Spain’s Colonial Crisis: The Spanish-American War of 1898

Posted on Dec 22, 2024 in History

Around 1898, a series of changes modified the colonial status quo. British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury launched the theory of redistribution, suggesting that colonial nations should be imposed on the “dying” nations, appropriating lands populated by beings of an “inferior condition” requiring the help of major cities. Thus, England and France imposed their dominance in Africa and Asia, while Spain definitively lost its role as a colonial force in the international context.

The Crisis of 1898 and the Cuban Question

The crisis of 1898 in Spain focused on the problematic colonial relationship (dating back to the reign of Elizabeth II) between Mexico and Cuba. This island, as a Spanish colony, was a major producer of sugar, snuff, coffee, cotton, and cocoa. Plantations relied heavily on slave labor, increasing the profits of Spanish landlords. Cuban uprisings took place in three stages:

• The Ten Years’ War (1868-1878)
• The Little War (1879-1880)
• The War of Independence (1895-1898)

During the first conflict, the Cubans demanded freedom of tariffs (Spanish products entering the island paid an 11% tariff, while those from other sources paid 40%) and the abolition of slavery in the mills. Drastic action by the Spanish army initially suppressed the uprising, but the insurrection soon gained momentum, thanks to U.S. aid. The conflict ended with the signing of the Peace of Zanjón in 1878, which recognized Cuba as a Spanish province and promised the abolition of slavery (though this did not take effect until 1886). In reality, the Peace of Zanjón ended a war but offered no political solutions to the colonial issues.

The Little War, so-called because of its short duration, was sparked by an uprising of Black men who felt that the agreement regarding slavery in the Zanjón Convention was breached by the Spanish government. In the early 1890s, the U.S. decided to close the door to Cuban products to protest the high fees their products paid. The Americans felt unfairly treated because they were the main importers of Cuban products (almost 90%).

The Path to War

Between the Peace of Zanjón and the beginning of the last war in Cuba, Spanish governments had 17 years to introduce reforms advocated by the island’s autonomy movement. The lack of a real decentralization process to give the island representative organs and the highly protectionist policy that strangled the Cuban economy favored the emergence of new revolts that led to independence and were, from a certain point, encouraged by the U.S.

The causes that led to this difficult situation can be summarized as:

• Failure of the agreements in the Zanjón agreement that provided for increased Cuban representation in Spanish representative bodies and enacted some Spanish autonomy.
• Spain’s inability to absorb all of Cuba’s sugar production and provide the island with manufactured products.
• The unsustainable growth of a patriotic Cuban movement supported by the U.S.

The War of Independence and U.S. Intervention

The uprising that marked the beginning of the last war was directed by José Martí, who had founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party. Supported by the peasants, he revolted in the eastern part of the island (the anti-Spanish region) on February 24, 1895 (Grito de Baire). The government, then headed by Cánovas, responded by sending an army led by General Martínez Campos. The lack of military successes led to Martínez Campos’ replacement by General Valeriano Weyler, who arrived on the island determined to use more forceful methods.

Weyler’s methods consisted of the re-concentration of the population in cities to prevent aid to the insurgents. However, the lack of sanitation, hygiene, and infrastructure to handle the situation led to high mortality rates. After the assassination of Cánovas, a new Liberal government decided to try a strategy of conciliation. However, these attempts were too late, as the independence movement, supported by the Americans, refused to accept the end of hostilities.

In January 1898, riots broke out in Havana, leading the U.S. to send the battleship Maine to defend American interests in Cuba. A month later, the ship exploded while most of the crew were ashore (although two officers and 264 crew members were killed). The U.S. considered it a frontal attack by the Spanish and began to negotiate for Cuban independence. Spain, however, severed diplomatic relations with the U.S., which, in turn, declared war on Spain shortly afterward.

