Causes and Consequences of The Spanish-American War

Paper Summary:

John Hay, the U.S. Ambassador to London, called the war of 1898 with Spain ?a splendid little war.? His statement, often quoted about the war, indicated his recognition that this war would change the position of the United States in the world and have ramifications for decades to come. This paper shows that the Spanish-American War often gets little attention in history texts, overpowered by the bigger, longer-lasting wars such as the War Between the States, World War I and World War II. The fact is that the Spanish-American War, which included significant action both in the Caribbean, especially Cuba, and the Pacific, especially involving the Philippines, had complex causes and complex long-term ramifications.

From the Paper:

"The war of 1898 represented a turning point in the United States? international standing. The country acquired its first overseas territories and pushed Spain out of the Western Hemisphere (Rodriguez, 1998). It laid the groundwork for our involvement in World War II, as our growing interests in the Pacific had a profound effect on Japanese action in that arena. Until the Spanish-American war, our influence had been limited to North America. Now we had presence in both major oceans and had contended with other great powers, either by warfare or by maneuvering, and had emerged victorious (Rodriguez, 1998). It was not a challenge to defeat Spain, but the long-term effects of the war dramatically affected history for the following century. The groups who drew us into the war, both in the Caribbean and the Pacific, revolutionary factions in both Cuba and the Philippines, did not fare well. Cuba was liberated from Spain but under profound influence of the Untied States. In the Philippines, the people simply traded one country's domination for another's."

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