The_Spanish_American_War_Of_1898

The Spanish American War Of 1898 The Spanish American War of 1898 One hundred years ago, in 1898, the United States was fighting the Spanish-American War. The victory over Spain made the United States a colonial power. The Spanish colonies of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, as well as the formerly independent nation of Hawaii, became American possessions. The excuse for entering the war was the rebellion by the Cubans against Spanish rule and the explosion of an American battleship U.S.S. Maine. The Spanish colonies in mainland North and South America became independent in the early 1800s, but Cuba and Puerto Rico remained Spanish. Many Americans in the U.S. sympathized with Cuba, which began in 1895, and also, maybe more importantly, U.S. citizens owned $50 million worth of real estate and industry in Cuba. William McKinley became president in 1897, and later that year the Spanish prime minister was assassinated. After brutal rule that included concentration camps, Spain granted Cuba limited autonomy on January 1, 1898, but that was too little, too late. On January 12, there was a riot in Cuba against the Spanish. On January 25, the U.S. government, concerned about this problem in Cuba, sent the battleship USS Maine to Havana. On spanish, american, cuba, rough, war, riders, teddy, roosevelt, battle, 1898, ships, oregon, manila, colon, united, under, states, spain, president, fleet, ship, philippines, one, navy, later, few, day, coast, became, bay, power, out, naval, military, miles