Spanish-American War The Spanish American War is a highly overlooked war in history but is a very important piece in what shaped today’s world. The Spanish-American War of 1898 ended Spain’s rule on the western hemisphere and Spanish colonial rule in the Americas. The Spanish–American War was a strife in 1898 between Spain and the United States, the result of U.S. intervention in the Cuban War of Independence. U.S. attacks on Spain 's possessions in the Pacific led to involvement in the Philippine Revolution and ultimately to the Philippine–American War. It led to the U.S gaining territories in the western Pacific and Latin America, peace treaty that made the Spanish give up rule in Cuba, and to give rights over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the to annex the Philippines was not without controversy and disagreement. You had those Americans who advocated annexation due to a variety of reasons the potential commercial and economic opportunities in Asia, worry that the Filipinos were incapable of self-rule, and fear that if the United States did not take control of the islands, another power (such as Germany or Japan) might do so. Meanwhile, you also had Americans opposition to U.S. colonial rule of the Philippines because you had those who thought it morally wrong for the United States to be engaged in colonialism, they also feared that annexation might eventually permit the non-white Filipinos to have a role in American
The early clashes between the two sides in 1899 boiled into an all-out war when it became clear that the U.S. was serious and wasn’t going to relent on imposing American colonial control. There were two phases to the Philippine-American War. The first phase, from February to November of 1899, was dominated by Aguinaldo’s attempts to fight a conventional war, his troops didn’t stand a chance against the better-trained and equipped American troops. The second phase was marked by the Filipinos’ shift to guerrilla-style warfare. The strategy and tactics of guerrilla warfare tend to focus around the use of a small, mobile force competing against a larger foe. This tactic focuses on organizing in small units, depending on the support of the local population, as well as taking advantage of terrain more accommodating of small units. It began in November of 1899, lasted through the capture of Aguinaldo in 1901 and into the spring of 1902, by which time most real and dangerous Filipino resistances had dissipated. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed a general amnesty and declared the conflict over on July 4, 1902, although minor uprisings here and there and some insurrections against American rule occasionally occurred in the years that
Dear fellow senators: Yesterday, February 6, 1899 was a big day in United States history; we decided as a nation to annex the Philippines. The Philippines is an island country in Southeast Asia, and was independent until 1565 when the Spanish colonized the islands. I have one question for you, my fellow senators, should the U.S. have annexed the Philippines? The United States should have annexed the Philippines for three reasons: our duty to spread the values of democracy overseas, the Filipinos natural inability to govern themselves, and saving the Philippines from the tyranny of Spain or other European countries. The first reason the United States should have annexed the Philippines is because it is our duty as a country to spread the values of democracy overseas.
The Spanish American war had a complex beginning. By the 1890’s, Cuba had unsuccessfully battled Spain for its independence for many years. Due to the US’s economic interests in Cuba, the US government sought to stabilize the situation. The United States and Cuba negotiated an agreement that Cuba would become self-governing on January 1, 1898. But
In my opinion The United States ordeal with Annexing the Philippines and the idea that we had of going into war with them was great mistake and should have been avoided. The Filipinos and Americans were deadlocked in war with each other. This all became a controversy with the two nations in 1898 when the Treaty of Paris between Spain and the United Stated ceded all seven thousand islands of the Philippine archipelago to the United States, for just a mere twenty-million dollars. Congress had approved the treaty with Spain, by February of 1899. Mckinley was on the verge of calling for the annexation of the Philippines which brought on a bloody two year struggle. In my opinion the United States was the cause of all of this because of three different reasons, for one our government would not...
For four hundred years Spain ruled over an immense and profitable global empire that included islands in the Caribbean, Americas, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. After the Napoleonic Wars (1808-1815) many of Spain’s colonies followed the US’s lead, fighting and winning their independence. These revolts, coupled with other nations chipping away at Spain’s interests, dwindled Spain’s former Empire. By 1860, only Cuba and Puerto Rico were what remained of Spain’s former Empire. Following the lead of other former Spanish colonies, Cuban fighters started their campaign for independence, known as the Ten year war (1868-1878). This war developed into a Cuban insurgency which fought a guerilla war against the Spanish occupation.2
United States of America. U.S. Department of State. Office of the Historian. The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2014
... Americans built roads, schools, bridges, and sewers. Filipino self- rule had gradually increased and finally declared their independence on July 4, 1946. However, compared to Cuba and Puerto Rico, American rule has a lesser impact on the Philippine economy. The United States invaded Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines not to gain wealth, but for the purpose of getting trades.
towards Spain on April 25, 1898. On the day war was declared, Spain issued that the United States add the Teller Amendment, which declared, "the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty..." (Teller Amendment). The actual fighting began on May 1, in the Philippines Islands at the Battle of Manila Bay where Commodore George Dewey reportedly said, "You may fire when ready, Gridley," and the Spanish fleet under Rear Admiral Patricio Montojo was
The United States decision to annex the Philippines was extremely controversial and hypocritical. First of all it was extremely expensive for the united states to buy the country. The resources that were available were plentiful, but not worth 20 million at the time, and rather than buy the country the U.S should have set up ports and planned for regulated trade with the Philippines. This would have benefitted both countries, the Philippines would be independent and the U.S would have an abundance of resources close by. The United States had enough to fix within their own country that the money could have funded.
