Transcript Presentation

Spanish American War 1898
America Becomes an Empire
The Spanish-American War (April-July 1898) was a brief, intense
conflict that effectively ended Spain's worldwide empire and gained the
United States several new possessions in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Preceded by a naval tragedy, the destruction of USS Maine at Havana,
Cuba, the Spanish-American War featured two major naval battles, one
in the Philippines and the other off Cuba, plus several smaller naval
clashes.
The Navy also provided essential support for U.S. Army and Marine
Corps forces ashore. The war made public heroes of a number of U.S.
Navy officers, and marked the beginning of an extremely dynamic period
in the Navy's history.
Spanish Background
• For several centuries Spain’s position as a world
power had been slipping away. By the late 19th
century the nation was left only a few scattered
possessions in the Pacific, Africa, and the West
Indies. Guerilla forces were operating in the
Philippines, and had been present in Cuba for
decades. The Spanish government did not have the
financial resources or the manpower to deal with
these revolts and thus turned to expedients of
building concentration camps to separate the rebels
from their rural base of support.
Yellow Dog Journalism
• William Randolph
Hearst was the
founder of the Hearst
Corporation. During
his career in
newspapers,
magazines, radio and
film broadcasting, he
changed the face of
the way mass media
would be seen
throughout the
world.
Joseph Pulitzer
• In 1883, he purchased the
New York World, a not
too successful daily
owned by the financier
Jay Gould. Within a year,
Pulitzer had turned the
paper around, building
its success on a steady
diet of titillation and
crusading, catching the
readers attention with
large headlines and
flashy illustrations
Yellow Dog Journalism
• The outbreak of the second Cuban
Revolution in 1895 was seen as a major
news story, and many papers,
conservative, yellow and middle of the
road, were soon scrambling to get
reporters on the scene. Most of these
"journalists" go no closer to the fighting
than Key West or the bar of the Hotel
Inglaterra in Havana.
Yellow Dog Journalism
• From these comfortable positions, they
concocted stories of wild fantasy, based upon
slanted press releases coming from the "Cuban
Junta", the Revolution's propaganda agency in
the US, or from their own fertile imaginations.
Readers were treated to a steady diet of battles
that never happened, Cuban victories which
never occurred, exaggerated stories of Spanish
brutality and such flights of fancy as repeated
stories of beautiful, savage Cuban "Amazon"
warriors, serving the Revolution as Cavalry
and showing no mercy to the hated Spaniard
Stephen Crane (standing)
• Crane's greatest
novel, The Red
Badge of Courage
(1895),
• was a correspondent
for Pulitzer’s
World during the
Spanish American
war.
At 9:40 on the evening of 15 February, a terrible explosion on board
Maine shattered the stillness in Havana Harbor. Later investigations
revealed that more than five tons of powder charges for the vessel's six
and ten-inch guns ignited, virtually obliterating the forward third of the
ship. The remaining wreckage rapidly settled to the bottom of the harbor.
Most of Maine's crew were sleeping or resting in the enlisted quarters in
the forward part of the ship when the explosion occurred. Two hundred
and sixty-six men lost their lives as a result of the disaster: 260 died in
the explosion or shortly thereafter, and six more died later from injuries.
Captain Sigsbee and most of the officers survived because their quarters
were in the aft portion of the ship.
USS Maine Entering Havana
Sinking of USS Maine
• USS Maine, a second-class
battleship built between 1888
and 1895, was sent to Havana
in January 1898 to protect
American interests during the
long-standing revolt of the
Cubans against the Spanish
government. In the evening of
15 February 1898, Maine sank
when her forward gunpowder
magazines exploded. Nearly
three-quarters of the battleship's
crew died as a result of the
explosion
Funeral In Cuba
• Funeral procession for
crewmen killed when the
ship exploded, in the
streets of Havana, Cuba,
shortly after the disaster.
