USA HISTORY

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM(1890 1919)

THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR

[SOURCES]
Why did the American people care about the way the Cuban people were being treated by Spain?

(A) They were afraid Spain would invade the U.S.

(B) ** Many Americans had businesses in Cuba

(C) Americans disliked Spain

(D) Americans wanted to colonize Cuba

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -The United States had millions of dollars invested in businesses in Cuba and there were many U.S. citizens in residence there. The U.S. also traded goods with Cuba. In 1898, the United States assisted in war to protect its citizens and businesses in Cuba.

Concept note-2: -Cuba’s alliance with the Soviet Union was the main reason the United States viewed Castro as a security threat–a fear that was arguably vindicated during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

Concept note-3: -Under the Spanish commander, Capt. Gen. Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau (nicknamed El Carnicero, “the Butcher”), Cubans were herded into so-called “reconcentration areas” in and around the larger cities; those who remained at large were treated as enemies.

Concept note-4: -Yellow Journalism Reports of the Cuban Revolution reached Americans through newspapers. Two fiercely competitive newspapers, the New York Journal and the New York World, generated much of the American support for the rebels through their creatively dramatized stories of Spanish atrocities.