Spanish-American War

Spanish-American War 1898, brief conflict between Spain and the United States arising out of Spanish policies in Cuba. It was, to a large degree, brought about by the efforts of U.S. expansionists.

Causes of the War

Demands by Cuban patriots for independence from Spanish rule made U.S. intervention in Cuba a paramount issue in the relations between the United States and Spain from the 1870s to 1898. Sympathy for the Cuban insurgents ran high in America, especially after the savage Ten Years War (1868-78) and the unsuccessful revolt of 1895. After efforts to quell guerrilla activity had failed, the Spanish military commander, Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau , instituted the reconcentrado, or concentration camp, system in 1896; Cuba's rural population was forcibly confined to centrally located garrison towns, where thousands died from disease, starvation, and exposure.

Weyler's actions brought the rebels many new American sympathizers. These prorebel feelings were inflamed by the U.S. "yellow press," especially W. R. Hearst's New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer's New York World, which distorted and slanted the news from Cuba. The U.S. government was also moved by the heavy losses of American investment in Cuba caused by the guerrilla warfare, an appreciation of the strategic importance of the island to Central America and a projected isthmian canal there, and a growing sense of U.S. power in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere. There was an unspoken threat of intervention. This grew sharper after the insurgents, refusing a Spanish offer of partial autonomy, determined to fight for full freedom.

Although the majority of Americans, including President McKinley , wished to avert war and hoped to settle the Cuban question by peaceful means, a series of incidents early in 1898 intensified U.S. feelings against Spain. The first of these was the publication by Hearst of a stolen letter (the de Lôme letter) that had been written by the Spanish minister at Washington, in which that incautious diplomat expressed contempt for McKinley. This was followed by the sinking of the U.S. battleship Maine in Havana harbor on Feb. 15, 1898, with a loss of 260 men. Although Spanish complicity was not proved, U.S. public opinion was aroused and war sentiment rose. The cause of the advocates of war was given further impetus as a result of eyewitness reports by members of the U.S. Congress on the effect of the reconcentrado policy in Cuba.

A Short and One-sided War

In late March, McKinley proposed to Spain an armistice in Cuba, but under pressure from expansionists both in and out of Congress, he was won to the war cause. Although on Apr. 10, 1898, McKinley was informed that the queen of Spain had ordered hostilities suspended, he barely referred to that fact when he addressed Congress on Apr. 11. He asked for authority to intervene in Cuba. Congress responded by passing resolutions to demand Spanish withdrawal from Cuba and set terms for U.S. intervention; these included the Teller Amendment, which pledged that the United States would withdraw from the island when independence was assured. On Apr. 22, Congress authorized the enlistment of volunteer troops, and a U.S. blockade of Spanish ports was instituted. On Apr. 24, Spain declared war on the United States. The next day Congress retorted by declaring war on Spain, retroactive to Apr. 21.

The warfare that commenced was short and very one-sided. The first dramatic incident occurred on the other side of the world from Cuba. On May 1 a U.S. squadron under George Dewey sailed into the harbor of Manila, Philippine Islands, and in a few hours thoroughly defeated the Spanish fleet there. Dewey's name was greeted across the United States with almost hysterical praise. On May 19, Admiral Pascual Cervera y Topete took the Spanish fleet into the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. Commodore W. S. Schley established (May 28) a blockade of the harbor, in which Rear Admiral W. I. Sampson joined, taking command of the blockading fleet on June 1. When the Spanish fleet attempted to escape on July 3, it was destroyed.

Meanwhile 17,000 more or less trained, poorly equipped but enthusiastic U.S. troops under W. R. Shafter landed and undertook a campaign to capture Santiago. The Spanish forces were weak, but there was some heavy fighting (July 1) at El Caney and San Juan Hill, where the Rough Riders , under Leonard Wood and Theodore Roosevelt , won their popular reputation. On July 17, Santiago surrendered. The war was, in effect, over. Troops sent under Nelson A. Miles to Puerto Rico were occupying that island when they received word that an armistice had been signed on Aug. 12. Dewey and Wesley Merritt led a successful land and sea assault and occupation of Manila on Aug. 13, after the armistice had been signed.

Results

Peace was arranged by the Treaty of Paris signed Dec. 10, 1898 (ratified by the U.S. Senate, Feb. 6, 1899). The Spanish Empire was practically dissolved. Cuba was freed, but under U.S. tutelage by terms of the Platt Amendment (see under Platt, Orville ), with Spain assuming the Cuban debt. Puerto Rico and Guam were ceded to the United States as indemnity, and the Philippines were surrendered to the United States for a payment of $20 million. The United States emerged from the war with new international power. In both Latin America and East Asia it had established an imperial foothold. The war tied the United States more closely to the course of events in those areas.

Bibliography

See A. T. Mahan, Lessons of the War with Spain (1900, repr. 1970); F. E. Chadwick, Relations of the United States and Spain: Diplomacy (1909, repr. 1968) and Relations of the United States and Spain: The Spanish-American War (1911, repr. 1968); W. Millis, The Martial Spirit (1931); J. W. Pratt, Expansionists of 1898 (1936, repr. 1959); F. B. Freidel, The Splendid Little War (1958); H. W. Morgan, America's Road to Empire (1965); I. Musicant, Empire by Default (1998); W. Zimmermann, First Great Triumph (2002).

Spanish-American War (1898) Conflict fought in the Caribbean and the Pacific, between Spain and the USA. The immediate cause was the sinking of the US battleship Maine at Havana. Fighting lasted ten weeks (April–July). The US Navy destroyed Spanish fleets in the Philippines and Cuba. Spanish troops in Cuba surrendered after defeat at San Juan Hill, where Theodore Roosevelt led the ‘Rough Riders’. The USA also seized Guam and Wake Island, annexed Hawaii and the Philippines. The Treaty of Paris forced Spain to cede Puerto Rico.

