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Diplomates in 1854 recommended that President Franklin Pierce buys Cuba from Spain. Spain responded by saying that they would rather see Cuba sink before selling it to America. This is important because it starts off bad tensions with Spain. -
For ten years Cuba attempted to remove Spain from their country. Americans sympathized for Cuba. Cubans altho did force Spain to abolish slavery 10 years after their failed first revolt. This caused American capitalists to invest millions of dollars into sugar cane plantations. The importance of this is that it gained American sympathy and interest in Cuba. -
Jose Marti was a Cuban poet and journalist who launched a revolution in exile in New York. He did this by using an active gorilla campaign. to destroy property. Mainly targeting American sugar cane plantations. He did this to attempt to achieve a free Cuba. This shows that he tried to get the Americans involved in the revolution. -
Spain responded to Cuba's Revolt by sending General Valeriano Weyler. Weyler was sent to restore order and by doing this he put all the Spain supporters into concentration camps to expose all the revolters. 300,000 people were sent there and tons died from hunger and disease. William McKinley attempted to diplomatically solve this crisis and almost succeeded. Spain installed more policies on the concentration camps and offered little self government. Showing this gruesomeness gave the news fuel. -
Weyler's actions fueled American newspaper companies to create many over exaggerated stories. They did this to gain more readers and make more money. This was known as yellow journalism. Yellow journalism lied to the American people and made them belive thing that was not true and made them unnecessarily more mad at Spain. -
The New York Journal published a private letter by Enrique Dupuy de Lome. A Cuban Rebel stole a letter from the Havana post office and leaked it to the press. The De Lome Letter called President McKinley a "weak" and an "a bidder for the administration to the crowd." The Spanish government apologized for the letter but Americans were angry for the insult to their president. Americans took insult and made some feel the need to take action. -
The USS Maine was sent to Cuba to rescue and bring home American citizens in danger of all the fighting. The ship blew up in Havana Harbor and over 260 men were killed. No one knows how the ship exploded but a $50,000 dollar reward at the time was offered to whoever caught the Spaniards who did it. This caused an outrage in the U.S. and was a main contributing factor in to starting the Spanish-American war. -
Secretary of the Navy, John D. Long, had ordered a naval blockade on the Western Northside of Cuba. The blockade went over 2,000 miles. Doing this increased conflicts with Spain. -
On April 11, McKinley asked Congress to use force on Spain. After a week they agreed and on April 20, war was declared on Spain. This is the start of a war that will end Spain's world power and introduce America to it. -
The Spanish thought the Americans would attack Cuba first but they decided to attack the Philippians first. In the morning, Commodore George Dewey commanded to fire on the Spanish fleet. Within the hour, all the Spanish ships had sunk and allowed America to set foot on the Philippines. This is the first action that America took in the Spanish-American war and hade introduced American troops into the Philippines. -
In the Caribbean, Admiral William T. Sampson held the Spanish fleet in Santiago de Cuba Harbor. Dewey's victory at Manila had shown the power of the U.S. Navy. The U.S. sank every ship and this had allowed the Americans to enter Cuba.
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American troops first touched Cuban soil in June 1898. 17,000 troops including the Roughriders, lead by Theodore Roosevelt and Leonard Wood, landed on the Island and started coverage on the port city Santiago. America landed on Cuba and began to start battling Spain. -
Two African-American Regiments and The Rough Riders led by Theodore Roosevelt attacked kettle hill and won to make a way for San Juan Hill. After San Juan was taken, Theodore was known as the hero of San Juan Hill. San Juan Hill was possibly the most strategic are to take to completely rid Spain of Cuba. -
A Spanish fleet tried to escape the American blockade at Santiago. Every ship got destroyed and resulted in an American victory. From this victory ended up in America invading Puerto Rico. They ended up taking Puerto Rico and had successfully removed Spain from another Island. -
An armistice is signed between the U.S. and Spain that lasted for 12 months, ultimately ending "a splendid little war" as called by Secretary of State John Hay. This is the near end of the war as there is no more fighting and peace is on the way. -
Americans helped Filipinos gain freedom from Spain who was lead by Emilio Aguinaldo. Commodore Dewey and 11,000 men helped rid Spain of the Philippines. In the Treaty of Paris, Spain sold the Philippines to the U.S. for $20 million. America now has the Philippines and all that is left is Cuba. -
The United States and Spain meet in Paris to discuss peace and agree on the Treaty of Paris. This gave the U.S. Guam, Puerto Rico, and sold the Philippines for $20 million. Spain also freed Cuba. This is the most important event as this is the end of the war and Cuba is now free from Spain.
