How Resulted the Spanish-American War

Spain gave away Cuba, Guam, and Puerto Rico to the United States after the Treaty of Paris and then later transferred sovereignty of the Philippines to the United States for $20 million after the Spanish- American War. America was far superior to Spain and the war didn't last very long. Although we didn't have many troops to begin with many volunteers joined to defeat Spain and gain bragging rights. The war had a great effect on Spain and it was a major turning point for imperialism in America. That war was the first war America had fought overseas and many were intimidated at first, but after Spain's first defeat at Manila Bay on June 22 they were very confident in their abilities.

The main causes of the Spanish- American War was the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor and America's support for the advancing struggle by cubans against spanish rule. The U.S.S. Main exploded just a few days after the de Lome letter so America had immediate suspicions that Spain placed underwater mines in the harbor. The explosion killed 266 people and it became one of the main reasons for war. After doing research many people believe that the sinking of the ship was caused by a coal fire on the inside of the ship instead of the outside like America had first thought. The Spanish- American war only lasted for four months after it started, ending with the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. The treaty gave freedom to the Cubans and they got their independence from Spain. Spain treated the Cubans and filipinos as slaves. Cuba and the philippines had less troops in the ten years war ,(1868- 1878), so Cuba's generals were forced to use guerrilla warfare to hopefully tire out Spain's troops and that didn't work. Cubans were basically Spain's slaves after that and they treated them terribly. The United States was interested in the sugar on the Cuban land.

That's why the treatment of Cuba was so important. It could make us a lot of money. The president at the time, William McKinley, didn't want war. He wanted to focus on the economy not a war. A war costs a lot of money and he wasn't trying to spend much on things that we didn't have to spend it on. However, when America received the de Lome letter insulting the president for being weak we were outraged and ready for war. The letter was broadcast all over America. A lot of people agreed that the president was weak and that he could do better but they didn't want to hear that from a guy from Spain.

That man who wrote the letter was named Enrique Dupuy de Lome. America demanded an apology from him by February 14. Most of the troops we had fighting were volunteers and needed more training than normal to fight. It took much longer for them to be ready for war, but in the end they were glad they had the extra training time. They came from around the world to fight for their country although most of them didn't know how to. America became a world power and many countries wouldn't dare to offend them. The Spanish- American War resulted in american imperialism.

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