Spanish–American War[b]
Part of the decolonization of the Americas, the Cuban War of Independence, and the Philippine Revolution
(clockwise from top left) Signal Corps extending telegraph lines USS Iowa at the Victory Fleet Review in August 1898 in New York Harbor Filipino soldiers wearing Spanish pith helmets outside Manila The Spanish signing the Treaty of Paris Roosevelt and his Rough Riders at San Juan Hill Replacing of the Spanish flag at Fort San Antonio Abad (Fort Malate)
Date April 21[c] – December 10, 1898 (7 months, 2 weeks and 5 days) Location Cuba and Puerto Rico (Caribbean Sea) Guam and the Philippines (Philippine Sea) Result American and allied victory Treaty of Paris of 1898 Founding of the First Philippine Republic and beginning of the Philippine–American War Spain sells to Germany its last colonies in the Pacific in 1899 End of the Spanish Empire in the Americas and Asia. Territorial changes Spain relinquishes sovereignty over Cuba; cedes Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines to the United States. $20 million paid to Spain by the United States for infrastructure owned by Spain.
Belligerents
United States Cuban Revolutionaries[a] Philippine Revolutionaries[a] Dictatorial Government of the Philippines (May-June) Revolutionary Government of the Philippines (from June)	Spanish Empire Captaincy General of Cuba Captaincy General of the Philippines Captaincy General of Puerto Rico
Commanders and leaders
William McKinley Russell A. Alger John Davis Long Luther Hare Nelson Miles Theodore Roosevelt William Shafter Fitzhugh Lee George Dewey William Sampson Wesley Merritt Joseph Wheeler Charles Sigsbee Máximo Gómez Calixto García Demetrio Duany Emilio Aguinaldo Apolinario Mabini Baldomero Aguinaldo Antonio Luna	Alfonso XIII Práxedes Mateo Sagasta Patricio Montojo Pascual Cervera Arsenio Linares Manuel de la Cámara Manuel Macías Ramón Blanco Antero Rubín Arsenio Martínez Valeriano Weyler José Toral Basilio Augustín Fermín Jáudenes Diego de los Ríos
Strength
Total: 300,000[4] 72,339[5][failed verification] 53,000[d] 40,000[7]	Total: 339,783 (only 20–25 percent of the army capable of field operations)[8] 288,452 (Caribbean) 278,447 in Cuba (only 2,820 engaged in major land battles)[9] 10,005 in Puerto Rico 51,331 (Philippines)
Casualties and losses
Total: 4,119 American: 2,446 dead 369 soldiers killed[9] 10 sailors killed[9] 6 Marines killed[9] 2,061 dead from disease[9][10] 1,662 wounded[10] 11 captured[11] 1 cargo ship sunk[12] 1 cruiser damaged[9]	Total: 56,400–56,600 Spanish: 15,700–15,800 dead 200 soldiers killed[13] 500–600 sailors killed[13][e] 15,000 dead from disease[14] 700–800 wounded[13] 40,000+ captured[9][f] 6 small ships sunk[9] 11 cruisers sunk[9] 2 destroyers sunk[9]

The Spanish–American War^[b] (April 21 – December 10, 1898) began in the aftermath of the internal explosion of USS Maine in Havana Harbor in Cuba, leading to United States intervention in the Cuban War of Independence. The war led to the United States emerging predominant in the Caribbean region,^[15] and resulted in U.S. acquisition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. It also led to United States involvement in the Philippine Revolution and later to the Philippine–American War.

