By the late 19th-century the Spanish empire, which had once been the world’s richest and most extensive, was on its last legs. It had lost most of its colonies in North and South America and was facing rebellions in the two largest territories to which it clung: Cuba and the Philippines. Moreover, in trying to suppress those uprisings, Spain committed a number of atrocities that had given the country a reputation for brutality, which colonial refugees living in exile had done much to bring to the attention of journalists.
This was particularly the case in the United States where an active Cuban diaspora, led by José Marti, was bent on inciting the American government to intervene, a step supported by businessmen with investments in the sugar trade and politicians like Theodore Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy. The call for war was amplified by the so-called “yellow press,” newspaper chains which realized that American military campaigns sold papers.
President William McKinley was negotiating with Spain in an attempt to persuade Madrid to soften its stand. In order to make his point and protect American citizens in Cuba, McKinley dispatched the USS Maine, an obsolete battle cruiser, to the area. On Feb. 15, 1898, the ship exploded in Havana Harbor, killing 261 sailors and marines. While the tragedy was originally blamed on an accidental fire in the vessel’s coal bunkers, headlines in the yellow press screamed that the Maine had been sabotaged by the Spanish. The day after the explosion, before any real investigation had been carried out, the Washington Evening Times trumpeted:
“BLOWN UP BY SPAIN
Every Evidence That the Maine Was Torpedoed.
Two Hundred and Fifty American Sailors the Food of Sharks.”
A war fever seized the American public, which most politicians found impossible to resist. Reluctantly, on April 20 McKinley issued an ultimatum to Spain and began a naval blockade around Cuba, to which Spain responded by declaring war on the USA. It was a conflict that would end disastrously for the Spanish.
In the Philippines, the American Asiatic Squadron under Admiral Dewey confronted the Spanish Pacific Squadron in Manila Bay. “You may fire when ready, Gridley,” was Dewey’s command to the captain of his flagship, and in short order the outgunned Spanish ships were blown out of the water or forced to scuttle themselves. Dewey had brought along Emilio Aguinaldo, a Filipino patriot who rallied his fellow countrymen in a guerilla campaign against Spanish troops, within months driving them out of many of the island provinces.
By June 1898, American troops, including a voluntary cavalry unit dubbed the “Rough Riders” led by Theodore Roosevelt, had landed in Cuba, joining local rebels in engaging Spanish army units. Spanish resistance was heavy and inflicted many casualties on the invaders, but most deadly was disease: typhoid and yellow fever killed thousands on both sides of the conflict.
Gradually, Spanish resistance was worn down and the government in Madrid was forced to concede defeat. Hostilities ceased in August; in December a peace treaty was signed, giving the United States the control of the Philippines, Cuba, the island of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean, and the island of Guam in the Pacific.
Any thoughts that rebels in Cuba, Puerto Rico, or the Philippines might have had that the end of Spanish domination would mean independence was soon dispelled by American actions. Washington, fearing that the Filipinos were not ready for self-rule and that the archipelago might fall under control of another power, refused to recognize Aguinaldo’s declaration of a free Philippine republic. A nasty war broke out between American troops and Filipino insurgents which lasted until 1902 and caused hundreds of thousands of casualties from battle, starvation, and disease before American sovereignty was recognized.
Cuba was accorded the appearance of republican government under an unofficial American protectorate. The United States declared that it had the right to intervene militarily in case of a foreign threat, that Cuba could sign no treaties with other nations, and that Cuba must sign over a portion of its territory in perpetuity for an American military base.
Puerto Rico was given an anomalous status as an “unincorporated territory” with an American-appointed governor and upper house. Puerto Ricans were not given American citizenship but they could vote for members of a lower chamber. American control of the island’s economy was almost complete.
Thanks to the Spanish-American War, the United States of America was now, beyond doubt, an imperial power.
