Essay: The Spanish-American War

The Spanish-American War, also known as “splendid little war”, was an attempt to overthrow Spain and obtain Latin-American land. On February 15, 1898, an American warship blew up killing 270 Americans. People say it was Spain’s fault so we needed to declare war. It actually turned out not to be Spain and it was actually a random fire that had started. In April of 1898, the declaration of war and teller amendment was introduced. In December of 1898, the Treaty of Paris came out. This was when Spain surrendered and ended the Spanish empire. This event marked the beginning of United States as a world power. The Philippine-American War took place on May 1, 1898. George Dewey lead American Army units to attempt taking authority of Asia. Years before these wars, the Panic of 1893 took place. The economy was trying to find places to sell new american goods. Frederick Jackson Turner said that the west instilled key american values of manliness, toughness, and independence. This is what started the strenuous life of toughing up american boys.
In 1917, the Bolshevik revolution began. This was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s attempt to overthrow the provisional government. The February revolution took place in February of 1917 and was caused by monarchy, poverty, the spread of new ideas, and World War I. This revolution started with workers and women going on strike to see changes in their country. In April of that year, Lenin shut down the provisional government. In October, the October revolution began in the white palace. This was a fairly non-violent revolution. In the October revolution, we started seeing a second congress of soviets. We saw Mensheviks who were moderate socialists and Bolsheviks which took power after the second power of soviets (Reed 20 & 21). In 1918-1922, we see the Russian Civil War begin. This bloody war lasted for four years.
Following these wars, we see America start to progress. We started to have more middle class families who were educated, white, and had expertise in some area of work. America wanted to fix capitalism because many problems were arising. Women had to start working because men were not able to provide for the family on their own. Workplace environments were poor and dangerous. Cities were starting to grow rapidly and housing became a concern because areas became cramped, small, and dirty. Young people moved to these cities to enjoy their freedom and go to parties. This is what created lobster palaces and cabarets in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In 1913, the seventeenth amendment was passed so that Americans could vote for senators. In 1920, the nineteenth amendment was passed, giving women the right to vote.
The path to war began in August 1914 to April 1917. We did not want to get into war because we believed it was not our business. The United States agreed to trade and loan money with allies and the central powers. In 1916, Woodrow Wilson won the election against Edward Hughes. The Mexican revolution fighting moved into the United States that year. America went to war from April 1917 to November 1918. The committee on public information created war propaganda. The espionage act of 1917 and sedition acts of 1918 both expanded definition of treason and try to control speech. The main takeaways from World War I were that it was seen as a progressive war. The United States continued to see war as a possibility to provide opportunity for them to be a global influence. The decline of progressivism started in 1919 when the Treaty of Versailles came out attempting to rebuild America. Wilson started to create peace now that the war was over. Allies wanted Germany to accept blame for starting the war and Britain and France wanted them to pay back war debt. Wilson tried to create a world organization, the League of Nations, but Americans opposed this because they did not wish to get involved with European conflicts.
The First Red Scare happened in 1918-1920 which involved immigrants being targeted and the main fear was sabotage and violence. The Second Red Scare targeted intellectuals and liberals and the main fear was government infiltration and vulnerable people being converted. The Great Depression happened in the late 1920s. This included drought in the west, people taking out loans for goods, more government spending on public education, and a global collapse because of war debts to the allies. Herbert Hoover valued self help, volunteering, and limited government. When Franklin Roosevelt came into office, he wanted to provide short term relief, economic recovery, and create a new economic system.
World War II was a global war starting because of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 (Engel 138). We did not want to enter the war but once we were personally attacked, we had to act. After the war, education rose five percent, the average americans way of life started to improve, home ownership rates rose, and more Americans owned a television which led to a homogenous society. The Cold War was a rivalry between the communist Soviet Union and its allies against the United States and its Western allies that started after World War II. In 1946, the Forgotten War began with the United States in Korea. Joseph Stalin solely believed that there was no lasting peace with capitalism. Although, the United States and Soviet Union do not want to get into a long standing war. Conflict was inevitable because there is too big of a difference between capitalism and communism. In 1954, the Brown v. Board of Education case took place to get rid of “separate but equal” and desegregate schools. In 1961, the freedom rides took place which outlawed segregation in interstate travel. These rides met with violence and busses were set on fire. White protestors were not happy so they attacked riders. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed to prohibit discrimination in employment and hotels, schools, and private businesses. In 1965, all Americans were able to vote securely. The Golden Age ended in the 1970s due to decline in manufacturing. The auto industry fell behind and gas prices rose as well as oil prices. Americans started to lose faith in the country due to lack of protecting ideals. The Cold War ended in 1991 because of economic exhaustion, failure of leadership, Soviet Union not being able to afford sending troops to Afghanistan, triumph of democratic ideals, and power of nationalism.
We transformed from the Cold War to the War on Terror. The Iran-Iraq War lasted from 1980-1988. This destabilized the countries. In 1991, Operation Desert Shield involved the United States bombing Iraqi forces. In 1992, Operation Provide Relief attempted to help the devastated country by giving food, medicine, and water. In 1993, many people were massacred and United States Troops were struck during the “Black Hawk Down” attack. That same year, an attack on the World Trade Center included a truck bomb exploding in the parking garage underneath the building (Wright 202). This was carried out by a supporter of Osama Bin Laden. In 1998, United States embassies were being attacked in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam. On September 11, 2001, nineteen al-Qaeda hijackers seize planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center. This was when George W. Bush declared war on terrorism and America was left in shock.
As you can see, American has had a many events happen from the timespan of the Spanish-American War to the War on Terror. We have been involved in multiple wars, not just in our country but in other countries as well. We have been through famine, poverty, and economic destruction. Some wars, we did not want involvement in and other wars we had to get involved to keep our country safe. These wars and events all shaped the role that our nation holds. Our views on American and the domestic and international responsibilities we hold have changed over time because of these wars and because of the tragedy we have gone through. Overall, America has made a comeback and we are the best country there is. This is proven by the amount of citizens we have and the amount of people we have trying to live in our country!