The Spanish American War

1243 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The spanish american war

Most may think that the Spanish-American War was a war between the Americans and the Spanish. Most are right, but only to a point, because the Spanish-American War also included wars between the Americans and the Filipinos, as well as between the Americans and Puerto-Ricans. Reasons for these wars occurring are obvious to the history connoisseur, but to the normal individual, they may not be so distinct.
America has been a country of great power for years, and that power has come not only from years of hard work and fighting, but also from years of audacity. About one hundred fifty years ago, the United States began sending armed forces to foreign countries in an effort to attain each individual country’s opulent resources. This commanding attitude taken by the United States government spread into the American people as well, with corporate giants such as Rockefeller and Morgan, who controlled large parts of American business with monopolies over the railroads and oil industry. Events such as the SpanishAmerican War and interference in the Philippines marked the indisputable beginning of American imperialism. Invasions such as these propelled United States capitalist expansion and produced the ideas of economic expansion in government as well as in homes.
The Philippines played a larger part in the Spanish-American War than most may like to believe. The Philippine-American War as it could be called is forgotten to most everyone in all of United States Military history. The events that occurred in the Philippines could be mildly compared to the events that occurred nearly seventy years later in Vietnam. The reasons for the war occurring at all are directly related to the Filipino’s attempts to gain independence from Spain. Lead by Emilio Aguinaldo, the Filipino people fought for one year for independence from Spain with a shortage of weapons, ammunition and food. A treaty with the Spanish Authorities was forced in 1897, and Aguinaldo and his government were forced into exile with payment of four hundred thousand pesos. American Consuls residing in many Asian countries, as well as Hong Kong, where Aguinaldo was exiled to, agreed with Aguinaldo to give the Philippines independence, as long as they helped the United States defeat the Spanish. Commodore George Dewey of the United States Navy was to lead Aguinaldo back to the Philippines. He only brought Aguinaldo back to Luzon, the northern-most island of the Philippines. Dewey continued to refuse to support Aguinaldo now though, and Aguinaldo once again controlled the Philippines, which was still under attack by Spanish forces.

Show More
Related

  • The Pros And Cons Of The Spanish American War

    1975 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • United States: Thirst for New Market

    527 Words  | 2 Pages

    Imperialism is a policy by which a country gains power over the world or other countries. It begun in 1865 and it caused US to expand. America had “Thirst for New Market”. The business in The United States was developing rapidly so it needed more supplies (trade) from other countries. The United States used different methods such as Jingoism/Racism, Economic Expansion and American superiority over Europe, but however, economic expansion contributed most for the US Imperialism. This meant more money and power compare to other countries.

    Read More

  • Annexation Of The Phillippines

    484 Words  | 1 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • The New White Man's Burden

    1547 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • test I

    1446 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... 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.

    Read More

  • Annexation Of The Philippines Essay

    912 Words  | 2 Pages

    The United States finished fighting for Cuba’s independence from Spain, and then turn and take control over the Philippines attempting to civilize them and force them into a more Americanized lifestyle. America’s rule was worse then Spain's in many aspects. In the short 48 years the U.S.  Annex the Philippines over 1.5 million Filipinos died, far less died in the 300 year Spanish rule. Furthermore, the United States tried to justify the annexation because they helped educate them, however if they were able to read the Philippines could accuse America of hypocrisy against our own Constitution and Declaration of Independence. The Constitution stating, "all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights of which . . .

    Read More

  • Manifest Destiny

    542 Words  | 2 Pages

    From western expansion to foreign imperialism the United States has always been an expansionist country. Early America’s focus was to conquer the natives and obtain western land within North America, but in the latter of America’s history, specifically in the nineteenth and twentieth century, foreign imperialism became the new focus. America’s activity in foreign imperialism was a continuation and departure of the United States’ early expansionism. It was a continuation in terms of manifest destiny, the spread of Christianity, and by the concept of “the city on a hill” and a departure in terms of foreign involvement.

