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The Spanish-American War: Conflict Between Spain And The United States

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The Spanish-American War was a conflict, primarily between Spain and the United States, which lasted from April 21st, 1898 to August 13th, 1898. The issue over which the war was waged was the independence of the Caribbean island of Cuba. Cuba had been attempting to gain independence from Spain since 1868, in the Ten Years’ War, but this longing for freedom was enflamed in the late 1890’s due to poor treatment of Cuba from Spain. When Cuba revolted again, America came to its aid, fighting Spain more or less on Cuba’s behalf. This war was a turning point in American history, because of the events leading up to the conflict, what it stood for, and the aftereffects of the war. The events that caused America’s intervention in the Cuban conflict were, at the time, entirely unique and unheard of. Since its inception, the United States …show more content…

This meant that unless a war directly involved or threatened the US, America would avoid being involved. However, due to several factors, the Spanish-American War was the first of many times in which the United States broke this stance. Many Americans felt sympathy for Cuba’s struggle to gain independence, because such a goal was how America was created. In addition, many American businesses had interests in Cuba, and thus wanted to avoid Spain razing Cuban land. Newspapers took advantage of the American people’s openness to conflict with Spain to publish article after article spreading pro-war propaganda. The New York World and New York

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