The Spanish American War: Explained (Short Animated Documentary)

when William McKinley became the president of the United States in 1897 he presided over a country that was getting a little bit upset what was it upset about well it was the island to its South Cuba which at this point was a Spanish colony and was also rebelling against said Spanish rule this rebellion kicked off in 1895 and had some pretty unfortunate timing I mean rebellions are always pretty badly time for those being rebelled against but it coincided with the spectacular rise in American nationalism when these ideas were combined with the stories about Spanish cruelties in Cuba the American people got upset as such the people in the press wanted to do something about it but McKinley wasn't too keen it wasn't until the Spanish ambassador's criticisms of McKinley were made public that he opted to send a warship the USS Maine to Cuba in order to protect American interests in February 1898 whilst in Havana Harbor the Maine exploded in a respective of what the cause of the explosion was the American people wanted blood so bad was the public fervor and pressure from opponent ala Tisha's that McKinley new war couldn't be avoided and so one April the 21st 1898 America did just that and declared war on Spain under the slogan of remember the Maine to hell with Spain now Spain knew it wasn't going to defeat the United States in a war but chose to fight it anyway why well there were two main reasons the first was that Cuba along with the also revolting Philippines were the last major vestiges of the once glorious Spanish Empire and the second reason was that the dishonor of immediately surrendering to the US was too much for Spain to bear his leaders preferred to go down fighting and lose with its honor intact so how did said fighting go it went amazingly well for America you see America opted to fight the war on two fronts one in the south in Cuba and one in the east or to the west technically in the Philippines this was where Commodore George Dewey decisively defeated the Spanish fleet there at the Battle of Manila Bay the US Army then landed and brought over the exiled Filipino revolutionary Emilio Aguinaldo who promptly declared Filipino independence to bring the Philippines back into the fold the Spanish launched a major fleet hoping to dislodge the Americans it was shortly after this that the u.s. captured Guam and by captured I mean they turned up and gave off a warning shot now traditionally when nations were at peace they would fire off a salute to each other the Spanish garrison there didn't have any ammunition so the governor who didn't know he was at war promptly apologized for not returning the salute the island was captured with no fighting as for the Caribbean theater the US started by seizing some place in southern Cuba called Guantanamo Bay it later landed an expedition force here and pushed inland the Spanish retreated but were extremely adept at defensive tactics and so American progress was slow until the primary American force landed on July the 1st this was the force that contained the famous Rough Riders volunteer army led by a certain Theodore Roosevelt the Americans advanced inland and fought a small Spanish force at the infamous Battle of San Juan Hill here the Spanish were able to inflict many more casualties and the Americans than they themself suffered before retreating and Acacia wandering it was this battle that made Theodore Roosevelt a household name July the 3rd saw the largest naval battle of the war the Battle of Santiago de Cuba during which the Americans obliterated the Spanish fleet there it was after this that the aforementioned relief force that was being sent to the Philippines was promptly turned around because the Spanish coast now lay undefended Puerto Rico or Puerto Rico was invaded in late July but Spanish forces there were incredibly difficult to dislodge by mid-august the Americans had captured Santiago the second largest city in Cuba and in the Philippines the Spanish governor had surrendered as well with their forces on the run a much of their Navy sitting at the bottom of the ocean the Spanish stood for peace before the Americans could march on Havana in December a peace treaty was signed in which Spain lost Guam the Philippines in Puerto Rico to the United States Cuba became a US Protectorate until 1902 when it gained its independence in conclusion the war had gone exceptionally well for America which is why the Secretary of State John Hay called it a splendid little war America's naval prowess were made clear to the world it not a great deal of soldiers died in combat of course lots of soldiers died from disease but since yellow fever didn't wear a Spanish uniform they didn't count and for Spain the soldiers who fought on Cuba and the Philippines had shown themselves as being some of the best in the world but of course the shock to Spanish society for losing the colony of Cuba was absolutely massive the Spanish Empire was dead the American Empire was born I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you for watching with extra thanks to these patrons you can see on screen for their continued support and an extra special thanks to James Bissonnette David archaeologists as ARCA Flash Danny Maloney party-boy Koch coolin Castleman Rob Waterhouse Chris wicker Gustav Swann David Silverman Winston Cawood Christian checky Maggie packs Kowski Lexi Schwinn Anthony Beckett Robert Wetzel Skye Chappell Ike spinning three plates are on the white and Michael Reynolds

Channel: History Matters

Views: 2,009,916

Keywords: History, Matters, Short, Animated, Documentary, Spanish, American, War, 1898, Manila, Cuba, Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico, USA, United States, Roosevelt, Spain, America, McKinley, Fleet

Id: CaOKfu7ZK7I

Length: 4min 20sec (260 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 17 2019