The war between [[USA|America]] and [[Spain]] for control of [[Cuba]], the [[Philippines]] and other Spanish colonies, which America won.
+
The war began on [[April]] 25, [[1898]] when the United States declared war on Spain following the sinking of the Battleship Maine in Havana harbor in [[February]] of that year. Though so called "yellow journalism" newspapers were quick to blame the act on Spain it is now believed to have caused by a boiler explosion.
−
~icewedg3
+
The first battle of the War was the [[Battle of Manila Bay]] on [[May]] 1 when [[Commodore]] [[George Dewey]] of the [[USA]] destroyed the [[Spain|Spanish]] fleet under [[Rear Admiral]] [[Patricio Montojo]].
+
+
The War ended when representatives of Spain and the United States signed a [[Treaty of Paris of 1898| peace treaty in Paris]] on [[December]] 10, 1898. The treaty ceded Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States, and allowed the victorious power to purchase the Philippines from Spain for $20 million. The treaty also established the independence of Cuba. The war had cost the United States $250 million and 3,000 lives, of whom 90% had perished from infectious diseases.
+
+
In Spain the War lead to the collapse of the government of [[Práxedes Mateo Sagasta]].
+
+
+
[http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/ United States Library of Congress entry on the War]