Spain’s Coup de Grâce
What actually started the Spanish-American War? What were the reasoning and objectives behind it?
Geoffrey A. Walker, Worcester, Mass.
By 1825 the once-intercontinental empire of Spain had declined to the point that its mainland colonies had achieved independence, leaving it only strategic island possessions, including the Philippine, Mariana, Caroline and Marshall islands, Puerto Rico and Cuba. By the 1890s independence movements were challenging Spanish rule in the Philippines and Cuba. Concurrently, the United States had achieved its self-proclaimed “Manifest
