The Spanish-American War
The Spanish-American War (1898) was a war between the United States and Spain that began with U.S. intervention in Cuba during the Cuban struggle for independence from Spain.
After the mysterious sinking of the U.S. battleship Maine in Havana harbor, pro-war feeling was heightened in the United States.
The war spread to other parts of the Spanish Empire. The Spanish fleet was destroyed in Manila Bay, Philippines, by Admiral Dewey.
The Spanish surrendered after their forces were defeated at Santiago de Cuba.
Under the Treaty of Paris, Cuba gained independence under U.S. protection and Spain ceded its colonies (Guam, Puerto Rico, Philippines) to the United States.
The Spanish-American War
The Spanish War: An American Epic -1898 (by G. J. A. O'Toole)
The Spanish War: An American Epic--1898
Amazon Price: $12.89 (as of 10/13/2008)
A recent television mini-series on Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders prompted me to read a book about the Spanish-American War in order to get "the rest of the story" as well as "the real story"; G. J. A. O'Toole's book was an excellent choice. "The Spanish War" objectively recounts all the circumstances surrounding the outbreak, conduct, and resolution of the conflict. While the Spanish-American War was short in duration and decisive in its outcome, Mr. O'Toole points out the difficult realities both sides had to face in terms of logistics, military strategy and command, internal politics, and foreign policy. Supplemented by photographs and contemporary accounts of the time, the author describes in graphic detail the naval and land engagements of the war; his narrative on the explosion of the battleship "Maine" and its deadly aftermath is especially grim. The reader is provided thorough information on the 1898 and 1970s Navy investigations of the cause of the explosion, both of whom contradicted each other. The book is appropriately subtitled "An American Epic", since the war did bring about the overseas expansion of the United States and its subsequent emergence as a world power. However, it is clear from the narrative that not everything on the American side was heroic, and neither was everything on the Spanish side villainous. "The Spanish War" is great reading; in my case, it also reinforced the axiom that you cannot believe everything you see on television.
U.S. Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War
The Spanish-American War (article)
The war began after the American demand for Spain's peacefully resolving the Cuban fight for independence was rejected, though strong expansionist sentiment in the United States motivated the government to target Spain's remaining overseas territories: Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Guam and the Caroline Islands.
Riots in Havana by pro-Spanish "Voluntarios" gave the United States a reason to send in the warship USS Maine to indicate high national interest. Tension among the American people was raised because of the explosion of the USS Maine, and "yellow journalism" that accused Spain of extensive atrocities, agitating American public opinion. The war ended after decisive naval victories for the United States in the Philippines and Cuba.
Only 109 days after the outbreak of war, the Treaty of Paris, which ended the conflict, gave the United States ownership of the former Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam.
Source: Wapedia
The Spanish-American War and the Rise of American Imperialism
Michael Parenti -- Spanish American War 1/3
THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR AND THE RISE OF US IMPERIALISM! Michael Parenti uses the history of the Spanish American War to answer several very intriguing questions. Who first expressed the desire to annex the island of Cuba - and when? Why was the US government concerned about Spanish repression of the rights of Cubans while the repression of African Americans within the US was ignored? Why did the US attack the Philippines when it was Cuba they supposedly wanted to rescue? Why did the US give verbal support to the Cuban liberation movements against Spain while selling weapons to Spain to fight the popular movement? The Spanish American War was an important turning point in the transition of the US to an imperial power and many of the forces at work are eerily contemporary.
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Opinions on the Spanish-American War
- A Trumped-Up War
- "The Spanish-American War was likely another instance of trumped up war. After multiple investigations over the last century, it is still unclear whether the USS Maine sunk as a result of a mine or an accidental internal explosion, and that lack of clarity alone should have been enough to prevent the war. What is completely clear, however, is that appetent imperialists and yellow journalists were hungry for the war, so much so that they succeeded in bringing it about, including ugly extended fighting in the Philippines against the anti-colonialist guerillas whom the Americans were supposed to be there liberating. Indeed, so great was the manufactured pressure for war that President McKinley, who didn't want to fight it, was ultimately forced to do so."
- Mark Twain on Spanish-American War
- "And by and by comes America, and our Master of the Game plays it badly--plays it as Mr. Chamberlain was playing it in South Africa. It was a mistake to do that; also, it was one which was quite unlooked for in a Master who was playing it so well in Cuba. In Cuba, he was playing the usual and regular American game, and it was winning, for there is no way to beat it. The Master, contemplating Cuba, said: "Here is an oppressed and friendless little nation which is willing to fight to be free; we go partners, and put up the strength of seventy million sympathizers and the resources of the United States: play!" Nothing but Europe combined could call that hand: and Europe cannot combine on anything. There, in Cuba, he was following our great traditions in a way which made us very proud of him, and proud of the deep dissatisfaction which his play was provoking in Continental Europe. Moved by a high inspiration, he threw out those stirring words which proclaimed that forcible annexation would be "criminal aggression;" and in that utterance fired another "shot heard round the world." The memory of that fine saying will be outlived by the remembrance of no act of his but one--that he forgot it within the twelvemonth, and its honorable gospel along with it."
The Politics of War: The Story of Two Wars...
The Politics of War: The Story of Two Wars Which Altered Forever the Political Life of the American Republic 1890-1920
Amazon Price: $12.71 (as of 10/13/2008)
Wars that destroy republics
Karp, author of the brilliant book Indispensable Enemies, comes through again in this fascinating history book. Karp's underlying premise is that polticians start wars to destroy internal reforms wanted by the people. Here he shows how the Progressive movement was stymied by the Democrats and Republicans, with war as their chosen instrument.
Part I is a history of the Spanish-American War and here Karp shows how both parties colluded to bring on an unnecessary war. He firmly disagrees with the traditional historians who blame the war on the press. Part II continues this analysis, applied this time to the years leading up to another unnecessary war, World War I. Karp shows how Wilson drags the country into war, while all the time talking of peace. Once again the motivation is the same: thwart reform at home. Once the war has begun, Wilson uses the fake threat of German treachery to suppress the press and free speech of the American public. The last chapter is particularly chilling, as Karp gives the example of a woman jailed for saying the government is for the profiteers.
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USS Olympia in Battle of Manila Bay
Empire by Default: The Spanish-American War and the Dawn of the American Century
Empire by Default: The Spanish-American War and the Dawn of the American Century
Amazon Price: (as of 10/13/2008)
On the centennial of the Spanish-American War, the short and confusing conflict receives comprehensive treatment in a narrative of more than 600 pages. At the close of the 19th century, Americans were looking outward at the world. In a precursor to the foreign involvement of the next century the U.S. Navy found itself fighting in the Philippines, and the infantry (and Theodore Roosevelt's volunteer cavalrymen) entered combat (and battle illness) on the island of Cuba. The Spanish-American War has often been overlooked as an oddity, but those who want to understand its role in American history now have access to what may stand as the definitive history of the war that led to the United States being regarded as a world power.
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