Why did the USA go to war against Spain in 1898?

When William McKinley, became the president of the United States in 1897 he presided over a country that was getting a bit upset, what was it upset about, well it was the island to its South Cuba which at this point was a Spanish colony and we also rebelled against said Spanish rule, this rebellion kicked off in 1895 and some pretty unfortunate timing.

It was a mean rebellion are always pretty badly time for those being rebelled against but it coincided with the spectacular rise in American Nationalism when these ideas were combined with the stories about Spanish cruelties in Cuba the American people got upset as such the people in the press wanted to do something about it but McKinley wasn’t too keen it wasn’t until the Spanish ambassador’s criticisms of McKinley made public that he opted to send a warship to USS Maine to Cuba in order to protect American interests. 

In February 1898 whilst in Havana Harbor, the Maine exploded in a respective of what the cause of the explosion was the American people wanted blood so bad was the public fervor and pressure from opponent, Ala Tisha’s that McKinley war couldn’t be avoided and on April 21st 1898, America did just that and declared war on Spain under the slogan

 “Remember The Maine To Hell With Spain!”

Now Spain knew it wasn’t going to defeat the United States in a war but chose to fight it anyway why well there were two main reasons 

The First: Was that Cuba Along with the also revolting Philippines were the last major vestiges of the once glorious, Spanish Empire. 

The Second: Was that the dishonor of immediately surrendering to the US was too much for Spain to bear? His leaders preferred to go down fighting and lose with its honor intact.

But how did said fighting go and it went amazingly well for America you see America opted to fight the war on two fronts in the South in Cuba and one in the East or to the West technically in the Philippines this was where Commodore George Dewey decisively defeated the Spanish fleet there at the Battle of Manila Bay the US Army then landed and brought over the exiled Filipino Revolutionary, Emilio Aguinaldo who promptly declared Filipino independence to bring the Philippines back into the fold the Spanish launched a major fleet hoping to dislodge the Americans it was shortly after this that the US captured, Guam and by captured I mean they turned up and gave off a warning shot now traditionally when nations were at peace they would fire off a salute to each other the Spanish Garrison there didn’t have any ammunition, so the government who didn’t know he was at war promptly apologized for not returning the salute the island was captured with no fighting as for the Caribbean theater the US started by seizing some place in Southern Cuba called Guantanamo Bay it later landed an expedition where force here and pushed inland the Spanish, retreated but were extremely adept at defensive tactics and so American progress was slow until the primary American force landed on July 1st, this was the force that contained the famous Rough Riders volunteer army led by a certain Theodore Roosevelt the Americans advanced inland and fought a small Spanish force at the infamous Battle of San Juan Hill, here the Spanish were able to inflict many more casualties on the Americans than themselves suffered before retreating and Acacia wandering it was this battle that made Theodore Roosevelt a household name July the 3rd saw the largest naval battle of the war the Battle of Santiago de Cuba during which the Americans obliterated the Spanish fleet there it was after this that aforementioned relief force that was being sent to the Philippines was promptly turned around because the Spanish coast now lay undefended Puerto Rico or Puerto Rico was invaded in July but Spanish forces there incredibly difficult to dislodge by mid-august the Americans had captured Santiago the second largest city in Cuba and in the Philippines Spanish governor had surrendered as well with their forces on the run a much of their Navy sitting at the bottom of the ocean the Spanish stood for peace before the Americans could match on Havana.

In December a peace treaty was signed in which Spain lost Guam and the Philippines in Puerto Rico to the United States, Cuba became a US Protectorate, until 1902 when it gained its independence.

In conclusion: The war had gone exceptionally well for America which is why the Secretary of State John Hay called it a Splendid little war, America’s naval prowess were made clear to the world it not a great deal of soldiers died in combat of course, lots of soldiers died from disease, but since yellow fever didn’t wear a Spanish uniform they didn’t count and for Spain the soldiers who fought on Cuba and the Philippines had shown themselves as being some of the best in the world but of course the shock to Spanish society for losing the colony of Cuba was absolutely massive the Spanish Empire was dead the American Empire was born.