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The United States was interested in
Cuba for a long time. They were interested in both its resources and its strategic position. In 1854, diplomats convinced President Franklin Pierce that the United States should try to Cuba from Spain. Spain didn't take this too well though and wouldn't allow it. -
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The Cubans rebelled against Spain between 1868 and 1878, this was the first time that Cuba tried to win its independence from Spain in an actual war. This was also known as the 10 Year War.
This first fight against Spain was not successful, but
it did manage to let the Cuban people force Spain to abolish slavery. After the emancipation of Cuba’s slaves, Americans started to invest millions of dollars in large sugar cane
plantations on the island. -
The Yellow Press, or as its also known as Yellow Journalism, was started by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph
Pulitzer. These two were the heads of separate competing companies. Hearst’s New York Journal and
Pulitzer’s New York World. They each made exaggerated horrific events that happened to the Cubans under the hand of Weyler. This new form of news they made, which exaggerates the news to lure and enrage the readers, became yellow journalism. -
Anti-Spanish
José Martí was a Cuban poet and journalist who launched a revolution in 1895. Martí organized Cuban resistance against Spain, and used guerrilla campaigns, and deliberately destroyed property. He became a symbol of hope for the people of Cuba and he was their inspiration to fight against Spain again. -
Spain responded to the Cuban revolt by sending
General Valeriano Weyler to Cuba to restore order.
This led Weyler to try to stop the rebellion by rounding up the entire
rural population of central and western Cuba into barbed wire concentration camps. 300,000 Cubans filled these camps, and thousands died from hunger and disease. This event was used by the Yellow Press to cause Americans to call for war against Spain. -
In 1898, New York Journal published a private letter that was written by Enrique Dupuy de Lôme, who was the Spanish minister to America. Cuban rebels stole the letter from a Havana post office and sent it to the newspaper. The de Lôme letter insulted President McKinley and called him weak and a bidder for the admiration of the crowd. After this, the Spanish government apologized, and the minister resigned. Still, this caused Americans to become more in favor of starting a war against Spain. -
Shortly after the de Lôme letter was published, President McKinley had ordered the U.S.S. Maine to Cuba to bring
American citizens back to the US if they were in danger from the fighting and to protect American property. On February 15, 1898, the ship blew up in the harbor of Havana. More than 260 men were killed. No one really knew or found out who blew up Maine, but Americans were quick to blame it on Spain. This was the final straw for McKinley -
Even though the Spanish agreed to America's cease-fire term, the people of America wanted war. On April 11, McKinley asked Congress for authority to use force against Spain. Finally, Congress agreed, and on April 20 the United States declared war on Spain. -
After Dewey's victory, American troops could now land in the Phillippines. American troops also had the support of the Philippines like the Cubans, also wanted freedom from Spain. After this, 11,000 Americans joined forces with Filipino rebels, who were led by Emilio Aguinaldo, to fight Spain. Finally, Spanish troops in Manila surrendered to the United States. -
On April 30, the American fleet in the Pacific went to the Philippines. The next morning, Commodore George Dewey ordered to open fire on the Spanish fleet at Manila, which was the Philippine capital. Soon, Dewey’s men had destroyed every Spanish ship there. Dewey’s victory let U.S. troops land in the Philippines. This lead to Spain's surrender of the philippines. -
In the Caribbean, Admiral William T. Sampson started the invasion by making a naval blockade around Cuba. Admiral Sampson managed to seal up the Spanish fleet in the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. This great feat and Dewey’s victory at Manila helped show the superiority of America's naval forces. -
American forces landed in Cuba in June 1898. They started to move to the port city of Santiago. It was an army of 17,000, which also included four African-American regiments from the army and the Rough Riders. The Rough Riders were a volunteer cavalry under the command of Theodore Roosevelt. -
The first part of the battle took place on Kettle Hill, which was where the dramatic uphill charge by the Rough Riders took place. Their victory allowed an infantry attack on SanJuan Hill. Even though Roosevelt and his men had a small role in the second victory, the U.S. newspapers called him the hero of San Juan Hill. -
Two days after the battle of San Juan Hill, the Spanish fleet tried to escape the American blockade around the harbor of Cuba at Santiago. A naval battle took place along the Cuban coast, which ended in the destruction of the Spanish fleet. -
After the Spanish fleet was destroyed American troops could now invade Puerto Rico now that it had no defenses. So, on July 25th that's exactly what they did. -
The United States and Spain signed an armistice, which is a cease-fire agreement between the two. August 12, was the official end to the fighting and the actual fighting in the war only lasted
for 15 weeks. -
The United States and Spain met in Paris to agree on a treaty. During the peace talks, Spain agreed to free Cuba and to turn over the island of Guam in the Pacific and Puerto Rico to the United States. Spain also sold the Philippines to the United States for $20 million. America debated on whether or not to take control of the Philippines, but imperialism in the US was too great, so they took control of the islands.