-
U.S. attempt to purchase Cuba
The U.S. has had a long interest on Cuba. The diplomats recommended to President Franklin Pierce that the United States buy Cuba from Spain. The Spanish responded by saying that they would rather see Cuba sunk in the ocean. This was one of many factors that pushed us into war. -
Cuba's first war for independence
The Ten Years War, also called Cuba's first war for independence, was part of Cuba's fight for independence from Spain, which turned out to be unsuccessful. It was the uprising Cuban-born planters and other wealthy natives led that. This is uprising was important for Cuba, to help Cuba free from Spain. They even wrote a constitution abolishing slavery and annexed the country to the US. -
Jose Marti led Cuba's second war for independence
José Marti, a Cuban poet, and journalist launched a revolution in 1895. Resistance against Spain using an active campaign and deliberately destroying property. The rebels provoked the US to help achieve a free Cuba. This is important because unlike the first Cuban war, the second war was not unnoticed by the US. -
The Yellow Press began to shape American public opinion with respect to Cuba's Civil War
How to restore order started a war between the press-specifically between William Randolph and Joseph Pulitzer. Pulitzer began to publish very exaggerated accounts of what went on in Weyer’s camps, which soon became known as yellow journalism. These stories deepened America’s sympathy for the Cuban people. It angered them to hear these stories because they didn’t know that they were false stories. -
Valeriano Weyler was sent to Cuba by Spain
Cuban revolts were responded by the Spanish by sending General Valeriano Weyler to Cuba to restore order. Weyler herded the entire rural population into barbed wire concentration camps. Many of the 300,000 Cubans in the camps died of hunger and disease. -
Publication of the De Lome Letter
McKinley instead used diplomatic means to get peace. Spain brought Weyler back and removed the concentration camps.They even offered Cuba a small amount of self government.In February 1898,they leaked a letter to the New York Journal. The letter was never supposed to be seen by anyone. Enrique Dupuy wrote it de Lome, the Spanish minister to the U.S. The letter criticized McKinley, calling him weak and thirsty for the admiration of the crowd. The minister apologized, but the damage had been done. -
An explosion of the USS Maine
President Mckinley ordered the USS Maine to Cuba to protect American property and bring home American citizens in danger from the fighting. The ship was blown up in the harbor of Havana. More than 260 sailors were killed. No one knew why the ship exploded, in later 1898, the newspaper assumed the Spanish had blown it up. -
The naval blockade of Cuba
A Spanish fleet under Admiral Pascual Cervera arrived in Santiago harbor on the southern coast of Cuba. The Spanish fleet was immediately blockaded in the harbor by superior U.S. warships from the U.S. squadrons in the Atlantic, under Rear Admiral William T. Sampson and Commodore Winfield S. Schley. The U.S. warships stopping the Spanish fleet from harming more Cubans. -
The U.S. declares war on Spain
On April 11, McKinley asked Congress for authority to use force against Spain. After a week of debate, Congress agreed, and on April 20 the United States declared war. We went to war was to free Cuba from the Spanish. -
U.S. attack on Manila Bay
The defeat of the Spanish Pacific fleet by the U.S. Navy, resulting in the fall of the Philippines and the final U.S. victory in the Spanish-American War. After an explosion sank USS Maine in Havana harbor in February 1898, the United States declared war with Spain on 25 April in support of a Cuban rebellion against Spanish colonial rule. -
Destruction of the Spanish fleet in Cuba
The Spanish fleet tried to escape the American blockade of the harbor at Santiago. The naval battle that followed, along the Cuban coast, ended in the destruction of the Spanish fleet. -
The U.S. invades Cuba
American forces landed in Cuba in June 1898 and began to converge on the port city of Santiago. The army of 17,000 included four African American regiments and the Rough Riders landed and began making their first way through Cuba. -
Battle of San Juan Hill
It was on Kettle Hill. U.S. soldiers were trying to take over the hill and they gained an advantage to take San Juan Hill. A Spanish force managed to hold off a much larger U.S. force from advancing. Many U.S. soldiers were gunned down trying to take the hill. Rough Riders led us to victory in this battle. -
The capture of Puerto Rico
The U.S and Spain met in Paris to agree on a treaty. At the peace talks, the Spanish freed Cuba and turned over the Guam islands and Puerto Rico to the United States. -
Armistice is signed between the U.S. and Spain
Spain knew they were going to loose so they signed an Armistice which means they stop shooting at each other. -
Spanish surrender the Philippines
The Philippines. Commodore George Dewey commanded to open fire on the Spanish at Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Dewey had destroyed every Spanish ship there within hours. George didn't do it alone, with the help of the Filipinos, who wanted freedom from Spain helped as well. In August, Spanish troops in Manila surrendered to the US. -
Treaty of Paris of 1898
An official peace treaty between the United States and Spain. Ended the Spanish American War. We gained Puerto Rico, Guam, Cuba, and the Philippians.
