Cuban rebels engaged in a long struggle against Spanish forces, drawing international attention to their cause. The harsh tactics of the Spanish military included concentration camps where civilians were detained under brutal conditions. This drew widespread sympathy for the Cuban cause, especially in the U.S. where people saw Cuba’s struggle for independence as something similar to America’s Revolutionary War.
President McKinley sent the battleship U.S.S. Maine to Havana to project American power, but after docking in Cuba, the ship exploded and sank, killing 260 Americans. War was then inevitable, but it was short. Within months, the U.S military made it clear that Spain had no hope of prevailing. By December, the Spanish had conceded the war and the U.S. took control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. The conflict marked the end of Spanish colonial rule in the Americas and the beginning of American imperial ambitions far beyond its borders.
On this day in 1898, U.S. President William McKinley signed the declaration that began the Spanish-American War. The roots of the conflict lay in Cuba's desire for independence from Spanish rule.
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