April
th
11
1898
• McKinley asks for war
• Teller Amendment –
which tied America’s
hands after the war by
guaranteeing a free
Cuba at the end of the
war. Europe watched
for the outcome and
German aided Spain
Manila Bay
• Before dawn on 1 May 1898, Commodore George Dewey's
flagship Olympia led seven U.S. Navy cruisers and gunboats into
Manila Bay. By 8 AM that morning Dewey's Asiatic Squadron had
located and destroyed virtually the entire Spanish naval force in the
Philippines. Damage to the American ships was negligible, and
their crews suffered no fatalities and few injuries.
• The Battle of Manila Bay was a singular demonstration of the
daring and decisive application of sea power. In a few hours,
Dewey had eliminated any threat that the Spanish Navy might pose
to U.S. Far Eastern commerce and placed Spain's centuries-long
rule of the Philippines in grave jeopardy. A few days later, with the
capture of Cavite arsenal, he also gained a repair and refueling
base, essential for maintaining his squadron under wartime
conditions thousands of miles from home.
Commodore George Dewey
• Commander of the
Pacific fleet
• Flag Ship USS
Olympia
• Destroyed Spanish
Fleet at Manila Bay
• “You may fire when
ready Greedly”
Commodore Dewey
• Dewey was promoted
to Commodore in
1896, to Rear Admiral
in May 1898 and to
Admiral of the Navy in
1899.
USS Olympia in Manila Bay
Sunk Spanish Wooden Ship
Manila Bay
US Navy Span Am War
• U.S. Navy cruisers came in great variety in 1898, all armed with medium
caliber or smaller guns. Excluding the larger armored cruiser type, these
warships were "protected cruisers", with a steel armored deck covering
machinery and ammunition magazines. In some smaller cruisers, however,
this armor was so thin that the ships really deserved to be called gunboats.
Cruiser missions included providing presence throughout the World, fleet
scouting, commerce protection and raiding, all vital missions for a
maritime nation.
• Generally, the Navy's cruisers were fairly fast by the standards of their
day and had good seagoing characteristics. While a few still retained
sails to enhance operating range, the introduction of triple-expansion
engines a decade earlier had made possible a high standard of
endurance under steam alone.
• During the Spanish-American War, the U.S. Navy actively
employed fifteen ships rated as cruisers:
USS Olympia
•
USS Olympia (Cruiser # 6) was a
heavily-armed protected cruiser
that became the Asiatic Squadron
flagship in 1895, soon after she
first commissioned. Under
Commodore George Dewey, she
led U.S. Navy forces in the Battle
of Manila Bay and during
subsequent operations in the
Philippines area.
Olympia's active service
continued until 1922. The only
survivor of America's SpanishAmerican War fleet, she is now a
museum ship at Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania
USS Brooklyn Armored Cruiser
Battleship USS Indiana
Battleship USS Iowa
USS Texas Cuban Waters
Spanish Ship CUBA
Rough Riders/Military Governor
• commander of the
First Volunteer
Cavalry (The Rough
Riders)
• Following the war,
he served as Military
Governor of Cuba
until 1902
Sec. Navy Teddy Roosvelt
• As Assistant Secretary of
the Navy, Roosevelt played
an important role in war
preparations. He resigned
that post a few weeks after
hostilities commenced and
actively participated in
combat as Lieutenant
Colonel of the Army's First
Volunteer Cavalry
Regiment. Under Wood
Cuba San Juan and Kettle Hill
and Santiago
• The best-known image of the SpanishAmerican War is that of Teddy
Roosevelt on horseback charging with
his Rough Riders up San Juan Hill in
Cuba. But not only was the role of the
Rough Riders exaggerated, it also
displaced attention from the black
soldiers who made up almost 25
percent of the U. S. force in Cuba.
Make up of the troops
• Of the approximately 20,000 U.S. troops that
participated actively in the Cuban campaign, the
majority were regular soldiers (of whom 7,000
were African Americans) and only 7,400 were
volunteers. Most of the 200,000 volunteers
recruited in the United States at the time of the
war stayed at home in military camps; only a third
of them saw action in Cuba, the Philippines, and
Puerto Rico.
Rough Riders
• The "Rough Riders" was
formed from men from the
western frontier of the
United States - men who
were used to life in the
saddle and to the use of
firearms - and from some
eastern high-class young
men who were athletic and
also skilled in
horsemanship and the use
of guns...but for entirely
different reasons.
