Spanish Empire

Spanish-American War Begins - Imperial Expansion Under Humanitarian Pretext

1898-04-25 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

The United States declares war on Spain following the April 20 ultimatum demanding Spanish withdrawal from Cuba, launching what Secretary of State John Hay will call “a splendid little war” that transforms America into a global imperial power. Spain had severed diplomatic ties on April …

William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt U.S. Navy Spanish Empire Cuban revolutionaries gilded-age imperialism spanish-american-war military-intervention territorial-expansion

First Seminole War Begins as Jackson Invades Spanish Florida to Recapture Enslaved People

1817-11-21 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 7/10

U.S. troops from Fort Scott attack the small Seminole village of Fowltown in southern Georgia, killing about 20 people and igniting the First Seminole War. The attack represents escalating border tensions stemming from enslaved people regularly fleeing from Georgia into Spanish Florida, where they …

General Andrew Jackson Seminole Nation Black Seminoles Spanish Empire U.S. War Department military-aggression slavery-enforcement territorial-expansion indigenous-dispossession imperial-overreach

General James Wilkinson Commands War of 1812 Campaigns While Taking Contractor Kickbacks and Spanish Bribes

1813-07-01 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

General James Wilkinson, the highest-ranking federal official ever tried for treason and espionage, commands two unsuccessful military invasion campaigns in the St. Lawrence River valley theater in Canada during the War of 1812 while simultaneously accepting kickbacks from contractors and receiving …

General James Wilkinson Spanish Empire U.S. Army contractors President James Madison military-corruption espionage contractor-fraud accountability-evasion elite-impunity