Timeline of the Spanish–American War

Last updated

Spanish–American War
Part of the Philippine Revolution and the Cuban War of Independence
USSMaine.jpg
The sunken USS Maine in Havana Harbor in February 1898
DateApril 25, 1898 – August 12, 1898
(3 months, 2 weeks and 4 days)
Location
Cuba and Puerto Rico (Caribbean)
Philippines and Guam (Asia-Pacific)
Result

Treaty of Paris

Territorial
changes
Spain relinquishes sovereignty over Cuba to U.S.; cedes Puerto Rico and Guam to U.S.; cedes Philippine Islands to U.S. for $20 million
Belligerents

Flag of the United States (1896-1908).svg United States
Flag of Cuba.svg  Cuba [a]
Flag of the Philippines (1898-1901).svg Revolutionary Government of the Philippines [b]

Contents

Flag of Spain (1785-1873, 1875-1931).svg Spain
Colonies:

Commanders and leaders
Flag of the United States (1896-1908).svg William McKinley
Flag of the United States (1896-1908).svg Nelson A. Miles
Flag of the United States (1896-1908).svg Theodore Roosevelt
Flag of the United States (1896-1908).svg William R. Shafter
Flag of the United States (1896-1908).svg George Dewey
Flag of the United States (1896-1908).svg William Sampson
Flag of the United States (1896-1908).svg Wesley Merritt
Flag of the United States (1896-1908).svg Joseph Wheeler
Flag of the Philippines (1898-1901).svg Emilio Aguinaldo
Flag of Spain (1785-1873, 1875-1931).svg Maria Christina
Flag of Spain (1785-1873, 1875-1931).svg Práxedes Sagasta
Flag of Spain (1785-1873, 1875-1931).svg Patricio Montojo
Flag of Spain (1785-1873, 1875-1931).svg Pascual Cervera
Flag of Spain (1785-1873, 1875-1931).svg Arsenio Linares
Flag of Spain (1785-1873, 1875-1931).svg Manuel Macías
Flag of Spain (1785-1873, 1875-1931).svg Ramón Blanco
Flag of Spain (1785-1873, 1875-1931).svg Valeriano Weyler
Flag of Spain (1785-1873, 1875-1931).svg José Toral
Flag of Spain (1785-1873, 1875-1931).svg Fermín Jáudenes
Strength

Cuban Republic:

30,000 irregulars [1]

United States:

300,000 regulars and volunteers [2]

Spanish Army:

278,447 regulars and militia [3] (Cuba),
10,005 regulars and militia [3] (Puerto Rico),
51,331 regulars and militia [3] (Philippines)
Casualties and losses

Cuban Republic:

10,665 dead [3]

United States: [4]

2,910 dead
345 from combat
Army: 280
Navy: 16
Other: 49
2,565 from disease
1,577 wounded
Army: 1,509
Navy: 68

Spanish Navy :

560 dead,
300–400 wounded [4]

Spanish Army :

3,000 dead or wounded
6,700 captured, [5] (Philippines)
13,000 diseased [3] (Cuba)
10,000 dead from combat [6]
50,000 dead from disease [6]

The timeline of events of the Spanish–American War covers major events leading up to, during, and concluding the Spanish–American War, a ten-week conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States of America.

The conflict had its roots in the worsening socio-economic and military position of Spain after the Peninsular War, the growing confidence of the United States as a world power, a lengthy independence movement in Cuba and a nascent one in the Philippines, and strengthening economic ties between Cuba and the United States. [7] [8] [9] Land warfare occurred primarily in Cuba and to a much lesser extent in the Philippines. Little or no fighting occurred in Guam, Puerto Rico, or other areas. [10]

Although largely forgotten in the United States today, [11] the Spanish–American War was a formative event in American history. The destruction of the USS Maine, yellow journalism, the war slogan "Remember the Maine!", and the charge up San Juan Hill are all iconic symbols of the war. [12] [13] [14] [15] The war marked the first time since the American Civil War that Americans from the North and the South fought a common enemy, and the war marked the end of strong sectional feeling and the "healing" of the wounds of that war. [16] The Spanish–American War catapulted Theodore Roosevelt to the presidency, [17] marked the beginning of the modern United States Army, [18] and led to the first establishment of American colonies overseas. [19]

