Spanish-American War Begins - Imperial Expansion Under Humanitarian Pretext

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 21 and declared war on April 23, making the U.S. declaration a formalization of hostilities manufactured through months of yellow journalism following the February 15 USS Maine explosion. The war ostensibly aims to liberate Cuba from Spanish colonial oppression, but rapidly evolves into a campaign of territorial acquisition spanning the Caribbean and Pacific, fulfilling expansionist ambitions that Theodore Roosevelt and other imperialists have championed since the 1880s.

The three-month conflict exposes the growing fusion of corporate interests, media manipulation, and military power that characterizes American imperialism. Though wrapped in humanitarian rhetoric about freeing oppressed Cubans, the war serves multiple corporate and strategic objectives: securing access to Caribbean markets, establishing naval bases for projecting power, and particularly acquiring the Philippines as a gateway to Asian markets and the China trade that American businesses covet. The strategic use of the naval base at Pearl Harbor during the war convinces Congress to approve formal annexation of Hawaii in July 1898, demonstrating how military conflict provides pretexts for territorial expansion that business interests have long sought. American forces quickly overwhelm the decrepit Spanish military, with decisive naval victories at Manila Bay (May 1) and Santiago de Cuba (July 3).

The war’s aftermath reveals its imperial character: the December 1898 Treaty of Paris transfers Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to U.S. control, with Spain receiving $20 million for the Philippines. Cuba, supposedly liberated, becomes a U.S. protectorate through the 1901 Platt Amendment that denies Cuban sovereignty, controls its finances, and grants America the Guantanamo Bay naval base in perpetuity. The war enables American business interests to dominate Cuban sugar production and Philippine hemp trade—both vital commodities for U.S. industrial and naval power. Most troublingly, the “liberation” of the Philippines immediately transforms into brutal counterinsurgency when Filipinos resist American occupation, triggering the Philippine-American War (1899-1902) marked by atrocities including torture, civilian massacres, and concentration camps. The Spanish-American War thus establishes the template for American imperialism: humanitarian justifications masking corporate interests, media manipulation manufacturing consent, and military intervention leading to permanent occupation and economic exploitation rather than genuine liberation.