2. Spanish-American War
Mr. Mize

3. Choices Unit Reading “Bitter Fruit”

4. Imperialism
By 1914, European countries had seized control of almost all of Africa and Southeast Asia.

5. Reasons for Imperialism:
Reasons for Imperialism
1. ECONOMICS – European countries wanted raw materials and consumers for their products
2. 2) DUTY – many Europeans believed that it was their duty to spread Christianity and culture to other “backward” people.
Example: “White Man’s Burden”, poem by Rudyard Kipling
3. COMPETITION – European countries wanted to take over an area before their competitors were able to.

6. Reasons for Imperialism
Captain Alfred Mahan believed the following:
Future prosperity depended on foreign trade.
The U.S. needed a large navy in order to protect trading vessels.
The U.S. needed to acquire naval bases throughout the world.
As a result, the U.S. had a large, powerful navy by the late 1890’s known as the Great White Fleet.

7. Hawaii Strategic importance of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean.
In 1875, Hawaii agreed to give the U.S. control of the seaport Pearl Harbor.
U.S. Marines forced Queen Liliuokalani to surrender Hawaii at gunpoint in 1893.

8. Cuba Just like Hawaii, Cuba was very important to the U.S.
Had natural resources
Tobacco
Cotton
Sugar
This made Cuba very wealthy
Which is why Spain controlled it

9. Cuba Controlled by Spain
Spain was largest empire in Western Hemisphere
Was losing power
More countries were breaking away
This cost Spain a lot of money
Ruled by Queen Regent, Maria Christina

10. Cuba Cuba tried to win independence from Spain…twice.
The second time, Queen Maria wanted to teach Cuba a lesson
She sent General Weyler
AKA Butcher Weyler

11. Cuba
General Weyler
Spanish governor of Cuba
Used brutal tactics against the Cubans.
Responsible for detaining over 500,000 Cubans and killing over 100,000.
Americans sympathized with the Cuban desire for freedom.

12. Yellow Journalism
Exaggerated media that contains little actual fact or research
Joseph Pulitzer’s World and William Randolph Hearst’s Journal competed to publish the most grisly stories of Spanish cruelty.
Did this to sell more newspapers
Saw war as a way of making more money
“You supply the pictures, I’ll supply the war.” Hearst

13. Yellow Journalism
Heart and Pulitzer created stories of a weak Cuba being brutalized by a bullying Spain.
This convinced Americans that they were responsible for helping Cuba gain independence