The 19th century represented a clear decline for the Spanish Empire, while the United States went from becoming a newly founded country to becoming a rising power. Spain's descent had begun in previous centuries, and accelerated during the Napoleonic invasion, which in turn triggered the independence of a large part of the American colonies.^[16] Later political instability, including declarations of independence, revolutions, and civil wars, cost the country socially and economically. The U.S., on the other hand, expanded economically throughout that century by purchasing territories such as Louisiana and Alaska, militarily by actions such as the Mexican–American War, and by receiving large numbers of European immigrants. That process was interrupted only for a few years by the American Civil War and Reconstruction era.^[17]

The main issue was Cuban independence. Revolts had been occurring for some years in Cuba against Spanish colonial rule. The United States backed these revolts upon entering the Spanish–American War. There had been war scares before, as in the Virginius Affair in 1873. But in the late 1890s, American public opinion swayed in support of the rebellion because of reports of concentration camps set up to control the populace.^[18][19] Yellow journalism exaggerated the atrocities to further increase public fervor and to sell more newspapers and magazines.^[20]

The business community had just recovered from a deep depression and feared that a war would reverse the gains. Accordingly, most business interests lobbied vigorously against going to war.^[21] President William McKinley ignored the exaggerated news reporting and sought a peaceful settlement.^[22] Though not seeking a war, McKinley made preparations in readiness for one. He unsuccessfully sought accommodation with Spain on the issue of independence for Cuba.^[23] However, after the U.S. Navy armored cruiser Maine mysteriously exploded and sank in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, political pressures pushed McKinley into a war that he had wished to avoid.^[24]

As far as Spain was concerned, there was a nationalist agitation, in which the written press had a key influence, causing the Spanish government to not give in and abandon Cuba as it had abandoned Spanish Florida when faced with a troublesome colonial situation there, transferring it to the U.S. in 1821 in exchange for payment of Spanish debts.^[25] If the Spanish government had transferred Cuba it would have been seen as a betrayal by a part of Spanish society and there would probably have been a new revolution.^[26] So, the government preferred to wage a war lost beforehand in order to preserve the Restoration regime, thereby opting for a "controlled demolition" rather than risking a revolution.^[27]

On April 20, 1898, McKinley signed a joint Congressional resolution demanding Spanish withdrawal and authorizing the President to use military force to help Cuba gain independence.^[28] In response, Spain severed diplomatic relations with the United States on April 21. On the same day, the United States Navy began a blockade of Cuba.^[29] Both sides declared war; neither had allies.

The war was fought in both the Caribbean and the Pacific. American war advocates correctly anticipated that the United States' naval power would prove decisive, allowing expeditionary forces to disembark in Cuba against a Spanish garrison already facing nationwide Cuban insurgent attacks and further devastated by yellow fever.^[30][31] The invaders obtained the surrender of Santiago de Cuba and Manila despite the good performance of some Spanish infantry units, and fierce fighting for positions such as El Caney and San Juan Hill.^[32] Madrid sued for peace after two Spanish squadrons were sunk in the battles of Santiago de Cuba and Manila Bay, and a third, more modern fleet was recalled home to protect the Spanish coasts.^[33]

The war ended with the 1898 Treaty of Paris, negotiated on terms favorable to the United States. The treaty ceded ownership of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines from Spain to the United States and granted the United States temporary control of Cuba. The cession of the Philippines involved payment of $20 million ($730 million today) to Spain by the U.S. to cover infrastructure owned by Spain.^[34]

The Spanish–American War brought an end to almost four centuries of Spanish presence in the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific. The defeat and loss of the Spanish Empire's last remnants was a profound shock to Spain's national psyche and provoked a thorough philosophical and artistic reevaluation of Spanish society known as the Generation of '98.^[33] The United States meanwhile not only became a major power, but also gained several island possessions spanning the globe, which provoked rancorous debate over the wisdom of expansionism.^[35]

Historical background

Spain's attitude towards its colonies

The combined problems arising from the Peninsular War (1807–1814), the loss of most of its colonies in the Americas in the early 19th-century Spanish American wars of independence, and three Carlist Wars (1832–1876) marked a low point for Spanish colonialism.^[36] Liberal Spanish elites like Antonio Cánovas del Castillo and Emilio Castelar offered new interpretations of the concept of "empire" to dovetail with the emerging Spanish nationalism. Cánovas made clear in an address to the University of Madrid in 1882^[37][38] his view of the Spanish nation as based on shared cultural and linguistic elements—on both sides of the Atlantic—that tied Spain's territories together.