The Spanish-American War was the brief conflict that the United States waged against Spain in 1898. The war had grown out of the Cuban struggle for independence, and whose other causes included American imperialism and the sinking of the U.S warship Maine. The actual hostilities in the war lasted four months, from April 25 to August 12, 1898. Most of the fighting occurred in or near the Spanish colonial possessions of Cuba and the Philippines, nearly halfway around the world form each other. In both battlegrounds, the decisive military event was the complete destruction of a Spanish naval squadron by a vastly superior U.S. fleet. These victories, after brief resistance, brought about the surrender of the Spanish to U.S. military forces as indicated by a peace treaty signed between the two countries on December 10, 1898, in Paris, France. In the end, the Americans had minimal casualties, while the Spanish suffered immense fatalities and damage to their naval resources (Encyclopedia Britannica).
Blood has been spilled all over the ground of the Philippines. The United States fought a small war with Spain in 1898. The United States ended up getting Cuba and the Philippine Islands as a war prize. Cuba got their independence, but the United States decided to keep the Philippine Islands by annexing them (Background Essay). Should the United States have annexed the Philippines? Annexed means to join or combine a smaller country with a bigger country. The United States should have annexed the Philippine Islands because they needed guidance to become a better country, couldn't give the Philippine Islands to other countries, and there was nothing else the United States could do with them.
As one of America's great white fleet ships lay on the bay of Havana Cuba, people started questioning the reason of the explosion. After a couple of days, the Press was informed of the tragic accident, that could have been an attack on the United States. Once the Press was involve there was no doubt it was in accident as the Yellow Press claimed it was an attack. The sinking of the U.S.S. Maine not only claimed one of the Great White Fleet, it also caused over 250 casualties. Although the tragedy of the maine could have sparked the war, there was more reasons why the U.S. declared war. America disapproved of spain and everything they were doing in territories controlled by Spain. Not only was Spain destroying the territories that they controlled, they contravene the Monroe Doctrine. It wasn’t always the bad things that caused the United States to invade Cuba, they also wanted to help them and even govern Cuba to an extent.
For 113 days during the summer of 1898, the United States was at war with Spain. Neither the president of the United States, nor his cabinet, nor the the queen of Spain, nor her ministers wanted the war wanted the war. It happened eventhough they made their best efforts to prevent it. It happened because of ambition, miscalculation, and stupidity; and it happened because of kindness, wit, and resourcefulness. It also happened because some were indifferent to the suffering of the world’s wretched and others were not (O’Toole 17). By winning the war the United States proved the the rest of the world and to itself that it could and would fight against foreign nations. For many years, world power had been concentrated in the countries in Europe. Nations such as Great Britain, France, Germany, and Spain had the most influence in global affairs. But a shift in power was gradually taking place as the United States matured. The young nation gained wealth and strength. Its population grew immensely, and many people believed it would become a major world power (Bachrach, 11) Spain was one of the many European countries that had territory in the United States. Spain controlled mostly some islands off the coast of Central America. The most important of these were Cuba and Puerto Rico. The United States was led to believe that the Spanish mosgoverned and abused the people of these islands. In fact, Spain did overtax and mistreat the Cubans, who rebelled in 1868 and again in 1895. Thus, the American people felt sympathetic toward the Cuban independence movement. In addition, Spain had frequently interfered with trade between its colonies and the United States. Even though the United States had been a trading partner with Cuba since the seventeenth century, Spain sometimes tried to completely stop their trade with Cuba. In Spain doing so, this sometimes caused damage to U.S. commercial interests. The United States highly disagreed with Spain’s right to interfere with this trade relationship. (Bachrach, 12) The United States was also concerned that other trading and commercial interests were threatened by the number of ships and soldiers Spain kept in the area. If the United States had to fight a war with Canada or Mexico, these Spanish forces could quickly mobilize against the United States.
In 1898, in an effort to free Cuba from the oppression of its Spanish colonizers, America captured the Philippines. This brought about questions of what America should do with the Philippines. Soon, controversy ensued both in the American political arena as well as among its citizens. Throughout its history, America had always been expansionistic, but it had always limited itself to the North American continent. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, however, there emerged a drive to expand outside of the continent. When America expanded to the Philippines, the policy it followed was a stark break from past forms of expansionism. Despite much controversy, America followed the example of the imperialistic nations in Europe and sought to conquer the Philippines as an imperialist colony that they would rule either directly or indirectly.
The first reason for the Spanish American War was public opinion. In 1895, American citizens took notice of a Cuban revolt against their corrupt Spanish oppressor. The Cuban insurgents reasoned that if they did enough damage , the US might move in and help the Cubans win their independence. Not only did Americans sympathize with the Cubans upon seeing tragic reports in the newspaper, but they also empathized in that the US once fought for their own independence from Britain. If France didn’t intervene, the Americans probably would not have won their freedom. As if this did not rally enough hate for the Spanish among the American Public, fuel was added to the flame by the Spanish General (“Butcher”) Weyler. He attempted to crush the rebellion by herding Cubans into barbed-wire concentration camps. In turn, the American public was outraged.
The Philippines were first discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. It then became a colony of Spain from the late 1500's until the end of the19th century when the United States came intervened. The colonial rule of the Spanish ended in December 1898 after the United States intervened due to a popular rebellion that had broken out two years earlier. Under the United States colonial rule, democratic institutions were introduced, and the Filipinos took over all the political and bureaucratic positions. In 1934 the Philippines became an internally self governing commonwealth, with full independence from the United States scheduled for July 4, 1946. The independent republic mainta...