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Us attempt to purchase Cuba
The U.S. had an interest in Cuba because of the Sugar Plantation. In 1854 a diplomat recommended to President Franklin Pierce that the U.S. should buy Cuba. It is important for us to buy Cuba because it has a lot of financial benefits and we wanted it because slave labor was allowed. This shows that we had a long interest in purchasing Cuba. -
Cuba's First War for Independence
Carlos Manuel had a historic speech called “Cry of Yara” he himself had slaves and freed them and declared war on the Spanish crown. He had 37 other partners join him that freed their slaves and donated their properties. The first fight with the Spanish troops took place at Yara two days later. By the month of November, the army grew by 12,000 men. This is important because the fight was to free the slaves and as soon as the fight ended the slaves were set free. -
Jose Martí led Cuba's Second War for Independence
Jose Marti was a Cuban poet who led the Cuban resistance against Spain. He was killed very early on. While he was writing and fighting he was using the guerrilla campaign and encouraging people to destroy property, which belonged to the united states. This was important because it starts the rebellion. -
Valeriano Weyler was sent to Cuba by Spain
The Spanish sent General Weyler known as “The Butcher” to Cuba to put down the fight. General Weyler has lived up to his name. To prevent the fight from population against Spanish rule he built concentration camps which he imprisoned a large portion of the population. The main point of him going was to stop the rebellion and to put a stop to the bad guys. His idea was that the fastest way wasn’t to set up the concentration camps, which made us more upset which led to the war. -
Publication of the De Lome Letter
This was a letter against President William McKinley calling him fragile and only doing what the people wanted. This letter made the public support the war even more than what they already did. When the letter got to the Spanish they released it to the yellow press and they made it seem like it was even a bigger deal. This was extremely important because it caused the public to support the President even more and helped win the war. -
U.S. Declares war on Spain
On April 25, 1898 this started by the sinking of the Battleship Maine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898. The U.S claim that they wouldn’t attempt to take over Cuba. The rough riders traveled to the Philippians to attack and take over Santiago and Puerto Rico. We ended up getting them, this war only lasted four months with few casualties, the war officially stopped when we signed the Treaty of Paris. -
Explosion of the uss Maine
President Mckinley ordered the USS Maine to bring back the American citizens home safely from fighting and to protect the American property. The battleship Maine blew up killing 260 crew members. On April 13, 1898, the newspapers had made an assumption that the Spanish had blown the ship up. This is what led up to the war starting. The Explosion of the USS Maine was important because we blamed Spain for the explosion. Later they found out that the Spanish were not accountable for the incident. -
U.S. Attack on Manila Bay
The United States had a war with Spain following the sinking of the USS Maine. The Americans sought out the Spanish fleet and then we fired. After two hours the spanish fleet was destroyed. Then we had plans to go back the next day but during breakfast it was decided that the Spanish had surrendered. The Spanish had lost over 370 troops but we only lost less than 10. This is important because it was one of the first battles. -
Spanish surrender the Philippines
Two weeks after the U.S. Attack on Manila Bay, General Merritt made a secret deal to essentially stop fighting if we stayed away from them. They didn't want us to keep attacking them. After that there was few casualties but it lead up to The Treaty of Paris. This is important because it showed that they cared about stopping the war with us. -
Battle for San Juan Hill
The American forces landed in Cuba in June of 1898 and meet on the port of the city of Santiago. The army of rough riders was a group of people who volunteered, they pressured into it by Leonard Wood. Teddy Roosevelt gave up his job at the Navy to led to lead the group. The rough riders were the first ones to charge and they ended up winning. The press declared Teddy Roosevelt the hero of the battle. This is important because set up Spain to surrender and was the last battle of the war. -
U.S. Invades Cuba
In summer of 1898 after the USS Maine blows up and war is declared we invaded Cuba. We trained thousands of men in Florida and then we invaded Cuba. We went into Cuba to stop the war and so we could gain them. This is important because it leads up to us winning the war. We wanted to unofficially have an empire and be apart of the “club”. Also, we wanted Cuba for economic benefits. -
Destruction of the Spanish fleet in Cuba
On July 3rd of 1898 after the hostile behavior between Spain and the U.S. After the Battle of Santiago de Cuba the Spanish weren’t safe anymore because the United States were pointing their guns at them. Four cruisers and two destroyers left very fast in order to have a chance to escape. The rough riders chased the boats down and destroyed them. This lead up to the San Juan Hill battle. -
Armistice is signed between the U.S. and Spain
This happened right before the Treaty of Paris and once the Armistice was signed is when the Treaty of Paris was getting written up. Armistice is when the Spanish signed a paper saying that they couldn't fight us anymore because they knew they were going to lose. This was very important because it leads to the end of the war. -
Capture of Puerto Rico
There were no real battles fought during this capture. This was important because we sent some soldiers on a boat down to Puerto Rico and forcefully asked them to surrender. They agreed and then during the Treaty of Paris we took it to form them. It's important even now because we still own them and there’s a possibility that they become the 51st state. This led to us winning the war. -
Treaty of Paris of 1898
This is important because it is when the United States and Spain signed a treaty so the cease-fire would stop. On August 12th it was decided that the fighting would stop. This treaty was signed on December 10, 1898, which ended the war called the “a splendid little war”. The fighting only lasted 15 weeks but Spain freed Cuba and gave us Guam and Puerto Rico. Also, Spain sold us the Philippines to us for $20 million. -
Naval Blockade of Cuba
Took place on October 22nd, 1962. On this day President Kennedy imposes a naval blockade of Cuba, which was made against his will after the United States spy planes found Soviet missile on the communist-ruled island. This was important because we had to put our highest level of the military on this. It peacefully ended on October 28th (six days later).
