Challenges to the Spanish Empire

Since the 1860s, Spain faced revolutions in the Philippines and Cuba.
Cuban nationalists sought independence.
Spain aimed to maintain control over sugar plantations and economic assets.
Cuban rebels used tactics like dynamiting trains, burning sugar fields, and disrupting the economy.
Spain retaliated brutally, causing approximately 100,000 civilian deaths.
US newspapers covered these events, highlighting Spanish atrocities and Cuban resistance.

U.S. leaders desired to control Cuba for its valuable assets, including sugar plantations.
President McKinley considered purchasing Cuba or intervening in the conflict.

Cuban riots in Havana led McKinley to send the USS Maine battleship to the area, initially reducing tensions.
On February 15, 1898, an explosion sank the USS Maine, killing 266 crew members.
Newspapers blamed Spain or Cuba for the explosion.
William Randolph Hearst's yellow journalism exaggerated the story to increase newspaper sales.
A page diagrammed how the ship might have been destroyed by a torpedo was produced and circulated.
Navy researchers later concluded the ship's boilers exploded accidentally, suggesting a technological accident rather than an attack.

As McKinley considered how to respond to the Cuba-Spain conflict after the USS Maine's destruction, Theodore Roosevelt, then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, began preparations to attack Spanish colonies, including the Philippines.
The USS Congress allocated $50,000,000$ for arms.

Reasons for war against Spain in the U.S. included:
- Sympathy for Cuban independence.
- Concern over Spanish actions.
- Desire for territorial acquisition and market access.
- Belief that Spain attacked a U.S. warship.
In March, McKinley demanded Spain grant Cuba independence.
On April 11, McKinley received authorization from Congress to declare war against Spain.

After the war, the U.S. decided which territories to keep.
Cuba was in debt (over $400,000,000$ ).
Congress opted not to annex Cuba but maintained control.
Guam and Puerto Rico were strategically located for naval operations, so the U.S. kept them.

Imperialist nations eyed the Philippines.
The Filipinos had declared independence during the Spanish-American War, but Spain and the U.S. ignored this.
The U.S. paid $20,000,000$ to acquire the Philippines from Spain.
Filipinos continued to fight the U.S. presence until mid-1902, using guerrilla tactics.
U.S. troops used brutal tactics, including waterboarding and internment camps.
The U.S. Filipino War ended in 1902 with a U.S. victory.
The U.S. maintained control over the Philippines until granting independence in 1942.

The U.S. pursued imperialist impulses, acquiring direct or indirect control over other groups' politics and culture.
The Anti-Imperialist League opposed the annexation of new colonies.
Arguments against annexation included:
- High tax costs.
- Immorality of taking over other countries.
- Belief that other peoples could govern themselves.
- Diversion from domestic political affairs.
- Opposition to American principles of government based on the consent of the governed.
The League united writers and social reformers, lobbying against annexation and publishing pamphlets called Liberty Tracts.

Proponents of annexation emphasized U.S. military victory, access to new markets, and the promise of eventual self-governance for acquired territories.
Some, like McKinley, believed certain countries were unfit for self-rule.
Filipinos were described as half-civilized and ungovernable.

The U.S. and other countries sought trade with China.
China faced internal issues, including a disruptive modernization campaign and local populations attempting to oust missionaries and traders.
The U.S. drafted the Open Door Note, sent to other imperial powers, acknowledging the partitioning of China into spheres of influence.
The note proposed maintaining an open door policy, allowing all imperial powers to trade in all spheres.
The U.S. had no power to enforce this agreement, but the imperialist powers eventually agreed.

In early 1900, the anti-imperialist Boxer Rebellion swept through China.
Armed Chinese attacked missions, foreign businesses, trade infrastructure, and Chinese Christians.
They also attacked Western embassies.
U.S. President McKinley ordered American troops to battle, alongside other imperialist nations, under the guise of maintaining an independent China and open trade relations.
Like the Filipinos, Chinese residents opposed imperialist presence and interference in local affairs.
The U.S. continued to promote open door policies and use its military and political presence to expand markets.