On this day in 1898, the Spanish-American War began after the battleship USS Maine blew up in Havana harbor. The cause of the explosion is still a mystery.

A Little History, Please. Cuba, which is only 90 miles from Florida, had been a colony of Spain since Christopher Columbus claimed it in 1492. The Cubans, unhappy under Spanish rule, rebelled in 1895. Spain sent soldiers to put down the rebellion. Though the Cuban guerrillas could not overpower the Spanish soldiers, they burned towns and sugar plantations. The Spanish took prisoners.

Enter the USA. The US sided with Cuba for a number of reasons:

• the US had money invested in sugar
  
• the struggle was much like the American Revolution of 1776
  
• newspapers told stories of the conflict that were untrue. The purpose of the stories was to sell papers. But the stories also caused the Americans to side with Cuba.
  

Exploding Events. Presidents Cleveland and McKinley tried to keep the US out of war. Then the USS Maine exploded. Two hundred and sixty of the American crewmen were killed. Though no one knew the cause of the explosion, many Americans blamed the Spanish.

A Declaration of War. On April 11, President McKinley asked Congress for American troops to stop the war. Congress agreed, and two weeks later, the US declared war on Spain.

Rough Riders. The Rough Riders ~ twenty soldiers led by Theodore Roosevelt ~ sailed to Cuba. After landing on the south coast, they advanced on the city of Santiago. They attacked San Juan Hill and captured it. Then they took the city. Because of a mix-up at the port of Tampa, the Rough Riders' horses were left behind. According to some historians, the famous charge of the Rough Riders up San Juan Hill was done largely on foot.

And Then... From there, the US took over another Spanish possession ~ Puerto Rico.

Imperialism Across the Water? Commodore Dewey then sailed into the Spanish Philippine Islands, where his troops destroyed the Spanish fleet that was guarding the islands. On April 13, the capital city of Manila fell to American troops.

War is Over. By mid-July, what was referred to as The Splendid Little War was over.

Many Treaties, Many Possessions. The Treaty of Paris, signed in December 1898, gave the US three islands: Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam. The Spanish agreed to leave Cuba. The United States paid $20 million to Spain for the Philippines and Guam. Because of these holdings in the Pacific Ocean, the United States could make use of Hawaii. The Splendid Little War had made the US a major world power.

And the Philippines... remained a US territory until 1946, although it elected its own legislature in 1907.