sentences:  The great shattering event of Alfonso's childhood had been the Spanish–American War of 1898, which saw Spain defeated by the Americans and the loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam, and shortly afterwards Spain sold the Carolines and Mariana islands to Germany.As a result, Spain's empire now consisted only of Spanish Guinea in central Africa and some footholds on the Moroccan coast.Alfonso had taken the losses of the Spanish–American War very badly and supported the "africanistas" who longed to conquer for Spain a new empire in Northern Africa to compensate for the lost empire in the Americas and Asia.