Spanish-American War

The Spanish-American War, fought in 1898, ended Spain's four-century-old empire in the Americas and the Pacific and marked the arrival of the United States as an overseas colonial power. In a conflict lasting only a few months, the U.S. defeated Spain, Cuba moved toward independence under American supervision, and Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines passed to American control. The dates given here, 1898 to 1902, also take in the occupation of Cuba and the Philippine-American War, which followed the fighting with Spain.

The background lay in Cuba, where rebels had been fighting Spanish rule since 1895, following an earlier independence struggle in the 1868-1878 period. Spain's harsh countermeasures, including the forced relocation of rural civilians into fortified zones, caused heavy civilian deaths and drew wide attention in the American press. Sympathy for the rebels, commercial interests on the island, and a growing belief in American naval and strategic power all increased pressure on President William McKinley. In February 1898 the battleship USS Maine exploded in Havana harbor, killing hundreds of American sailors. The cause was never settled to everyone's satisfaction, though most later analyses favored an internal accident over a Spanish mine. At the time, many Americans blamed Spain.

Congress declared war in April 1898, and included the Teller Amendment, which disclaimed any American intention to annex Cuba. The first major blow came in the Philippines, where Commodore George Dewey's squadron destroyed the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay at the start of May. In Cuba, U.S. troops, including the volunteer cavalry known as the Rough Riders, fought around Santiago, and the Spanish fleet was destroyed as it tried to escape the harbor. Disease, especially yellow fever and typhoid, killed far more American soldiers than combat did. Spain sought peace, and an armistice came in August.

The Treaty of Paris, signed in December 1898, gave Spain's recognition to Cuban independence and ceded Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States. Spain also transferred the Philippines in return for a payment of 20 million dollars. The treaty was ratified by the Senate after a sharp debate between expansionists and anti-imperialists, who argued that annexation contradicted American founding principles.

The consequences were lasting. Filipino nationalists, who had been fighting Spain and had declared their own republic, resisted American rule, leading to a brutal war that officially ended in 1902 and cost many Filipino civilian lives; estimates vary widely. Cuba became nominally independent in 1902, but the Platt Amendment gave the United States a right to intervene and a naval base at Guantánamo Bay. In Spain, the defeat prompted a period of national soul-searching known as the "Disaster of 1898." For the United States, the war opened a new era of involvement in the Caribbean and Asia.