Need for markets and materials
Belief in Anglo-Saxon superiority
Need for sea power and therefore refueling spots around the world
Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan
Cuban rebels were fighting for independence from Spain
American public opinion was leaning toward Cuba, but McKinley did not
want to go to war
Two incidents led to war
The de Lome letter
Letter leaked to Hearst’s newspaper in which the Spanish minister
called McKinley weak and a common politician
Sinking of the USS Maine
Ship blew up and sank outside Havana
Cause was unknown
Hearst’s paper said it was the Spanish, and the public believed it
The United States declared war on Spain in April 1898
Very brief
Battle of San Juan Hill
Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders
Led to the fall of Santiago
Fought on two fronts
Caribbean
Philippines
Results
Treaty of Paris
Cuba became independent
US took over Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines
Cuba was really under US control
Hawaii became a territory of the US
