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[[Image:USSMaineHavana.jpg|thumb|300px|right|USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor, January 1898.]]

[[Image:USSMaineHavana.jpg|thumb|300px|right|USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor, January 1898.]]

==Tense background==

==Tense background==

The explosion came during escalating tensions between the United States and Spain regarding Spain’s maladministration of Cuba, one of its last colonial possessions, and harsh suppression of the island’s independence movement. The Maine was sent to Cuba to demonstrate America's very strong interest in ending the civil war there. Two months after the explosion, the United States declared war on Spain.  The sinking of the Maine riveted American attention on the Cuban crisis, but did not itself cause the war. The war was caused by Spain's inability to peacefully rule its colony, and American anger at its failure.

The explosion came during escalating tensions between the United States and Spain regarding Spain’s maladministration of Cuba, one of its last colonial possessions, and harsh suppression of the island’s independence movement. The Maine was sent to Cuba to demonstrate America's very strong interest in ending the civil war there. Two months after the explosion, the United States declared war on Spain.  The sinking of the Maine riveted American attention on the Cuban crisis, but did not itself cause the war. The war was caused by Spain's inability to peacefully rule its colony, and American anger at its failure.

==Immediate reaction==

==Immediate reaction==

Historians have debated whether American public opinion was deliberately inflamed by the sensationalist “Yellow Journalism” of Hearst and Pulitzer in New York City. Early 20th-century historian [[James Ford Rhodes]] concluded that the press “had manipulated the real news, spread unfounded reports, putting all before their readers with scare headlines."  By contrast historian John Offner has insisted, "there is no evidence" to indicate that the "sensational press" influenced McKinley's policy, suggesting that "its impact on changing public opinion may have been limited."   

Historians have debated whether American public opinion was deliberately inflamed by the sensationalist “Yellow Journalism” of Hearst and Pulitzer in New York City. Early 20th-century historian [[James Ford Rhodes]] concluded that the press “had manipulated the real news, spread unfounded reports, putting all before their readers with scare headlines."  By contrast historian John Offner has insisted, "there is no evidence" to indicate that the "sensational press" influenced McKinley's policy, suggesting that "its impact on changing public opinion may have been limited."   

==Impact on U.S.==

==Impact on U.S.==

When the war came –"a splendid little war," one official called it--it lasted only six months and 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.  

When the war came –"a splendid little war," one official called it--it lasted only six months and 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.  

==Bibliography==  

==Bibliography==  

* Allen, Thomas B. "What Really Sank the Maine?." ''Naval History'', April 1998 [http://www.usni.org/navalhistory/articles98/nhallen.htm online]

* Allen, Thomas B. "What Really Sank the Maine?." ''Naval History'', April 1998 [http://www.usni.org/navalhistory/articles98/nhallen.htm online]

* Perez, Jr., Louis A. "The Meaning of the Maine: Causation and Historiography of the Spanish-American War." ''Pacific Historical Review'' (1989), 58:3, 293-322.  

* Perez, Jr., Louis A. "The Meaning of the Maine: Causation and Historiography of the Spanish-American War." ''Pacific Historical Review'' (1989), 58:3, 293-322.  

* Samuels, Peggy, and Harold Samuels.  ''Remembering the Maine.'' (1995)

* Samuels, Peggy, and Harold Samuels.  ''Remembering the Maine.'' (1995)

[[Category:Wars]]

[[Category:Wars]]

[[Category:United States History]]

[[Category:United States History]]