The Spanish-American War and its Aftermath

When war was declared, Spain experienced days of patriotic enthusiasm encouraged by the authorities. There was a fervent belief in the possibility of overcoming the world’s leading economic and industrial power. However, nothing could be further from reality, given the difficulty presented by the division of the war on two fronts: the Pacific (Philippines) and the Atlantic (Cuba and Puerto Rico). Better positioned and trained militarily, the U.S. acted swiftly. The Spanish squadrons were defeated at Cavite and Santiago de Cuba. In the latter case, not one Spanish ship survived, and over 350 Spanish sailors were killed, 200 were wounded, and 1,700 were taken prisoner.

In contrast, the U.S. suffered only one death and a few wounded, and its fleet remained intact. The war with the U.S. was resolved quickly because of the disparity in forces. Spain lacked a modern navy capable of dealing with the United States, nor did it have the resources to sustain a war zone so far away. The Spanish government was aware of this but feared that surrender would result in a revolutionary alternative in the country.

The Treaty of Paris and its Consequences

On December 10, 1898, the Treaty of Paris was signed. The treaty recognized Cuba’s independence, while Puerto Rico and the Philippines were ceded to the Americans in exchange for twenty million dollars. The U.S. achieved its objective: to control Cuba for its economic interests and enhance its military control over the Caribbean Sea.

In Spain, society had been positioning itself unevenly regarding the war. The political class considered war inevitable, Catalan industrialists favored maintaining the colonies, and the Socialist Party opposed participation in the war. The defeat plunged Spanish society and the political class into a state of disappointment and frustration. For those who lived through it, it meant the destruction of the myth of the Spanish empire at a time when other European powers were building vast empires. The foreign press presented Spain as a dying nation with an inefficient army, a corrupt political system, and incompetent politicians. This view took shape in most of Spanish public opinion.

The Impact of the Disaster of ’98

Despite the scale of the defeat and its symbolic significance, its immediate impact was lower than expected. There was no major political crisis, and the Restoration system survived. Nor was there an economic crisis; in fact, the repatriation of capital led to an economic recovery, especially for the industrial sector. Thus, the political and economic stability that followed the disaster suggests that the crisis of ’98 was primarily a moral and ideological one that had a significant impact on the population.

The impact of the disaster of ’98 can be summarized as:

1. The experience of defeat as a national trauma that spread a feeling of inferiority and low morale.
2. Liquidation of the remnants of colonial rule.
3. In literature and culture, the disaster influenced the pessimism of the Generation of ’98 (Unamuno, Valle Inclán, Pío Baroja, Azorín) and new schools of thought, such as Regenerationism. Intellectuals raised the need for profound reflection on the meaning of Spain, its role in history, and its relationship with industrialized Europe. They expressed concern about Spain and denounced the distance between official policy and real life.

Regenerationism

Regenerationism was a movement that considered that the political system had failed because minorities watched out for their interests but did not represent the masses. Its leading figure was Joaquín Costa, whose best-known work, Oligarchy and Chieftains, characterized the political situation in Spain and denounced the lack of culture, the decline of the Spanish oligarchy, and backwardness. He urged the need to leave behind the myths of a glorious past, modernize the economy, and educate the population while proposing electoral transparency. It was a trend that influenced Spanish political activity, shared by both liberals, conservatives, and nationalists. However, the Regenerationists did not know how to channel their ideas into political practice.

4. Intensification of the army’s suspicion of civil power, which it blamed for the disaster.
5. Implementation of timid institutional reforms to try to regenerate the system, but never with the idea of radically transforming the political structure.

Political Consequences in Spain

From a political standpoint, the Sagasta government was discredited, and in 1899, the Queen Regent gave her confidence to a new Conservative leader, Francisco Silvela, who called elections. He initiated a reformist policy and showed some will for renovation. However, he lasted barely a year, and the government remained in power until 1901, when Maria Cristina handed power to the Liberals. The regeneration promises had been mere rhetoric; they did not have a real impact on political life. The parties and old political practices were proving their ability to adapt to any attempt at change. The system of the Restoration had received a hard blow but had survived almost intact the disaster of ’98.