The Spanish–American War was a war fought between Spain and the United States in 1898, partly because many people in Cuba, one of the last parts of the Spanish Empire, wanted to become independent. Many Americans also wanted their country to get a colonial empire.
Quick Facts Date, Location ...
Spanish–American War[lower-alpha 1] |
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Part of the Philippine Revolution and the Cuban War of Independence |
(clockwise from top left)
- Signal Corps extending telegraph lines
- USS Iowa
- Filipino soldiers wearing Spanish pith helmets outside Manila
- The Spanish signing the Treaty of Paris
- Roosevelt and his Rough Riders at San Juan Hill
- Replacing of the Spanish flag at Fort San Antonio Abad (Fort Malate)
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Date | April 21[lower-alpha 2] – August 13, 1898 (3 months, 3 weeks and 2 days) |
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Location |
- Cuba and Puerto Rico (Caribbean Sea)
- Philippines and Guam (Asia-Pacific)
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Result |
American victory
- Treaty of Paris of 1898
- Founding of the First Philippine Republic and beginning of the Philippine–American War
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Territorial changes |
Spain relinquishes sovereignty over Cuba; cedes Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippine Islands to the United States. $20 million paid to Spain by the United States for infrastructure owned by Spain. |
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Belligerents |
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United States Cuban revolutionaries[lower-alpha 3] First Philippine Republic
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Spain
- Philippines
- Cuba
- Puerto Rico
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Commanders and leaders |
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- Russell A. Alger
- John Davis Long
- Nelson Miles
- William Shafter
- George Dewey
- William Sampson
- Wesley Merritt
- Joseph Wheeler
- Charles Sigsbee
- Máximo Gómez
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- Calixto García
- Demetrio Duany
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- Maria Christina
- Práxedes Mateo Sagasta
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- Patricio Montojo
- Pascual Cervera
- Arsenio Linares
- Manuel Cámara
- Manuel Macías
- Ramón Blanco
- Antero Rubín
- Arsenio Campos
- Valeriano Weyler
- José Velázquez
- Basilio Augustín
- Fermín Jáudenes
- Diego Ríos
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Strength |
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Total: 300,000
- 72,339
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Total: 339,783 288,452 (Caribbean)
- 278 447 in Cuba
- 10,005 in Puerto Rico
51,331 (Philippines) |
Casualties and losses |
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American:
- 385 killed[10]
- 1,662 wounded[10]
- 11 prisoners[11]
- 2,061 dead from disease[10]
- 1 cargo ship sunk[13]
- 1 cruiser damaged
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Spanish:
- 700–800 killed
- 700–800 wounded
- 40,000+ prisoners[15]
- 15,000 dead from disease
- 6 small ships sunk
- 11 cruisers sunk
- 2 destroyers sunk
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The higher naval losses may be attributed to the disastrous naval defeats inflicted on the Spanish at Manila Bay and Santiago de Cuba.
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Close
Spain lost the sea war and so had to give up Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam. All of those colonies, except for Cuba, became American colonies after the war, and Cuba became an independent country but with much US influence.