Cánovas saw Spanish colonialism as more "benevolent" than that of other European colonial powers. The prevalent opinion in Spain before the war regarded the spreading of "civilization" and Christianity as Spain's main objective and contribution to the New World. The concept of cultural unity bestowed special significance on Cuba, which had been Spanish for almost four hundred years, and was viewed as an integral part of the Spanish nation. The focus on preserving the empire would have negative consequences for Spain's national pride in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War.^[39]

American interest in the Caribbean

In 1823, the fifth American President James Monroe (1758–1831, served 1817–25) enunciated the Monroe Doctrine, which stated that the United States would not tolerate further efforts by European governments to retake or expand their colonial holdings in the Americas or to interfere with the newly independent states in the hemisphere. The U.S. would, however, respect the status of the existing European colonies. Before the American Civil War (1861–1865), Southern interests attempted to have the United States purchase Cuba and convert it into a new slave state. The pro-slavery element proposed the Ostend Manifesto of 1854. Anti-slavery forces rejected it.

After the American Civil War and Cuba's Ten Years' War, U.S. businessmen began monopolizing the devalued sugar markets in Cuba. In 1894, 90% of Cuba's total exports went to the United States, which also provided 40% of Cuba's imports.^[40] Cuba's total exports to the U.S. were almost twelve times larger than the export to Spain.^[41] U.S. business interests indicated that while Spain still held political authority over Cuba, it was the U.S. that held economic power over Cuba.

The U.S. became interested in a trans-isthmus canal in either Nicaragua or Panama and realized the need for naval protection. Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan was an exceptionally influential theorist; his ideas were much admired by future 26th President Theodore Roosevelt, as the U.S. rapidly built a powerful naval fleet of steel warships in the 1880s and 1890s. Roosevelt served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1897 to 1898 and was an aggressive supporter of an American war with Spain over Cuban interests.

Meanwhile, the "Cuba Libre" movement, led by Cuban intellectual José Martí until he died in 1895, had established offices in Florida.^[42] The face of the Cuban revolution in the U.S. was the "Cuban Junta", under the leadership of Tomás Estrada Palma, who in 1902 became Cuba's first president. The Junta dealt with leading newspapers and Washington officials and held fund-raising events across the U.S. It funded and smuggled weapons. It mounted an extensive propaganda campaign that generated enormous popular support in the U.S. in favor of the Cubans. Protestant churches and most Democrats were supportive, but business interests called on Washington to negotiate a settlement and avoid war.^[43]

Cuba attracted enormous American attention, but almost no discussion involved the other Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico, also in the Caribbean, or of the Philippines or Guam.^[44] Historians note that there was no popular demand in the United States for an overseas colonial empire.^[45]

Path to war

Cuban struggle for independence

The first serious bid for Cuban independence, the Ten Years' War, erupted in 1868 and was subdued by the authorities a decade later. Neither the fighting nor the reforms in the Pact of Zanjón (February 1878) quelled the desire of some revolutionaries for wider autonomy and, ultimately, independence. One such revolutionary, José Martí, continued to promote Cuban financial and political freedom in exile. In early 1895, after years of organizing, Martí launched a three-pronged invasion of the island.^[46]

The plan called for one group from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic led by Máximo Gómez, one group from Costa Rica led by Antonio Maceo Grajales, and another from the United States (preemptively thwarted by U.S. officials in Florida) to land in different places on the island and provoke an uprising. While their call for revolution, the grito de Baire, was successful, the result was not the grand show of force Martí had expected. With a quick victory effectively lost, the revolutionaries settled in to fight a protracted guerrilla campaign.^[46]

Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, the architect of Spain's Restoration constitution and the prime minister at the time, ordered General Arsenio Martínez-Campos, a distinguished veteran of the war against the previous uprising in Cuba, to quell the revolt. Campos's reluctance to accept his new assignment and his method of containing the revolt to the province of Oriente earned him criticism in the Spanish press.^[47] The mounting pressure forced Cánovas to replace General Campos with General Valeriano Weyler, a soldier who had experience in quelling rebellions in overseas provinces and the Spanish metropole. Weyler deprived the insurgency of weaponry, supplies, and assistance by ordering the residents of some Cuban districts to move to reconcentration areas near the military headquarters.^[47] This strategy was effective in slowing the spread of rebellion. In the United States, this fueled the fire of anti-Spanish propaganda.^[48] In a political speech, President William McKinley used this to ram Spanish actions against armed rebels. He even said this "was not civilized warfare" but "extermination".^[49][50]

