Spanish American War
“The Mexican Revolution best exemplifies the type of politically driven conflicts that dominated in the Northern and Central Americas from the turn of the Twentieth century until World War II.” How valid is this assessment?
The above statement makes reference to the conflicts within Northern and Central America, there is no doubt that these places have been involved in many conflicts, whether it be domestic or international. However it goes on to suggest that the conflicts within the continent were solely political and neglects to mention other contributing factors such as; social, economical, spiritual etc. In this response I will be looking further into the variety of factors and deciding, based on my research, whether or not the Mexican …show more content…
Many historians state that the Spanish American war allowed the USA to expand its sphere of influence through strategic and economic gains. The link to political driven conflict appears in the abundance of amendments and doctrines created allowing the USA to intervene in Cuba in order to remove the Spanish, who were in violation of the ‘Monroe Doctrine’. The Spanish-American war is controversial due to the idea that the Americans had blamed the sinking of the U.S Maine on the Spanish in order to create a catalyst for war, this can be further noted in the yellow journalism propaganda that painted the Spanish as malicious antagonists. The use of propaganda features heavily in political conflict, hence the suggestion that the Spanish-American war was politically driven. On the other hand the war did allow for the expansion of trade due to overproduction in America, which suggests a connection to trade driven conflict. Overall the Spanish-American war may be seen as the most internationally political conflict, due to the antagonising of the Spanish and intimidation of Cuba. Trade may have been used as an excuse to expand America during its age of Imperialism and desire to obtain Manifest Destiny. This quote by President Mckinley; ‘We owe it to our citizens in Cuba to afford them protection...The right to intervene may be justified by the very serious injury to the commerce, trade, and business of our people.’ summarises my point that America was looking for a way to justify expansion through trade. Therefore this would make the Spanish-American war politically driven and agree with the
The above statement makes reference to the conflicts within Northern and Central America, there is no doubt that these places have been involved in many conflicts, whether it be domestic or international. However it goes on to suggest that the conflicts within the continent were solely political and neglects to mention other contributing factors such as; social, economical, spiritual etc. In this response I will be looking further into the variety of factors and deciding, based on my research, whether or not the Mexican …show more content…
Many historians state that the Spanish American war allowed the USA to expand its sphere of influence through strategic and economic gains. The link to political driven conflict appears in the abundance of amendments and doctrines created allowing the USA to intervene in Cuba in order to remove the Spanish, who were in violation of the ‘Monroe Doctrine’. The Spanish-American war is controversial due to the idea that the Americans had blamed the sinking of the U.S Maine on the Spanish in order to create a catalyst for war, this can be further noted in the yellow journalism propaganda that painted the Spanish as malicious antagonists. The use of propaganda features heavily in political conflict, hence the suggestion that the Spanish-American war was politically driven. On the other hand the war did allow for the expansion of trade due to overproduction in America, which suggests a connection to trade driven conflict. Overall the Spanish-American war may be seen as the most internationally political conflict, due to the antagonising of the Spanish and intimidation of Cuba. Trade may have been used as an excuse to expand America during its age of Imperialism and desire to obtain Manifest Destiny. This quote by President Mckinley; ‘We owe it to our citizens in Cuba to afford them protection...The right to intervene may be justified by the very serious injury to the commerce, trade, and business of our people.’ summarises my point that America was looking for a way to justify expansion through trade. Therefore this would make the Spanish-American war politically driven and agree with the