The Spanish-American War A Splendid Little War

Background on the Cuban Revolution It all started with Jose Marti, who had been exiled by the Spanish and was living in New York. He returns to Cuba to try and help his people kick the Spanish off their island. One plan that he and the rebels employ is to deliberately destroy property, trying to make Cuba less desirable for the Spanish

The USS Maine Blows Up At 9:40pm on February 15, 1898, the battleship U.S.S. Maine exploded in Havana Harbor 268 men were killed, shocking the American population What or who caused this explosion?

William McKinley He had wanted to avoid war in Cuba, but the vast majority of the American public supported it. The USS Maine’s explosion, and the Yellow Journalism articles that blamed the Spanish, left him no choice but to declare war on Spain. He asks Congress to declare war in April.

Spain’s response The Spanish send General Valeriano Wyler to restore order to Cuba. He herded the entire population of central and western Cuba into concentration camps, around 300,000 people. Thousands die of hunger and disease.

Yellow Journalism’s role The Yellow Press seizes on this opportunity to make sensational stories about “The Butcher Weyler They write stories about children being thrown to sharks, and of the Spanish poisoning the wells of the Cuban people.

The De Lome letter De Lome was the Spanish minister to the United States. He wrote a letter that was very critical of President McKinley, calling him “weak.” The letter is stolen by Cuban rebels, and leaked to the Yellow Press. This makes McKinley look like a fool to the American people

Then the dang Maine blows up….. At 9:40pm on February 15, 1898, the battleship U.S.S. Maine exploded in Havana Harbor 268 men were killed, shocking the American population What or who caused this explosion? ?

He’s got no choice… He had wanted to avoid war in Cuba, but the vast majority of the American public supported it. The USS Maine’s explosion, and the Yellow Journalism articles that blamed the Spanish, left him no choice but to declare war on Spain. He asks Congress to declare war in April.

Our first attack… Rather than attack Cuba right away, our first attack is on the Philippines, all the way on the other side of the world. On April 30 the American Pacific Fleet sailed into Manila and fired on the capital city. They sunk every Spanish ship in just a few hours. By August the had completely kicked the Spanish out.

The War in the Caribbean. Our Army was not exactly stellar during this time. It had a small full time force, and relied heavily on volunteers, 120,000 of which showed up for training for this war. We didn’t have enough supplies for them, not everyone got a gun, and the Officers were mostly Civil War vets who spent most of their time talking about how great the Civil War had been.

We still win, though We land in Cuba in June. The Army included the “Rough Riders” led by Teddy Roosevelt. He had been Secretary of the Navy, but he quit so that he could volunteer and fight. B.A.

Most famous battle… It occurred on two different hills, but the battle came to be known as San Juan Hill Teddy led the Rough Riders up the hill himself and America kicked those Spanish off that hill!

Wars done. We sign an Armistice on August 12, and the Treaty of Paris on December 10. We got Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. Spain agreed to leave Cuba.

Debate Not everyone was all cool with this war though. Many pointed out that taking over foreign lands seemed to contradict our Declaration of Independence. Booker T. Washington said we should take care of race relations at home before we get into foreign problems Samuel Gompers was afraid Filipino immigrants would flock to American cities and take jobs away from Amuricans.