The Spanish American War

The Spanish-American war was believed to be progressing over some time back in the 1800’s. There were several problems that contributed to the beginning of the war that had severe impact on several different people, places, governments, and possessions. In the paper I will be dissecting each impact and controversy that both led up the war, that happened during the war, and the reasons and consequences behind the actions that were taken before during and after it. The war itself had begun on April 25, 1898 when the U.S decided to take action on Spain after the destruction of the Battleship Maine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898. Following the war a treaty was signed called the “treaty of Paris,” on December 10, 1898. This was believed to be the end of the war in which Spain lost significant, if not all control over its empire in Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines Islands, Guam and several other islands.

In 1492, Spain being the first European nation to sail west across the Atlantic, then establish colonies in the western hemisphere with the Amerindian nations. The territory reached from Virginia on the east coast of the United States to Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America Excluding Brazil and westward to California and Alaska. (Citation) Meanwhile, on the other side of the pacific, Philippines and other islands were forming groups.

Fast track to the 1800’s when we see many problems result from important happenings such as the peninsular war, which occurred from 1807-1814, the Spanish American wars of independence where Spain lost a significant amount of its colonies in the Americas in early 19th century. But lastly three Carlist wars that dated from 1832 all the way to 1876 had effect a new interpretation of Spain’...

... middle of paper ...

...vera left part and was defeated by Schley. Spaniards agreed to surrender of the 23,500 soldiers that were located around the city. A couple days had passed when Major general Nelson Miles set sail out of Guantanamo to Puerto Rico. His soldiers had reached Ponce and marched to San Juan with no conflicts on the way.

Following all of this, leaders of both Spain and the United States gathered and agreed to sign a peace treaty while in Paris on December 10, 1898. This agreement recognized the independence of Cuba, surrendered Puerto Rico and Guam to the U.S. and allowed the victor to purchase the Philippines Islands from Spain for $20 million. This war resulted in the United States losing 3000 lives and costing them about $250 million. 2,700 of those lives were lost due to infectious diseases.

The Spanish-American war lasted about 10 weeks in total. The war brought