Rough Riders
• The unit included miners,
cowboys preachers,
tradesmen, writers,
professors, athletes, and
clergymen. Remarkably,
there were men from
each of the forty-five
states then in existence,
the four territories and
from fourteen countries!
There were even sixty
Native Americans on the
roster.
Regimental Flag of the Rough
Riders
th
10
Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers
• At the outbreak of war
the army utilized all
four of its all black
regiments. Despite the
prejudice of the time,
these units were among
the very few experienced
combat troops in the
army. All four of these
regiments had fought in
the Indian wars
th
10
• Created in 1866
• 1898 troops of the
10th, under the
command of, Lt.
John J. Pershing
played a critical role
in the war against
Spain in Cuba. The
future General
Pershing was nicknamed "Black Jack"
because of his
service with the 10th.
Cavalry
Regimental Flag of the 10th
John Black Jack Pershing
• He graduated from West
Point in 1886 and served
in the Spanish-American
War, the Philippines
Insurrection, the
Mexican Expedition and
was the overall
American Commander
in Europe during World
War I.
General Joe Wheeler
• U.S. Military Academy
in 1859.
• 1861 he resigned from
the army joined with the
Confederate forces.
• Spanish-American War
General Wheeler served
as the major general of
volunteers
General Shafter
• Shafter, at age 63,
was a corpulent three
hundred pounds in
weight and suffering
from the gout. He
was in no condition
to command troops
• Overall Command at
San Juan
CUBA
• Newspapers Glorified Battles for their readers
• Unbiased reports depict a much less glorified
version of events, where Spanish troops often
more quickly surrendered than fought. The U.S.
troops had far more problems dealing with heat
and disease than with the Spanish forces, and
within a month the island was in U.S. hands.
Guantanamo Bay
• The first action in Cuba was the establishing
of a base at Guantanamo Bay on 10th June
by U.S. Marines
• a brief but violent phase of the SpanishAmerican war.
• The invasion was instrumental in the Battle
of Santiago and the invasion of Puerto Rico
The Hills Protecting Santiago
• The Battle of San Juan Hill was the
bloodiest and most famous battle of the
Spanish American War.At San Juan Hill, 750
Spanish soldiers were ordered to hold the
heights against an American offensive on
June 1, 1898. The struggle lasted for more
than twelve hours, and cost at least two
hundred American and an equal number of
Spanish lives.
Kettle Hill
• Theodore Roosevelt became a war hero
when he led a charge up the Kettle Hill at
the Battle of San Juan Hill outside of
Santiago as lieutenant colonel of the Rough
Riders Regiment on July 1st
• This attack was at the same time as the 10th
went up San Juan
Puerto Rico
• On May 10 1898, the first shot which
marked Puerto Rico’s entry into the Spanish
American War was shot at USS Yale from
Fort San Cristobal's cannon batteries. Fort
San Cristóbal's gunners duel with US Navy
warships during a day long bombardment
May 12 1898 Six months later Puerto Rico
becomes US territory by terms of the Treaty
of Paris
Guam
• The Battle of Guam was a bloodless
conflict between the U.S and Spain during
the Spanish American War. The capture of
Guam gave the United States its first
possession in the Pacific Ocean.
USS Charleston
• Being that the Spanish
had no adequate
defenses and were
without powder for
their cannon,
Governor Marina
surrendered, despite
his protests of being
attacked without any
knowledge of the
Treaty of Paris
• Hostilities were halted on August 12th 1898. The
Treaty of P aris was signed in Paris on Dec. 10th
1898 and was ratified by the U.S. Senate on Feb.
6th 1899
• The United States gained almost all of Spain's
colonies, including the Philippines, Guam, and
Puerto Rico. Cuba was granted independence, but
the United States imposed various restrictions on
the new government, including prohibiting
alliances with other countries.
President William McKinley
• President of the United
States, 1897-1901
Alfonzo III King of Spain
• was the posthumous son
of Alfonso XII. The
mother of Alfonso XIII,
another Maria Cristina,
acted as regent until her
son came of age
officially in 1902.
Alfonso XIII abdicated
in 1931.