    Read More

  • The Spanish American War

    883 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hi I'm doing my report on the Spanish American War. In the following pages I will be giving information on how and why the war started, major battles, and the results of the war. I will also include stories from people on the battleship Maine.

    Read More

  • The Mexican War

    2001 Words  | 5 Pages

    Beginning in 1845 and ending in 1850 a series of events took place that would come to be known as the Mexican war and the Texas Revolution. This paper will give an overview on not only the events that occurred (battles, treaties, negotiations, ect.) But also the politics and reasoning behind it all. This was a war that involved America and Mexico fighting over Texas. That was the base for the entire ordeal. This series of events contained some of the most dramatic war strategy that has ever been implemented.

    Read More

  • The American Imperialism

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    After the civil war, United States took a turn that led them to solidify as the world power. From the late 1800s, as the US began to collect power through Cuba, Hawaii, and the Philippines, debate arose among historians about American imperialism and its behavior. Historians such as William A. Williams, Arthur Schlesinger, and Stephen Kinzer provides their own vision and how America ought to be through ideas centered around economics, power, and racial superiority.

    Read More

  • Mexican American War

    1258 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mexico in nineteenth-century faced many internal struggles that formed chaos in the new nation this greatly influenced the outcome of the Mexican-American War. After the colonization law of 1824, Mexico City had paid little attention to its northern provinces, finding plenty of issues much closer to central Mexico to stir their political passions and command their full attention. A series of events in Texas, however, soon converted the state into nothing less than a national obsession, and that obsession goes far toward explaining the course and failure of the Mexican-American War.

    Read More

  • The Spanish-American War

    1517 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • American Imperialism in the Philippines

    3630 Words  | 8 Pages

    Welch, Richard E., Jr.? Response to Imperialism:? The United States and the Philippine-American War, 1899-1902.? Chapel Hill:? The University of North Carolina Press, 1979.

    Read More

  • The Mexican-American War

    1453 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Mexican-American war determined the destiny of the United States of America, it determined whether or not it would become a world power and it established the size of the United States of America. Perhaps the war was inevitable due to the idea of Manifest Destiny - Americans thought they had the divine right to extend their territory. The Mexican-American War started mainly because of the annexation of the Republic of Texas (established in 1836 after breaking away from Mexico). The United States and Mexico still had conflicts on what the borders of Texas was, the United States claimed that the Texas border with Mexico was the Rio Grande, but the Mexicans said that it was the Nueces River, so the land in between were disputed and claimed by both the United States and Mexico.

    Read More

  • The Mexican-American War

    1219 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Mexican-American war was a process of years of battles between the Mexicans and Americans but I think after this informational paper, you’ll seem to know a little bit more knowledge about it. How it all started, well in the beginning, the Americans and Mexicans both wanted to control Texas, but at the time it was a part of the Mexican territory, well soon enough Americans wanted control over it so badly that they started to travel into Texas’s land. Part of the reason why Americans wanted it so badly was because it was a big land and had lots of resources and just did not want the Mexicans to have any control over it. (“Social Studies for kids” The Mexican American war) As more Americans moved to the land, everyone knew that it would most definitely become a part of the U.S. Another reason why the war between the Mexicans and Americans happened was because the Louisiana Purchase, it had pushed the western boundaries of the United States father than they had ever been. After the victory of Lewis and Clark, more Americans explored and settled in the Louisiana territory, and also Louisiana territory was right next to Texas territory, so the Americans figured if they make the Louisiana Purchase it would make it easier to get Texas. (“Social Studies for kids” The Mexican American war) The war was mainly determined by the idea of “Manifest destiny”,” the belief that the U.S. had a God-given right to occupy and civilize the whole continent.” As a large number of Americans started to go towards the west in search of land, the fact that most of those areas already had people living in them was not acknowledged. Instead, a belief that America would do a better job of running the lands than the Native American...

    Read More

More about The Spanish American War

Open Document