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Alfred T. Mahan recommends that we take over Cuba, the Philippines and Hawaii to protect American Naval power. These ideas came from his book :The Influence of Sea Power upon History.
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The Cuban uprising against Spanish rule begins.Spain herded 300,000 Cubans into concentration camps and over 100,000 of them died from starvation.
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Competing newspapers owned by Hearst and Pulitzer up anti- Spanish feeling amongst their readers in the United States .
" You furnish the pictures, I'll furnish the war." -William Randloph Hearst to illustrator Fredrick Remington -
The U.S.S. Maine explodes in Havana Harbor. The newspapers claimed it was a Spanish mine that posssibly caused the explosion. This triggered anti Spanish sentiment in the U.S.
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Commodore Dewet is ordered to sail the the Philippines. He arrives in May and defeats the Spanish Army.
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The U.S. declares war on Spain. President McKinley enlists 125,000 volunteers including the famous Rough Riders. By December , the U.S. and Spain sign a formal peace treaty . It gives the U.S. control of Puerto, the Philippines and Guam for $20 million. The U.S. becomes a world power.
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The Anti-imperialist League is formed. Mark Twain is a member.
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The U.S. government refuses to recognize the new filipino government and the insurrection against American occupation begins. The Philippines would not become its own independent state until 1947! Pictured to the left is Emilio Aguinaldo a revolutionary Filipino fighter.
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The United States reaches out to Colombia to have rights to the canal. The U.S. offer is 10 million but the Colombians want another 15 million. Teddy Roosevelt decides to help create the new country of Panama, which gave the United States the rights to the canal in the following year.
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The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine essentialy told European Nation to stay out of the affairs of Latin America. As result, the U.S. assumed control of the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Haiti. And threatened to do the same in Honduras and Guatemala.
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The Panama canal is completed.