The war proved seminal for Spain as well. The loss of Cuba, which was seen not as a colony but as part of Spain itself, [20] was traumatic for the Spanish government and Spanish people. This trauma led to the rise of the Generation of '98, a group of young intellectuals, authors, and artists who were deeply critical of what they perceived as conformism and ignorance on the part of the Spanish people. They successfully called for a new "Spanish national spirit" that was politically active, anti-authoritarian, and generally anti-imperialistic and anti-military. [21] The war also greatly benefited Spain economically. No longer spending large sums to maintain its colonies, significant amounts of capital were suddenly repatriated for use domestically. [22] This sudden and massive influx of capital led to the development for the first time of large, modern industries in banking, chemicals, electrical power generation, manufacturing, ship building, steel, and textiles. [23] [24]

The war led to independence for Cuba within a few years. [25] The United States imposed a colonial government on the Philippines, quashing the young Philippine Republic. This led directly to the Philippine–American War, [26] a brutal guerilla conflict that caused the deaths of about 4,100 Americans and 12,000 to 20,000 Filipino guerilla and regular troops. [27] [28] [29] Another 200,000 to 1,500,000 Filipino civilian deaths occurred. [29] [30] [31] However, the conflict brought William Howard Taft to the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt, and led to Taft's ascension to the U.S. presidency in 1908. [32] The American presence in the Philippines still existed at the beginning of World War II. Along with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the American experience in the Philippines at the start of the war (the Philippines Campaign, the Bataan Death March, the Battle of Corregidor) became another formative episode in the American experience [33] [34] and rehabilitated the career of General Douglas MacArthur. [35] [36] [37] [38]

1892

1894

1895

1896

1897

1898

January

February

Yellow journalism, like these headlines about the destruction of the USS Maine in the New York Journal, worsened war hysteria in the U.S. and helped cause the Spanish-American War. Journal98.gif
Yellow journalism, like these headlines about the destruction of the USS Maine in the New York Journal, worsened war hysteria in the U.S. and helped cause the Spanish–American War.

March

April

May

1898 color lithograph depicting the Battle of Manila Bay USS Olympia art NH 91881-KN.jpg
1898 color lithograph depicting the Battle of Manila Bay

June

Emilio Aguinaldo in 1898 Aguinaldo.jpg
Emilio Aguinaldo in 1898

July

Charge of the Rough Riders at San Juan Hill by Frederic Remington Charge of the Rough Riders at San Juan Hill.JPG
Charge of the Rough Riders at San Juan Hill by Frederic Remington
Somewhat fictional depiction of the beginning of the naval Battle of Santiago de Cuba. Battle of Santiago Bay - 1898-07-03.jpg
Somewhat fictional depiction of the beginning of the naval Battle of Santiago de Cuba.

August

The American flag is raised over Fort Santiago after the surrender of Manila on August 13. American troops raising the Flag at Fort San Antonio De Abad, Malate, Philippines (1899).jpg
The American flag is raised over Fort Santiago after the surrender of Manila on August 13.

September

October

U.S. Secretary of State John Hay signs the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. John Hay signs Treaty of Paris, 1899.JPG
U.S. Secretary of State John Hay signs the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898.

