Running Head: SPANISH AMERICAN WAR

The Spanish American War: As seen by Cubans

Diana D. Mateo
University of Texas at El Paso

Running Head: SPANISH AMERICAN WAR

Abstract
Spain has always been a very powerful country who always was taking over other lands to gain
more territory. Spanish believe that if they had more territory and lands than other countries they
would eventually rise as a world power. When Spain took over Cuba there were many Cubans
who were happy but as the years went by many Cubans started to show their dissatisfaction and
their feelings towards Spain. When Spain took over there were many Cubans who were starting
to fight for their independence without reaching any solution thats when the US decided to get
involved and helped Cuba leaving many American soldiers to die. The purpose of this literature
review is to explore one of the factors that lead to many US deaths during the Spanish American
war, the reasons why Spain wanted to take full control over Cuba and discuss the many reasons
that Spain had to not give Cubans their freedom

Running Head: SPANISH AMERICAN WAR

The Spanish American War: As Seen By Cubans

The Spanish American war started in April, 1898 and it was a conflict fought between Spain and
the United States. The United States declared war on Spain on February 15, 1898 after the
sinking of the Battleship Maine in Havana harbor (Milestones, 2016). The war originated in the
Cuban struggle for independence from Spain. Spains brutality against Cubans was published in
many U.S. newspapers and because of that Americans sympathy for the rebels rose. There were
many U.S citizens who demanded for the U.S. to intervene and help Cubans but they also
demanded the intervention after the sinking of the Battleship Maine. When Spain heard this he
announced an armistice on April 9 and speeded up its program to grant Cuba limited powers of
self government but the U.S. Congress demanded the withdrawal of Spains forces from the
island and it authorized the president to use force to secure that withdrawal while renouncing any
U.S. design for annexing Cuba (Foster, 2015). This paper aims to review these three questions:
1. What was one factor that led to many US deaths?
2. Why did Spain wanted to take full control over Cuba?
3. Why Spain did not want to give Cubans their independence?
These three questions will explain the purpose of this literature review by providing background
information of Spain and Cuba, the involvement of the US and explain the main causes for this
conflict to occur.
What was one factor that led to many US deaths?
One of the factors that lead to many US deaths was disease. Cuba used to be places were
there were not any diseases unfortunately for them, when Spain invaded them they brought many
diseases with them and infected many Cubans. Some of these diseases were Malaria, typhoid,
dysentery and the most well known by everybody which was the yellow fever. The yellow fever
was the disease responsible for the deaths of over 400 American soldiers. In 1901 there was a

Running Head: SPANISH AMERICAN WAR

major named Walter Reed who was a U.S. Army physician who decided to discover how the
yellow fever was transmitted which was by mosquitoes. There were also around 5000 US
soldiers who died from other diseases. There were around 2,000 soldiers who contracted yellow
fever and according to General William Shafter, was a thousand times harder to stand up
against than the missiles of the enemy. The first case of this disease was known to take place at
Siboney on July the 6th (Cheng, 2006).
There were many American soldiers who were being struck by diseases such as malaria
and dysentery, but when people discovered the first case of yellow fever this disease began to
spread. There many officers and doctors who blamed this disease on infected buildings in
Siboney. It was on July the 11th that a general from the U.S. troops named General Nelson Miles
ordered people to evacuate and burn Siboney. Diseases were the main reason for there to be
many U.S. deaths because there were fewer than 400 American soldiers killed in combat. More
than a third of the American soldiers died from yellow fever and malaria that were caused by
mosquitoes (McSherry, 2016).
Why did Spain wanted to take full control over Cuba?
Spain had many New World colonies but unfortunately for them by the end of the 1800s,
Spain lost all its colonies except for Cuba and Puerto Rico. At this time there were many Cubans
who were very dissatisfied with Spain because most of them did not wanted to be under the
Spanish rule any more due to the bad treatment they were receiving from the Spanish. There
were many Cubans who decided to move to Florida and other parts of the United States to get
away from the Spanish and their rules even though they moved they still remained loyal to Cuba

Running Head: SPANISH AMERICAN WAR

(Florida Center for Instructional

Technology, 2002).One of the greatest inspiration Cubans had to fight against the Spanish rule
was a writer who lived in New York named Jose Marti. Jose Marti was a Cuban who helped
Cuba fight for its independence from Spain. Marti was the leader of the revolution but
unfortunately he did not get to fight because when he was on his way to fight he was killed and
Tomas Estrada Palma became the leader and president of Cuba. Spain wanted to keep Cuba
because of the great sugar boom and the Cubans ports up to foreign ships that they had (Aydit,
2006).
In the year of 1868 there was a landowner named Carlos Manuel de Cespedes who gave
the Cry of Yara that is most well known as Grito de Yara where he freed his slaves and started
the first was for Cubans independence most commonly known as the Ten Year War. There was a
guerilla called Mambises who was very essential for Cubans independence. The Mambises were
very popular and had many support from Cubans. The U.S. would sell weapons to Spain but not
to the Mambises and that led to a statement in 1878 better known as the Pact of Zanjon. This pact
ended the war, providing a amnesty to anyone who fought and freeing the black slaves who

Running Head: SPANISH AMERICAN WAR

fought on either side. There were many people who were disappointed with the Pact and most
people would call it to be a false promise that would never be kept unfortunately for them they
were right (Sierra, 2013).
Why Spain did not want to give Cubans their freedom?
Spain did not want to give Cubans their freedom because they wanted to keep them as
their slaves for life. They wanted to use them for hard labor and to help them look for gold or any
valuable object. Spanish people wanted to suppress the Cubans because by doing that they
gained more things. They gained political and economic freedom while preserving slavery. Many
of the Cubans who were being held as slaves were treated poorly and most of them would live in
horrible conditions. Any Spanish was able to afford a Cuban slave but the class of each slave was
determined by how they were dressed. If wealthy families buy a slave they would usually
dressed them with expensive cloths so everyone could know that they were rich and that was
why they could dress their Cuban slave good. (Aydit, 2016)

In conclusion this literary review has answered many questions concerning the factors
that led to the Spanish American War, the reasons of why Spain did not wanted to sell Cuba to
the United States and the reasons why Spain did not wanted to give Cubans their freedom. There
are still many questions unanswered about this topic but it is important for everyone to know
about this war because thanks to this war the United States signed the Treaty of Paris and ceded
Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States and transferred sovereignty over the Philippines and
because of that reason the United States became more powerful and rise as the world power that
is why it is very important for every American to be familiar with this war which was an
important turning point for both Spain and the United States.

Running Head: SPANISH AMERICAN WAR

7
References

Aydit, G. (n.d.). The Spanish American War: The Cuban Perspective. 1-7. Retrieved
October 12, 2016
Cheng, J. ( 2006, September 11). The Great Fever. PBS.
Florida Center for Instructional Technology. (2002). Retrieved October 11, 2016 from
http://fcit.usf.edu/FLorIDA/lessons/s-a_war/s-a_war1.htm
Milestones: 1866-1898- Office of the Historian. (n.d.). Retrieved September
26,2016. from https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/spanish-americanwar
McSherry, P. ( 2016, September 15). Casualties During the Spanish American War. Spanamwar,
p.1.
Spanish-Cuban-American War- History of Cuba. (n.d.). Retrieved October 10, 2016
Voanews, (August 15, 2010).A Dispute Over Cuba Leads to the Spanish American War.
Voanews, p.1.