Timetables (3)

Topic: The Spanish American War

1895-1898 The drift toward war begins when Cuba revolts against Spain's dictatorial colonial policy and the United States once again casts a longing gaze on the "Pearl of Antillies." U.S. tabloids, especially those of William Randolph Hearst, inflame public opinion by describing the unsanitary Cuban concentration camps, in which about 100,000 Cubans die. Some Americans want to "rescue" Cuba.

1898 On February 9 Hearst publishes an inflammatory private letter in which Dupuyde Lome, Spanish minister to Washington, refers to President William McKinley as "weak" and a "would-be politician."

On February 15 the U.S. battleship Maine explodes in Havana harbor, killing 260 Americans. Although a mine is blamed, the Maine actually suffered an internal explosion. "Remember the Maine and to hell with Spain"becomes the slogan of the hour.

In April, McKinley asks for war, and Congress complies, although the Teller Amendment asserts that the United States does not seek to annex Cuba.

In the Pacific, the U.S. fleet of modern, steel battleships, under Commodore George Dewey, destroys the outdated Spanish fleet in the Manila harbor in the Philippines in May. In Cuba the Spanish fleet is blockaded in the Santiago harbor.

The Rough Riders, led by Theodore Roosevelt and Leonard Wood, are victorious at San Juan Hill on July 1. Black troops make a significant contribution.

On July 3, in a battle at Santiago Bay, the Spanish fleet is destroyed.

U.S. troops seize Spanish Guam and unclaimed Wake Island, thus achieving a much desired foothold in the Pacific that will facilitate commercial expansion after the war.

Commodore Dewey's forces in the Philippines take the city of manila on August 13.

The Treaty of Paris is signed on September 10. Cuba is independent. Spain cedes Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States. (31)

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