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The Spanish-American War: Casualties and Consequences

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The Spanish-American War: Casualties and Consequences
THESIS : " The United States didn 't want to get involved in the Spanish-American War, but was dragged into it due to yellow journalism, they wanted to control the seas, and wanted complete control over Cuba." The Spanish-American War - "The Splendid Little War" Pia DeAngelis Mr. Fishman Period 7 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


Bibliography: Barnes, Mark R. Puerto Rican Land Campaign, Part 1. Online. Available: http//www.spanam.simplenet.com/puertoland1.htm. 11/29/99. Barnes, Mark R. Puerto Rican Land Campaign, Part 2. Online. Available: http//www.spanam.simplenet.com/puertoland2.htm. 11/29/99. Barnes, Mark R. Puerto Rican Land Campaign, Part 4. Online. Available: http//www.spanam.simplenet.com/puertoland4.htm. 11/29/99. Conway, Christopher. Imperialism. Online. Available: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/9852/usimp.htm. 11/29/99. Couttie, Robert. Philippines. Online. Available: http://www.spanam.simplenet.com/Philippines.htm. 11/29/99. McSherry, Patrick. Casualties. Online. Available: http//www.spanam.simplenet.com/casualties.htm. 11/29/99.
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