November

December

1899

See also

References

Notes
  1. Unrecognized as a participant by the primary belligerents.
  2. Unrecognized as a participant by the primary belligerents.
  3. The United States was informally allied with Katipunan forces under Emilio Aguinaldo from the time of Aguinaldo's return to Manila on May 19, 1898, until those forces were absorbed into the dictatorial government proclaimed by Aguinaldo on May 24, 1898. These forces became part of the Revolutionary Government of the Philippines on June 12, 1898. The revolutionary government was informally allied with the United States until the end of the Spanish–American War.
  4. Accurate information for both the number of crew and dead are difficult vary widely.
  5. The act also permitted the government to float up to $100 million in war bonds with a maturity of less than a year. This proves "a turning point" in the federal government's ability to create flexible financial instruments critical to maintaining the credit of the United States. [109]
  6. The estate tax was not the first estate tax enacted in the history of the United States, but its graduated nature made it the precursor to the modern federal estate tax. The 1898 estate tax was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States in Knowlton v. Moore , 178 U.S. 41 (1900). [110]
Citations
  1. Dyal 1996, p. 19.
  2. Dyal 1996, p. 22.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Dyal 1996, p. 20.
  4. 1 2 Dyal 1996, p. 67.
  5. Trask 1996, p. 371.
  6. 1 2 Salvadó 1999, p. 19.
  7. Esdaile 2003, pp. 507–508.
  8. Hamilton 2006, p. 105.
  9. Foster 2011, p. 523.
  10. Bining & Cochran 1964, p. 503.
  11. Williams 2009, p. 53.
  12. Jasper, Delgado & Adams 2001, p. 185.
  13. Cookman 2009, p. 68.
  14. Kaplan 2002, p. 125.
  15. Lordan 2010, p. 14.
  16. Fuller 2007, p. 7.
  17. Hendrickson 2003, p. 131.
  18. Barnes 2010, p. 336.
  19. Soltero 2006, p. 22.
  20. Offner 1992, p. 11.
  21. Dyal 1996, p. 108.
  22. Rosa, Castro & Blanco 2006, p. 230.
  23. Herr 1971, pp. 119–120.
  24. Balfour 1997, pp. 54–56.
  25. Pérez 1998, pp. 32–36.
  26. Abinales & Amoroso 2017, p. 113.
  27. Hack & Rettig 2006, p. 172.
  28. "Historian Paul Kramer Revisits the Philippine–American War". The JHU Gazette. April 10, 2006. Retrieved July 18, 2013.
  29. 1 2 Guillermo, Emil (February 8, 2004). "A First Taste of Empire". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved July 18, 2013.[ permanent dead link ]
  30. Barnes 2010, p. 214.
  31. Burdeos 2008, p. 14.
  32. Cash 2007, p. 202.
  33. Gonzalez 2010, p. 74.
  34. Preston 2010, p. 159.
  35. Zaloga 2011, p. 10.
  36. Watson 2008, p. 109.
  37. Jeffers 2003, p. 100.
  38. Buhite 2008, p. 42.
  39. Dominguez & Prevost 2008, pp. 25–26.
  40. Pérez 1998, pp. 30–32.
  41. Pérez 1998, p. 7.
  42. LeFaber 1998, p. 288.
  43. Hendrickson 2003, p. 7.
  44. 1 2 3 Rockoff 2012, p. 48.
  45. Offner 1992, p. 12.
  46. Offner 1992, p. 13.
  47. Peceny 1999, p. 61.
  48. Curti 1988, p. 199.
  49. "Cuba Relief Bill Passed". The New York Times. May 21, 1897. p. 2. Retrieved August 14, 2020; "Cuban Relief Plans". The New York Times. May 25, 1897. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  50. Rickover 1995, p. 22.
  51. Zimmermann 2004, p. 249.
  52. Nasaw 2000, p. 130.
