- Americans React -
Some Cuban citizens wanted to gain their independence from Spain, who was controlling their country. Many Americans were sympathetic to Cuban rebels and so they called on the United States government to intervene.
American had invested $50 million in Cuban sugar and rice plantations, railroads, and iron mines in Cuba.
The American newspapers, such as the New York Journal and the New York World, published rather exaggerated stories from the revolution happening between Cuba and Spain. This technique is called yellow journalism.
President William McKinley sent a battleship, called the Maine, to Havana Harbor as protection for the Cuban rebels.
A strange mystery explosion caused the Maine to sink. 260 men aboard the ship were killed. Nobody knows exactly how the explosion happened.
Spain was blamed for the explosion that sunk the Maine by both the public and the press, even though nobody actually knows how it happened.
Many Americans that read the newspapers wanted to get revenge on Spain for supposedly sinking the Maine. President William McKinley was now under a lot of pressure by the public and press to declare war on Spain.
- The United States Go To War -
Now William McKinley was under a lot of pressure from the general public to declare war on Spain. On April 11, 1898, President McKinley went to Congress and asked to go to war with Spain. Congress agreed.
One of the people that fought in the Spanish American War was Commodore Dewey. He was able to sink an entire squadron of the Spanish Fleet without losing a single American life.
One of the best - known American units in the Spanish American War were the Rough Riders. They were led by Theodore Roosevelt, who gave up his prominent position in the Navy to lead them and fight.
The main thing that made the Rough Riders different from other units that fought for the United States was fact that African - Americans and white people fought together. They we unmindful of race or color.
Evenutally, the Spanish Fleet was close by Cuba, and the United States rushed in. They trapped the Spanish Fleet with their ships in Santiago Harbor, and then destroyed them, thus winning the war.