Spanish‐American War, an important episode in America's entry into world politics and abandonment of political isolation. The war's origins lay in Cuba's struggle for independence, which resumed in 1895, when the Cuban General Máximo Gómez adopted guerrilla tactics. Spanish General Valeriano (“Butcher”) Weyler ordered civilians into concentration camps, which caused much suffering and aroused U.S. public opinion. Spain's premier Mateo Práxedes Sagasta, responding to a proposal by President William McKinley, eventually accepted partial home rule, but the Cubans held out for independence. On 15 February 1898, the U.S. battleship Maine blew up in Havana harbor, killing 266 American sailors. Inflamed by a jingoistic press, the American public blamed Spain, forcing McKinley to demand Cuban independence. When Sagasta refused, Congress authorized armed intervention. It also enacted the Teller Amendment, forbidding the U.S. annexation of Cuba.

Neither Spain nor the United States had expected war, and both were unprepared. Spain had garrisons in Cuba and the Philippines, but minuscule naval strength. Although the United States had only 28,000 regular army troops, it possessed a well‐trained navy and quickly annexed Hawai'i to bolster its strategic position.

After mutual declarations of war, Admiral William Sampson blockaded Havana, where Spain's main forces were concentrated. On 1 May, Commodore George Dewey (1837–1917), commanding the U.S. Asiatic Squadron, entered Manila Bay and easily destroyed a weak Spanish squadron. This act stirred public enthusiasm, gave Dewey a base, and precluded Spanish raids on U.S. commerce. On 19 May a small Spanish squadron under Admiral Pascual Cervera arrived at Santiago de Cuba, where it was blockaded. A weak Spanish garrison of ten thousand protected the city. McKinley, ordering the regular army to Cuba along with a few volunteers, also secretly conveyed his war aims to Spain through Great Britain. They included Cuban independence, annexation of Puerto Rico and Guam, and acquisition of a port in the Philippines. Spain ignored this initiative, sending a naval expedition under Admiral Manuel de la Camara to relieve the Philippines.

On 14 June the Tenth Army Corps commanded by Major General William Shafter, seventeen thousand strong, landed in Cuba. On 1 July, Shafter launched an ill‐prepared attack on El Caney and the San Juan hills, guarding Santiago's eastern approach. The Tenth Corps routed some one thousand Spanish defenders after suffering significant losses. Instead of occupying Santiago, as intended, the exhausted attackers fortified the heights and besieged the city. Legends surrounding the mislabeled “Battle of San Juan Hill” contributed to the reputation of Theodore Roosevelt. Two days later Admiral Cervera sailed from the harbor, but the blockading vessels sank his entire command, with a heavy toll of Spanish lives.

An expedition led by Major General Nelson Miles invaded Puerto Rico on 25 July and raced toward San Juan. Meanwhile Major General Wesley Merritt, commanding troops sent to assist Dewey's operations in the Philippines, prepared to attack Manila. On 13 August, after a mock battle arranged by Dewey to avoid bloodshed and satisfy Spanish honor, the Spanish garrison capitulated.

After the disaster at Santiago, Premier Sagasta ordered Camara's expedition back to Spain, authorized Santiago's surrender, and began peace negotiations. On 12 August Spain suspended hostilities, granted Cuban independence, and ceded Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States. Disposition of the Philippines was left to a peace conference.

Most U.S. casualties in the Spanish‐American War were non‐combat related, but resulted from food poisoning, yellow fever, malaria, and other diseases. Despite segregation and racist abuses, several thousand African Americans fought with distinction in the conflict.

Amid widespread public enthusiasm for acquiring the Philippines, the hesitant McKinley, citing duty and destiny, ultimately decided on annexation. This provision was included in the Treaty of Paris, signed in December, which formally ended the war. The Senate gave its consent on 6 February 1899, two days after Filipinos under Emilio Aguinaldo (1870–1964) seeking independence, attacked the U.S. garrison at Manila, beginning a long insurgency.

The U.S. army governed Cuba until 1902, when it withdrew under the terms of the Platt Amendment (1901). This measure passed by Congress asserted a U.S. right to future intervention in Cuba, restricted Cuba's treatymaking powers, and provided for a U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay. Meanwhile the Filipino insurrection continued until 1902. Of some 125,000 U.S. troops who fought in the Philippines, around 4,000 were killed. An estimated 20,000 Filipino independence fighters died, and civilian casualties were heavy as well. A U.S. Senate committee in 1902 heard testimony of burned villages and Filipino prisoners killed or tortured.

The war that began as a humanitarian crusade on behalf of Cuban independence fostered an imperial spirit that brought the United States a small empire. In the war's aftermath, the Anti‐imperialist League formed, and Americans debated the relationship between republicanism and empire. Subsequent historians have seen America's involvement in the war as stemming, variously, from the sensationalism of tabloid journalism, the quest for markets, the need for naval coaling stations, a new spirit of aggressive nationalism, and a fear of being left behind in the race for empire.
See also Expansionism; Foreign Relations: U.S. Relations with Asia; Foreign Relations: U.S. Relations with Latin America; Hearst, William Randolph; Journalism; Protectorates and Dependencies; Pulitzer, Joseph.

Bibliography

Ernest R. May , Imperial Democracy: The Emergence of America as a Great Power, 1961.
Graham A. Cosmas , An Army for Empire: The United States Army in the Spanish‐American War, 1971.
David F. Trask , The War with Spain in 1898, 1981.
John L. Offner , An Unwanted War: The Diplomacy of the United States and Spain over Cuba, 1895–1898, 1992.
Joseph Smith , The Spanish‐American War, 1994.

David F. Trask