceded Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to
the United States. The United States, in turn, paid Spain $20 million for the
Philippine Islands.
Anti-imperialism. Many people in the United States did not like their nation's
new position as a colonial power. These anti-imperialists opposed the
annexations. They did not wish to hold subject peoples by force, run the risk of
becoming involved in further wars, or face competition from colonial products or
workers. Their forces were so strong in the Senate that it ratified the peace
treaty by only one vote on Feb. 6, 1899.
Other results. The United States had to put down a long and bloody insurrection
in the Philippines, strengthen its defenses, build more powerful battleships,
and reorganize the army to remedy serious weaknesses revealed by the war. The
war also showed the need for a canal through the Isthmus of Panama, which
separated the Caribbean Sea from the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish-American War
thus led to the building of the Panama Canal.
Contributor: Frank Freidel, Ph.D., Former Prof. of History, Harvard Univ. and
Univ. of Washington; author, The Splendid Little War.