The Pros And Cons Of The Spanish American War

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History is full of people fighting against one another and going to war for all types of different reasons. For the most part countries go to war to either protect their way of life, or for a better way of living. We want to preserve certain aspects of life like our rights, as well as helping others gain or maintain them, we also want to be able to prosper as a country. When one or some of these things are threatened a country will go to war. Some wars that fallow this trend include the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War. Besides protecting or bettering life, war can also make or break a countries economy. The Spanish American war had a complex beginning. By the 1890’s, Cuba had unsuccessfully battled Spain for its independence for many years. Due to the US’s economic interests in Cuba, the US government sought to stabilize the situation. The United States and Cuba negotiated an agreement that Cuba would become self-governing on January 1, 1898. But …show more content…

Overall we were unprepared for the Spanish-American war. We had an enthusiastic attitude about the war but we were lacking in military strength. Our army was understaffed, undertrained and underequipped. The last war that we were involved in at that point in time did not call for the same equipment as the Spanish-American War. We needed new weapons, uniforms and more troops. The only thing that we had on our side was that Spain was even less ready for war than we were. There was a growth in industrialization but our agricultural industry began to suffer because of its growth. As the farming regions began to worsen and fewer Americans were unable to afford all of the manufactured goods the industrialists began to see their own decline. Soon after the Spanish-American War, American investors poured billions into various projects in Eastern Asia, the Philippines and Latin America, which included mines, railroads and coffee

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