The Spanish-American War 1898

The 1898 Spanish-American War marked a pivotal shift in global power, signaling the end of Spain’s imperial era and the emergence of the United States as a dominant international force. Driven by the "ripe fruit" policy and strategic interests in sugar and naval expansion, U.S. intervention in Cuba—catalyzed by the sinking of the USS Maine—transformed the island into an American protectorate through the Platt Amendment. While Spain faced national humiliation and profound internal political introspection, the U.S. simultaneously secured the Philippines, engaging in a brutal three-year conflict that mirrored the very colonial tactics it initially condemned. This transition not only reshaped Caribbean and Pacific geopolitics but also established a lasting legacy of American interventionism, while simultaneously fueling the internal political instability in Spain that eventually contributed to the 1936 Civil War.