Spanish–American War

The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States.[6] Revolts against Spanish rule had been endemic for decades in Cuba and were closely watched by Americans; there had been war scares before, as in the Virginius Affair in 1873. By 1897–98 American public opinion grew angrier at reports of Spanish atrocities, magnified by the "yellow journalism". After the mysterious sinking of the American battleship Maine in Havana harbor, political pressures from the Democratic Party pushed the government headed by President William McKinley, a Republican, into a war McKinley had wished to avoid.[7] Compromise proved impossible, resulting in an ultimatum sent to Madrid, which was not accepted.[8] First Madrid, then Washington, formally declared war.
In 1823, the Monroe Doctrine stated that further efforts by European governments to colonize land or interfere with states in the Americas would not be accepted by the U.S., but Spain's colony in Cuba was exempted. In 1890 Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan wrote “The Influence of Sea Power upon History,” which credits the rise of Britain to world power to the Royal Navy. Mahan’s ideas on projecting strength through a strong navy had a powerful worldwide influence. Theodore Roosevelt, later Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President McKinley and an aggressive supporter of a war with Spain over Cuba, was also strongly influenced by Mahan’s conclusions. Americans had long been interested in Cuba (and Hawaii), since several U.S. presidents offered to purchase it from Spain (James Polk, Franklin Pierce and Ulysses S. Grant), and others expressed their hopes of future annexation.[14] However, there was still very little attention paid to the Philippines, Guam or Puerto Rico.[15]


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