  53. Cummins 2009, p. 190.
  54. Hasted 2004, p. 451.
  55. Offner 1992, pp. 116–119.
  56. Hall 2009b, p. 358.
  57. Axelrod 2008, pp. 67–68.
  58. Marley 2008, p. 598.
  59. Borneman 2012, p. 1874.
  60. Trask 1996, p. 68.
  61. Offner 1994, p. 285.
  62. Maclay 1902, p. 67.
  63. Hall 2009b, p. 99.
  64. Dyal 1996, pp. 68–69.
  65. Marley 2008, p. 908.
  66. Tucker 2013b, p. 1152.
  67. Tucker 2013a, pp. 1150, 1153.
  68. McCoy & De Jesus 1982, p. 281.
  69. Hallett 2012, p. 48.
  70. 1 2 LeFaber 1998, p. 396.
  71. Offner 1992, p. 159.
  72. Sweetman 2002, p. 93.
  73. Alip 1949, p. 131.
  74. Churchill 1994, p. 197.
  75. MacCartney 2006, p. 127.
  76. 1 2 3 4 5 Trask 1996, p. 57.
  77. Langley 1994, p. 61.
  78. 1 2 Tucker 2013a, p. 1154.
  79. McCallum 2008, p. 306.
  80. Lenz 2008, p. 75.
  81. Pierpaoli 2009, p. 384.
  82. Greene 2009, p. xxvii.
  83. Tucker 2013a, pp. 1157, 1159.
  84. Symonds 2005, pp. 143–149.
  85. Simmons 2003, p. 69.
  86. Hamilton 2008, p. 66.
  87. Tucker 2013a, p. 1161.
  88. 1 2 Lansford 2005, p. 46.
  89. Hendrickson 2003, p. 104.
  90. Villafaña 2012, p. 169.
  91. Drake 1994, p. 364.
  92. Trask 1996, pp. 383–383.
  93. Trask 1996, p. 116.
  94. Gentry 2012, p. 24.
  95. 1 2 Barnes 2010, p. xiv.
  96. Tucker 2013a, p. 1163.
  97. 1 2 Hutton 2011, pp. 286–287.
  98. Trask 1996, pp. 132, 135–136.
  99. Hansen 2011, p. 97.
  100. Trask 1996, p. 140.
  101. Hansen 2011, pp. 98–100.
  102. Caporale 2003, p. 13.
  103. Halili 2004, p. 162.
  104. Garbade 2012, p. 29.
  105. Jewell 2005, p. 1895.
  106. Swaine 2007, p. 653.
  107. Pratt 1999, p. 117.
  108. Garbade 2012, p. 42.
  109. Livingston 1989, p. 121.
  110. Johnson & Eller 1998, p. 69.
  111. Tucker 2009c, p. 85.
  112. Trask 1996, p. 209.
  113. Barnes 2010, p. xv.
  114. Schoonover 2003, p. 89.
  115. 1 2 Tucker 2010, p. 1506.
  116. 1 2 3 Sweetman 2002, p. 98.
  117. Tucker 2013a, pp. 1169, 1171.
  118. 1 2 Tucker 2013a, p. 1171.
  119. Titherington 1900, p. 149.
  120. Trask 1996, p. 235.
  121. Trask 1996, pp. 235–236.
  122. Mahon 1994, pp. 175–176.
  123. Trask 1996, pp. 237–246.
  124. Keenan & Tucker 2009, p. 574.
  125. Tucker 2009d, p. 404.
  126. 1 2 Marley 2008, p. 602.
  127. Tucker 2009d, p. 405.
  128. Tucker 2009d, p. 406.
  129. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Marley 2008, p. 603.
  130. Austin & Clubb 1986, p. 76.
  131. Ryan 2010, p. 280.
  132. Trask 1996, pp. 275–278.
  133. Dunlap 2012, p. 754.
  134. Marley 2008, pp. 603–604.
  135. Sweetman 2002, p. 99.
  136. 1 2 Marley 2008, p. 604.
  137. Sweetman 2002, pp. 99–100.
  138. 1 2 3 4 Fernandez 1996, p. 3.
  139. 1 2 3 Sweetman 2002, p. 100.
  140. 1 2 Baralt 1999, p. 113.
  141. Trask 1996, p. 412.
  142. Tucker 2009a, p. 24.
  143. Lindaman & Ward 2006, p. 115.
  144. Wintermute 2009, p. 558.
  145. 1 2 3 4 Tucker 2013a, p. 1176.
  146. Tucker 2013a, p. 1177.
  147. Young 1994, p. 275.
  148. Tucker 2013a, pp. 1176–1177.
  149. Trask 1996, p. 611.
  150. 1 2 Pollard 2009, p. 364.
  151. Smith 1994, pp. 582–584.
  152. Schulp 2010, p. 239.
  153. 1 2 3 4 Rowe 1991, p. 624.
  154. Vázquez 2009, p. 362.
  155. Duany 2002, p. 291.
  156. Jones 2009, p. 284.
  157. Hamilton 2008, p. 78.
  158. Pollard 2009, p. 365.
  159. 1 2 3 4 Nickeson 2009, p. 491.
  160. Smith 1995, p. 207.

Bibliography