Cubans Against Spain Spain’s empire, once the largest in the world, had dwindled to include only the Philippines and the island of Guam in the Pacific, a few outposts in Africa, and the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea by the end of the 19th century. It was about to lose most of those as well. American Interest in Cuba- Americans had kept their eye on Cuba for over 50 years. In the 1850s, diplomats recommended to President Pierce that the U.S. should buy Cuba from Spain. Even president Buchannan attempted to the Spanish into selling Cuba. He ultimately had to rescind his Ostend Manifesto. 1868-1878: Americans sympathized with Cubans who rebelled, unsuccessfully, against Cuba in their first war for independence 1886: Though the Cubans failed to gain independence, they did force Spain to abolish slavery. American capitalists then invested millions of dollars in sugar plantations on the Caribbean island. 1895: A second war for independence erupted, largely due to the influence of Cuban poet Jose Marti Marti organized resistance against Spain, in part by using guerilla warfare and deliberately destroying American-owned sugar plantations in hopes of provoking U.S. intervention to help Cuban rebels gain independence Marti, however, feared that U.S. imperialists would replace the Spanish as imperial possessors of Cuba Many Americans, not just businessmen who had invested in Cuba, sympathized with the Cuban rebels, taking on the cry of Libre!” “Cuba which was similar to Patrick Henry’s me liberty or give me “Give death!” War Fever Escalates- The Spanish responded to the renewed Cuban revolt by sending Gen. Valeriano Weylar to crush the rebellion. As many as 300,000 Cubans died in barbed-wire enclosed reconcentration camps where they were herded into by Butcher” Weyler in order to keep them from helping in the insurrection. “The Weyler’s brutal actions would also lead to a different kind of war, one fought to increase circulation of American newspapers. 1896-1898: Yellow Journalism and the Headline Wars William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer printed exaggerated and sensationalized headlines about atrocities in Cuba in order to increase circulation of their newspapers Yellow journalism- sensationalized writing that exaggerates the news to lure and enrage readers
Cubans Against Spain Spain’s empire, once the largest in the world, had dwindled to include only the Philippines and the island of Guam in the Pacific, a few outposts in Africa, and the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea by the end of the 19th century. It was about to lose most of those as well. American Interest in Cuba- Americans had kept their eye on Cuba for over 50 years. In the 1850s, diplomats recommended to President Pierce that the U.S. should buy Cuba from Spain. Even president Buchannan attempted to the Spanish into selling Cuba. He ultimately had to rescind his Ostend Manifesto. 1868-1878: Americans sympathized with Cubans who rebelled, unsuccessfully, against Cuba in their first war for independence 1886: Though the Cubans failed to gain independence, they did force Spain to abolish slavery. American capitalists then invested millions of dollars in sugar plantations on the Caribbean island. 1895: A second war for independence erupted, largely due to the influence of Cuban poet Jose Marti Marti organized resistance against Spain, in part by using guerilla warfare and deliberately destroying American-owned sugar plantations in hopes of provoking U.S. intervention to help Cuban rebels gain independence Marti, however, feared that U.S. imperialists would replace the Spanish as imperial possessors of Cuba Many Americans, not just businessmen who had invested in Cuba, sympathized with the Cuban rebels, taking on the cry of “Cuba Libre!” which was similar to Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death!” War Fever Escalates- The Spanish responded to the renewed Cuban revolt by sending Gen. Valeriano Weylar to crush the rebellion. As many as 300,000 Cubans died in barbed-wire enclosed reconcentration camps where they were herded into by “The Butcher” Weyler in order to keep them from helping in the insurrection. Weyler’s brutal actions would also lead to a different kind of war, one fought to increase circulation of American newspapers. 1896-1898: Yellow Journalism and the Headline Wars William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer printed exaggerated and sensationalized headlines about atrocities in Cuba in order to increase circulation of their newspapers Yellow journalism- sensationalized writing that exaggerates the news to lure and enrage readers