Spanish attitude

Spain depended on Cuba for prestige and trade, and used it as a training ground for its army. Spanish Prime Minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo announced that "the Spanish nation is disposed to sacrifice to the last peseta of its treasure and to the last drop of blood of the last Spaniard before consenting that anyone snatch from it even one piece of its territory".^[51] He had long dominated and stabilized Spanish politics. He was assassinated in 1897 by Italian anarchist Michele Angiolillo,^[52] leaving a Spanish political system that was not stable and could not risk a blow to its prestige.^[53]

US response

The eruption of the Cuban revolt, Weyler's measures, and the popular fury these events whipped up proved to be a boon to the newspaper industry in New York City. Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World and William Randolph Hearst of the New York Journal recognized the potential for great headlines and stories that would sell copies. Both papers denounced Spain but had little influence outside New York. American opinion generally saw Spain as a hopelessly backward power that was unable to deal fairly with Cuba. American Catholics were divided before the war began but supported it enthusiastically once it started.^[54][55]

The U.S. had important economic interests that were being harmed by the prolonged conflict and deepening uncertainty about Cuba's future. Shipping firms that had relied heavily on trade with Cuba now suffered losses as the conflict continued unresolved.^[56] These firms pressed Congress and McKinley to seek an end to the revolt. Other American business concerns, specifically those who had invested in Cuban sugar, looked to the Spanish to restore order.^[57] Stability, not war, was the goal of both interests. How stability would be achieved would depend largely on the ability of Spain and the U.S. to work out their issues diplomatically.

Lieutenant Commander Charles Train, in 1894, in his preparatory notes in an outlook of an armed conflict between Spain and the United States, wrote that Cuba was solely dependent on the trade activities that Spain was carrying out and that it would mean Spain would use their "entire forces" to defend it.^[58]

While tension increased among the Cubans and Spanish government, popular support of intervention began to spring up in the United States. Many Americans likened the Cuban revolt to the American Revolution, and they viewed the Spanish government as a tyrannical oppressor. Historian Louis Pérez notes that "The proposition of war in behalf of Cuban independence took hold immediately and held on thereafter. Such was the sense of the public mood." Many poems and songs were written in the United States to express support of the "Cuba Libre" movement.^[59] At the same time, many African Americans, facing growing racial discrimination and increasing retardation of their civil rights, wanted to take part in the war. They saw it as a way to advance the cause of equality, service to country hopefully helping to gain political and public respect amongst the wider population.^[60]

President McKinley, well aware of the political complexity surrounding the conflict, wanted to end the revolt peacefully. He began to negotiate with the Spanish government, hoping that the talks would dampen yellow journalism in the United States and soften support for war with Spain. An attempt was made to negotiate a peace before McKinley took office. However, the Spanish refused to take part in the negotiations. In 1897 McKinley appointed Stewart L. Woodford as the new minister to Spain, who again offered to negotiate a peace. In October 1897, the Spanish government refused the United States' offer to negotiate between the Spanish and the Cubans, but promised the U.S. it would give the Cubans more autonomy.^[61] However, with the election of a more liberal Spanish government in November, Spain began to change its policies in Cuba. First, the new Spanish government told the United States that it was willing to offer a change in the Reconcentration policies if the Cuban rebels agreed to a cessation of hostilities. This time the rebels refused the terms in hopes that continued conflict would lead to U.S. intervention and the creation of an independent Cuba.^[61] The liberal Spanish government also recalled the Spanish Governor-General Valeriano Weyler from Cuba. This action alarmed many Cubans loyal to Spain.^[62] Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Spanish–American_War
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