Date sent:        Tue, 14 May 1996 23:57:06, -0500

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<br><A HREF="SPANWAR.TXT">SPANWAR.TXT </A>
<br><i>Uploader </i>: Greg Polla
<br><i>Email </i>: vtbr46c@prodigy.com
<br><i>Language </i>: English
<br><i>Subject </i>: Spanish american war
<br><i>Title </i>: The Spanish American War
<br><i>Grade </i>: 83
<br><i>System </i>: High School
<br><i>Age </I>: 17
<br><i>Country </I>: USA
<br><i>Where I got Evil House of Cheat Address </I>: usenet 
newsgroups
<br><i>Date </I>: 3/12/96
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    The Spanish American war was just another attempt (and a 
successful one at that) to promote manifest destiny, American trade, 
and to become a world power.

    The war originated in the Cuban struggle for independence from 
Spain that began in 1895.  The conditions we (the Spanish) imposed on 
them were not that harsh but the American newspapers played them up 
to be more than they really were.  This aroused a great deal of 
sympathy from the United States.  In addition the United States had a 
genuine economic interest in seeing our little island of Cuba 
independent.  Business involvements on the island were estimated at 
50 million dollars, and trade with Cuban ports was valued at 100 
million dollars yearly.

    A large hunk of propaganda were the newspapers made by William 
Randolf Hearst, and Joseph Pulitzer, both who were hungry for war 
with Spain.  Our beloved general Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau was 
dubbed by them "the butcher".  Nothing has been so far from the truth.
  All he did was take Cubans who were convicted of treason and put 
them in jail.  I am not saying jail life was cake and candy but as I 
recall neither was the American system.  You were still going under 
penal reforms and from what I hear in my country you can get locked 
up for being a certain race and all you get is water and bread.  We 
put our prisoners in camps and let them eat what they want.  

    By 1896 there were American demands for the intervention in the 
war between Cuba and Spain.  To appease both sides  we did what 
England had done for your country.  We offered them their own 
parliament and we even recalled our beloved general.  How did Cuba 
respond?  The insurgents demanded total independence!  All attempts 
to end the struggle peacefully became futile.  America sent the Maine,
 a big battle ship, to Havana and there it blew up for some reason.  
I believe it was Hearst who had something to do with the explosion 
because right after it blew up  he wired his correspondent in Cuba 
Frederic Remington and said "Please remain.  You furnish the pictures 
and I'll furnish the war."  Enough said.

    On March 27th President Mc. Kinley sent an ultimatum to Spain 
offering American mediation.  What they didn't tell you was that 
another letter was sent saying that nothing less than Cuban 
independence would be satisfactory.  We were not going to take this 
sitting down from a country who only wants this Cuba because it can 
take it.  It was one of the few last colonies we had and we had a 
right to it.  When the Teller amendment was passed we broke off 
diplomatic relations and declared war on April 24.  On both fronts 
(the Caribbean and the Philippines which were ours too)  we were 
defeated by the overpowering navy of the US in ten weeks.  

    When the formal peace negotiations took place in Paris on Oct. 1, 
1898 the American representatives committed themselves to a policy of 
imperialistic expansion and did so in the peace talks.  They took the 
Philippines in exchange (although hardly fair) for 20 million dollars.
  In doing so Spain lost the last remnants of  its world empire.  The 
united states in contrast gained an empire.  

    The Spanish American war assured that the Panama canal would be 
built (since the US now needed a two ocean navy) and thus commerce 
would flow both to the Atlantic and pacific oceans.  The war also 
advanced the career of the assistant sec. of the Navy who won the v.
presidency in 1900 and became president in 1901 when Mc. Kinley was 
assassinated.


Sources
Compton's online encyclopedia
Prodigy service 

Encyclopedia Brittannica copyright 1984
