Spanish-American War

Introduction

The Spanish-American conflict was a confrontation in 1898 between Spain and the joined States. Revolts against Spanish rule had been endemic for decades in Cuba, watched closely by Americans, there had been before the war scare, as in the case Virginias in 1873. In 1897-1898 the American public grew more furious at reports of Spanish atrocities, magnified by the "yellow journalism." After the mysterious sinking of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor, political pressure pushed the Democratic Party government headed by President William McKinley, a Republican, in a war of McKinley had wanted to avoid. Compromise verified unrealistic, resulting in ...