War with Spain

Two principal causes led to the war with Spain: the brutality used by Spanish colonial authorities to suppress the revolution that began in Cuba in 1859, which outraged American moral opinion, and the mysterious explosion of the battleship USS Maine on February 15, 1898, during a goodwill visit to Havana. Although postwar investigations concluded that the explosion was accidental, almost everyone at the time believed the Spanish had destroyed the ship. America declared war on Spain in April, the American Army landed some weeks later, and after the Battle of Kettle Hill the Spanish surrendered. As a result of the four-month-long war, the United States gained the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam, though fierce fighting continued in the Philippines for another four years before the insurgency there was brought under control.

Bella Vista, Arkansas · United States