The Spanish-American war began when an unknown ship sank the USS Maine in Havana, which was sent to protect U.S. citizens and property after the anti-Spanish riots. Yellow journalism contributed to the U.S. declaring war by using “sensational stories that tugged at readers’ heartstrings to sell papers.” These papers blamed Spain for the sinking of the ship, even though they had no evidence to prove it. Spain declared war on April 24, 1898 and the U.S. declared war the next day. These declarations of war began the Spanish-American war. It lasted only four months. The Spanish-American war not only ended Spanish colonial rule in the Americas, but it also “resulted in the U.S. acquisition of territories in the western Pacific and Latin …show more content…
10, 1898), Spain renounced all claim to Cuba, ceded Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States, and transferred sovereignty over the Philippines to the United States for $20 million.” Cuba also became an United States protectorate. The treaty ended up causing a heated debate in the U.S. However, there were Philippine insurgents who fought the Spanish rule in the war who quickly turned against the new residents. Almost 10 times more American lives were lost subduing the insurgents than in beating the Spanish. “Nevertheless, President McKinley's expansionist policies were supported by the American public, who seemed more than willing to accept the blessings and curses of their new expanding empire.” 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
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.
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.
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”.
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
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 Spanish-American War began in the year 1898. After some time, The United States declared war after hearing about the poor conditions Cuban’s were facing under the hands of Spanish troops. Starting on a rough note, before the war commenced the United States lost one of its ships, the USS Maine which unexpectedly sunk off the coast of Cuba. America quickly blamed Spain for the disaster even though they never found out the cause for the ships sinking. Even though the main focus of the war was Cuba, The first battle of the war began in the Philippines, where Commodore George Dewey guided the American fleet to commence battle against Spain. For centuries, Spain had controlled the Philippines making the Filipino people angry. Therefore Roosevelt called the troops near the
One cause of the Spanish-American War was due to yellow journalism. This term refers to exaggerated stories and pictures about the situation in Cuba. This manipulation of the masses caused a large uproar among American citizens in favor of assisting Cuba against Spain. This was due to the extreme patriotism of the American people and they sympathized with Cubans in their fight for independence.
At the time of the Spanish American War the United States went from relative isolation to increased global involvement because of economic expansion, and rebellion in the western hemisphere. The consequences of this increased global involvement on American society was that America exited the Spanish-American war as an Imperialist country and America began to abuse its position as an emerging world power.
The Spanish-American war was a conflict between Spain and America. It ended Spanish ruling in the Americas and resulted in the expansion of territories in the Pacific and Latin America for the US. During this period of imperialism, there were many influences driving the U.S. government. The war started with Cuba struggling to gain their independence from Spain. However, Spain rejected their notions by brutally stopping the Cuban rebellion. Newspapers began portraying Spain as spiteful and the sympathy for the Cuban rebels rose in America. William Randolph Hearst was responsible for exaggerating the truth in the papers about the fight for independence from Spain. Hearst invented a term called “yellow journalism”, which exploits, distorts, or exaggerates the news to attract readers. A truce was called and Spain allowed Cuba to have limited power of self-government. Nevertheless, the demand for the US to intervene with the conflict grew and it resulted in the sinking of the USS Maine in the Havana Harbor in Cuba. The battleship had an explosion that resulted in 260 sailors dead. The explosion was thought to have been caused by the Spanish even though it was never proven.This led to the start of the war. Spain declared war on the US on April 24, 1898.
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
In April 1895, Maceo, Marti, and Gomez landed in Cuba to begin the second War of Independence. In 1898, with the rebels largely in control of the island, the United States used the explosion of the USS Maine in the Havana harbor to begin hostilities against Spain, starting the Spanish-American War.
In the article we read about the Spanish-American War, the United States wanted to annex countries onto America. In newspapers, lots of journalists made up exciting stories for readers called yellow journalism. Cuba wanted to be independent, and the U.S. sided with them. this made Spain mad, and tension started to built. The U.S. Maine battleship was sent to pick up American citizens, but the ship blew up and 260 american sailors died. Americans blamed it on Spain, but the Spaniards said that it was an explosion from inside the ship. Though now we know the Spaniards were actually right, the americans were wanting war with Spain because of the explosion. Everyone but President McKinley wanted war, and eventually the president gave in because
Even though it was proven later the Spanish did not blow up the USS Maine the implications were there. After this America entered the Spanish American war with the intentions of us defending our honor and in our eyes helping others under Spanish control. Just the implications of an act being committed can make the act real especially with newspapers are fueling the fire. American businessmen who had interests in Cuba and the federal government willing to help makes this the first step in America becoming a global power. Some Americans really wanted America to stay isolated and let the rest of the world decide their own differences. Other Americans were afraid if the United States did not go after their part of the world we would be
Pulitzer and Hearst wrote yellow journalism. They wrote lies about how the US ship was sent to Cuba and it naturally blew up but they wrote lies and said that Spain blew up the ship. They were a start to the war because if they wouldn’t have written all those lies people wouldn’t be mad at Spain and wouldn’t want to fight Spain. They made even the people who sent the ship think that Spain blew it up, The ship ended up blowing up from natural causes. everyone thought that the Spanish blew up the US ship and it was a whole big misunderstanding. People got very mad at Spain and so everyone wanted us to start a war. The yellow journalism caused most of the conflict to start this
The Spanish-American War was a conflict that resulted in world power for the United States. The Spanish-American War resulted in new territories and protectorates for the United States, and the United States transferred to a civilian government. The rest of the world also knew that the United States had a very strong navy and that Americans would fight for what they believed in.