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The '''Spanish-American War''' was a short conflict of a few months duration in 1898, between the [[United States]] and [[Spain]].  Although President [[William McKinley]] strongly opposed the war, the Spanish were unable to meet American demands regarding the systematic, massive mistreatment of Cubans. On the other hand, there was a special economic interest of the United States in Cuba, such as it´s massive sugar production on the island. When the [[Battleship Maine]] suddenly exploded in Havana Harbor (probably planned by the US government), the American people zeroed in on the Cuban crisis and demanded action.  When the war came –"a splendid little war," one official called it—it lasted only six months, and was marked by dramatic American victories at sea in the Philippines and on land and sea near Cuba. The war drew Americans together, especially the Southerners whose patriotism had been in doubt since the Civil War a generation earlier. The Spanish-American War represented a significant turning point in America's position in the world. Besides acquiring Puerto Rico in the Caribbean and the Philippine Islands in the Pacific, territorial possessions that created new defensive responsibilities, the United States demonstrated that it had built up its naval capacity sufficiently to defeat an established European power. The war ended Spanish colonial rule in [[Cuba]] and the [[Phillipines]], and gave Spain a respite from the bitter internal struggles in the 1890s, thus postponing a civil war until the 1930s.

The '''Spanish-American War''' was a short conflict of a few months duration in 1898, between the [[United States]] and [[Spain]].  Although President [[William McKinley]] strongly opposed war, the Spanish were unable to meet American demands regarding the systematic, massive mistreatment of Cubans. When the [[Battleship Maine]] suddenly exploded in Havana Harbor (no one to this day knows why), the American people zeroed in on the Cuban crisis and demanded action.  When the war came –"a splendid little war," one official called it—it lasted only six months, and was marked by dramatic American victories at sea in the Philippines and on land and sea near Cuba. The war drew Americans together, especially the Southerners whose patriotism had been in doubt since the Civil War a generation earlier. The Spanish-American War represented a significant turning point in America's position in the world. Besides acquiring Puerto Rico in the Caribbean and the Philippine Islands in the Pacific, territorial possessions that created new defensive responsibilities, the United States demonstrated that it had built up its naval capacity sufficiently to defeat an established European power. The war ended Spanish colonial rule in [[Cuba]] and the [[Phillipines]], and gave Spain a respite from the bitter internal struggles in the 1890s, thus postponing a civil war until the 1930s.

==Background==

==Background==