. A history of the United States. ed to decide how the UnitedStates should act in a war which had broken out between theCubans and the Spaniards. Spain had ruled over Cuba sincethe time of Columbus. The Cubans, like the Mexicans andSouth Americans long before, were trying to put an end toSpanish rule and to found an independent republic. Thewar had been raging two or three years and the island wasbeing laid waste. Stories of the cruelty of Spanish generalsand of the sufferings of the Cubans aroused the sympathy of THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR 523 the American people. Some Americans had property in
. A history of the United States. ed to decide how the UnitedStates should act in a war which had broken out between theCubans and the Spaniards. Spain had ruled over Cuba sincethe time of Columbus. The Cubans, like the Mexicans andSouth Americans long before, were trying to put an end toSpanish rule and to found an independent republic. Thewar had been raging two or three years and the island wasbeing laid waste. Stories of the cruelty of Spanish generalsand of the sufferings of the Cubans aroused the sympathy of THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR 523 the American people. Some Americans had property inCuba worth, all told, nearly $50,000,000, and they wereanxious to have the war stopped. The Destruction of the Maine, — It had already becomehard to keep the peace between Spain and the United States,so strongly did many Americans urge their government tocompel Spain to satisfy the Cubans. The Spaniards, on theirside, were enraged at the assistance that Americans privatelygave the Cubans. In February, 1898, the American battle-. Manila and the Pasig River Showing the Magellan monument and the stone bridge connectingthe walled city with Binondo ship Maine, at anchor in the harbor of Havana, was blownup, causing the death of two officers and 258 seamen. MostAmericans beheved that the Spaniards had destroyed theship and clamored for war against them. McKinley reluc-tantly yielded and war was declared. The War. — The conflict with Spain was brief, lasting onlyfrom April to August. The Spaniards, who had spent theirresources in a vain effort to conquer Cuba, were unpreparedfor a longer war. On May i, Commodore George Dewey, witha small fleet, easily destroyed a much inferior Spanish fleetin Manila harbor. Spain sent to Cuban waters a squadron 524 THE REPUBLIC AND THE LARGER WORLD under Admiral Cervera, but it was soon shut up in the harborof Santiago by a larger American force under the commandof Admiral Sampson. In order to make the capture of theSpanish ships in Santiago sure,
Size: 2216px × 1128px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidhistoryofuni, bookyear1913
