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The US attempts to purchase Cuba
The US has had a long-held interest in Cuba. The diplomats suggested to President Franklin Pierce that the United States buy Cuba from Spain. This is important because the United States interest carries into many more events to occur, like the Spanish American War. -
Cuba's First War for Independence
The Ten Years War, also called Cuba's first war for independence, was part of Cuba's fight for independence from Spain. The uprising was led by Cuban-born planters and other wealthy natives. This is important for Cuba, making the move to a Cuba free from Spain. They even wrote a constitution abolishing slavery and annexed the country to the US. -
José Marti led Cuba's second war for independence
José Marti, a Cuban poet, and journalist in exile launched a revolution in 1895. Resistance against Spain was formed by deliberately destroying property. The rebels provoked the US to help achieve a free Cuba. This is important because unlike the first Cuban war, the second war was not unnoticed by the US. -
Valeriano Weyler was sent to Cuba by Spain
Cuban revolts were responded by the Spanish by sending General Valeriano Weyler to Cuba to restore order. To crush the rebellion, Weyler herded the entire rural population into barbed wire concentration camps. Many of the 300,000 Cubans in the camps died of hunger and disease. This is important because Weyler's actions made Americans sympathize for the rebels. The feelings of the citizens of the US only pushed to help the Cubans being mistreated. -
The Yellow press began to shape American public opinion with respect to Cubas civil war:
Weyler’s actions fueled a war in reality and in the newspaper. William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer lured readers into reading Hearst New York Journal and Pulitzer New York World. Their stories were exaggerated to show Weyler's brutality. They wrote about poisoned wells and throwing babies to the sharks. The stories were yellow journalism, which is news based upon an extreme exaggeration. The stories lured readers and enraged Americans on how the rebels were being treated. -
Publication of the De Lome Letter
Enrique Dupuy de Lôme was the Spanish minister to Washington. On February 9, 1898, a letter he had written to a government official in Havana was published in the American press. The private correspondence labeled President McKinley as “a low politician" and a man who was weak and catered to the rabble. The letter is important because it caused the Spanish to upset the United States. This made Spain a target to the US for insulting their president and the mistreating of the rebels. -
The explosion of the USS Maine
President Mckinley ordered the USS Maine to Cuba to protect American property and bring home American citizens in danger from the fighting. The ship was blown up in the harbor of Havana. More than 260 sailors were killed. No one knew why the ship exploded, in later 1898, the newspaper assumed the Spanish had blown it up. The explosion of the U.S.S. Maine was important because it made the US more furious at the Spanish. More power was brought later to fight the Spanish. -
The naval blockade of Cuba
a Spanish fleet under Admiral Pascual Cervera arrived in Santiago harbor on the southern coast of Cuba. The Spanish fleet was immediately blockaded in the harbor by superior U.S. warships from the U.S. squadrons in the Atlantic, under Rear Admiral William T. Sampson and Commodore Winfield S. Schley. The blockade was important because of the U.S. warships stopping the Spanish fleet from harming more Cubans. -
The U.S. declares war on Spain
The public opinion of America favored war. We went to Congress on April 11th asking to declare war on Spain. After a week of debating, finally the Congress agreed and the US declared war. The main reason for war out to the public was to free Cuba from the Spanish. This is important because if we hadn't gone into war against the Spanish, then we might not have had Cuba or other countries at this time. -
US attack on Manila Bay
The defeat of the Spanish Pacific fleet by the U.S. Navy, resulting in the fall of the Philippines and contributing to the final U.S. victory in the Spanish-American War. After an explosion sank USS Maine in Havana harbor in February 1898, the United States declared war with Spain on 25 April in support of a Cuban rebellion against Spanish colonial rule. -
Destruction of the Spanish Fleet in Cuba
Spanish Fleet gets blockaded by the American ships in Santiago de Cuba. The Spanish fleet tries to break out but they get destroyed This is important because it shows that America has more power of the Spanish during that time. -
The US invades Cuba
American forces landed in Cuba in June 1898 and began to converge on the port city of Santiago. The army of 17,000 included four African American regiments and the Rough Riders landed and began making their first way through Cuba. This is important because finally, we have landed in Cuba to protect our land and save the rebels from the Spanish. -
The Battle for San Juan Hill
Occurred east of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, and it was on Kettle Hill. U.S. soldiers were trying to take over the hill and they gained an advantage to take San Juan Hill. A small Spanish force on San Juan Hill managed to hold off a much larger U.S. force from advancing. Many U.S. soldiers were gunned down trying to take the hill. Rough Riders led us to victory in this battle. This is important because this was a huge factor in succeeding in the capture of Cuba. -
Capture Puerto Rico
The U.S and Spain met in Paris to agree on a treaty. At the peace talks, the Spanish freed Cuba and turned over the Guam islands and Puerto Rico to the United States. This is important because increased are empire. -
Armistice is signed between the US and Spain
Spain knew they were going to loose so they signed an Armistice which means they stop shooting at eachother. The Treaty of Paris was signed later. This is important because this is what made them stop firing at us and us stop firing at them to prevent more casualties. -
Spanish surrender the Philippines
The first battle of the war took place in a Spanish colony--the Philippines. Commodore George Dewey commanded to open fire on the Spanish at Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Dewey had destroyed every Spanish ship there within hours. George didn't do it alone, with the help of the Filipinos, who wanted freedom from Spain helped as well. In August, Spanish troops in Manila surrendered to the US. This is important because it benefited the US empire being built overseas. -
Treaty of Paris
Official peace treaty between the United States and Spain. Ended the Spanish American War. We gained Puerto Rico, Guam, Cuba, and the Philippians. This is important because this gave the US control over all of these countries that we originally wanted to create an empire
