The Spanish-American War“A Splendid Little War” April-August (December) 1898

Causes• Cuban desire for

independence• Jose Marti

• Valeriano “Butcher” Weyler sent to Cuba (1896)• Cuban towns turned into

concentration camps (300,000)

• Yellow Journalism (Pulitzer and Hearst)

• De Lome Letter

Spark• USS Maine explosion (Feb. 15, 1898)• 260 killed

• It’s on

Strategy•Americans• Ignore Spanish

agreements for peace• Attack Spanish Imperial

holdings• Eliminate Spain as world

power• Weaken Spain’s morale• Philippines• Guam

• Naval victories (blockades)

Strategy•Spain• Weather and terrain• Surrender (didn’t work for a long

time)

Major/Turning Point Battles• Manila (8 American

wounded; 361 Spanish dead)

• Guam• San Juan Hill (200

killed; 1200 wounded)

• Puerto Rico (450 Spanish dead; 4 American deaths)

Heroes and Goats•Americans• William McKinley• George Dewey• Rough Riders• 9th and 10th cavalries• Theodore Roosevelt• Joseph Pulitzer• William Randolph Hearst

Heroes and Goats•Spanish• Weather• Valeriano Weyler• Pascual Cervera

• Daring escape - failed

•Cubans• Jose Marti

Cost ($ and Lives)•Americans• 2500 dead (380 in battle)• Approximately 2200 from disease and

poisoned meat• 1700 wounded• Between $250 and $400 million (current

$6 billion)

•Spanish• More dead than U.S.• All Imperial holdings

Treaty• Treaty of Paris (1898)• Officially signed in

December though cease-fire signed in August

• Terms• Cuba independent• U.S. gets Guam and

Puerto Rico• U.S. buys Philippines for

$20 million

Non-Treaty Results/Long Term Significance

• Unifies North and South (first war since Civil War)

• Angers anti-Imperialists

• Philippines• McKinley wanted to

“educate Filipinos and uplift and Christianize them”

• World Police