Spanish-American War

The causes

Since 1895, Cuban insurgents had been fighting Spanish rule, and part of American opinion supported their cause. The sensationalist press stirred up hostility towards Spain. In February 1898, the explosion of the battleship Maine in the port of Havana raised tensions, even though the cause of the explosion remains disputed. Economic and strategic interests, in the Caribbean as well as in the Pacific, also drove Washington to intervene.

The Cuban question has deep roots. In 1868, a first war of independence, the Ten Years' War, breaks out in Cuba and ends in 1878 without the island gaining its independence. During the revolt of 1895, the Spanish general Valeriano Weyler gathers the rural population into "reconcentración" camps, which provokes strong outrage in the United States. American investment in Cuban sugar is substantial, and the Monroe Doctrine, which opposes any new European colonization on the American continent, serves as Washington's reference point. In April 1898, Congress adopts the Teller Amendment, which states that the United States does not intend to annex Cuba.

The course of the war

The war broke out in April 1898, after an American ultimatum and then a declaration of war by Congress. As early as May, George Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay, in the Philippines. In Cuba, American troops landed near Santiago; Theodore Roosevelt, leading the Rough Riders, took part in the attack on the San Juan Hills. In July, the Spanish fleet was destroyed off Santiago de Cuba, and an armistice was signed in August 1898.

The Treaty of Paris, signed in December 1898, ended the war. Spain renounced Cuba and ceded Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, in exchange for twenty million dollars for the Philippine archipelago. Philippine independence fighters, who were already fighting the Spaniards, rejected this change of master: a Philippine-American War broke out immediately afterwards.

Operations in the Pacific follow a separate logic. Dewey, who had brought the independence leader Emilio Aguinaldo back from exile, enabled the proclamation of Philippine independence in June 1898, but Washington does not recognize that government. Guam, a Spanish island in the Pacific, is occupied without fighting in June 1898. Hawaii, whose annexation is approved in July, completes the American presence in the ocean. These conquests partly reflect the desire to establish naval bases on the sea routes to Asia.

In Cuba, the land offensive is concentrated around Santiago. On 1 July 1898, American troops attack the village of El Caney, at the same time as the hills of San Juan. General William Shafter commands the expeditionary force, but disease hits the American soldiers hard, who suffer from yellow fever and malaria. The surrender of Santiago, on 17 July, follows the destruction of Admiral Pascual Cervera's squadron, trapped in the harbor.

A peace protocol is signed in Washington on 12 August 1898, and negotiations open in Paris in the autumn. The Americans justify taking the Philippine archipelago by the idea that its inhabitants are not ready to govern themselves. The US Senate narrowly ratifies the treaty in February 1899, because some members denounce a policy of overseas expansion. Opponents gathered in the Anti-Imperialist League, founded in 1898, defend the right of colonized peoples to independence.

The consequences

The United States became a world power, present in the Pacific and the Caribbean, and strengthened its navy. Spain lost most of its overseas empire and went through a long national crisis. Cuba remained under American tutelage until 1902, when it gained formal independence. Theodore Roosevelt, who had become famous during the war, came to the presidency in 1901.

In the long term, the war is often presented as the starting point of American overseas expansion. John Hay, then ambassador in London, describes it as a "splendid little war", a magnificent little war, a phrase often quoted for its brevity. The Platt Amendment, imposed on Cuba in 1901, authorizes the United States to intervene on the island, and it leads to the lease of the Guantánamo base in 1903. Puerto Rico and Guam remain American, while the Philippines gain independence in 1946, after a long occupation. Historians debate the weight of economic interests, public opinion and the press in the decision to go to war.

Timeline

1. 1898The American battleship Maine explodes in the port of Havana
2. 1898The United States declares war on Spain
3. 1898American naval victory in Manila Bay
4. 1898Destruction of the Spanish fleet off Santiago de Cuba
5. 1898Treaty of Paris: Spain renounces Cuba and cedes Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines

Key figures

• William McKinley, president of the United States, who launches the war against Spain
• Theodore Roosevelt, leader of the Rough Riders in Cuba, future president
• George Dewey, commander of the American fleet, victor at Manila
• José Martí, hero of Cuban independence, who died in 1895