The Spanish-American War and the Loss of Cuba: A Historical Overview
The Spanish-American War and the Loss of Cuba
1. International Context
Since 1870, Europe experienced a phenomenon called Imperialism. European powers embarked on the conquest of vast territories in Africa, Asia, and Oceania, aiming to obtain cheap raw materials and markets for industrial products. Economic interest was linked to the prestige of the empires, especially Britain and France. Bismarck’s Germany was increasingly interested in the power axis of Europe. The United States practiced economic imperialism since President Monroe declared “America for Americans.” They were interested in Cuba and the Antilles as sources of sugar and tobacco, and as markets for their products.
In this context, Spain lost the last remnants of its vast colonial empire: Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and the island of Guam in the Marianas.
2. Background of the Independence of the Colonies
The Ten Years’ War broke out in 1868 and ended in 1878 with the Pact of Zanjón, negotiated by General Martínez Campos. The islanders demanded equal rights with Spaniards, participation in the government of the islands, some autonomy, representation in Parliament, and the abolition of slavery. The only concession they obtained was freedom for slave children, but black slaves working on sugar plantations did not gain freedom. The promises made by the government to sign peace were not fulfilled, and in 1879 a new war, the Little War, raged in Cuba for about a year before being suppressed by the army.
Following the Restoration regime, two parties were founded on the island of Cuba: the Autonomist Party, whose followers were Cubans seeking autonomy, managing the interests of the island, and participating in its government; and the Constitutional Party, whose social base was mainly Spanish settlers in Cuba, who increasingly insisted on maintaining Spanish control. Cubans demanded autonomy with increasing fervor. The Spanish government had 17 years to implement the reforms demanded by Cuba. The administration failed due to the centralism of the Restoration and the economic interests of some Spaniards in Cuba. The only concession made to the Cuban people was the abolition of slavery in 1888, decreed by the liberal government of Sagasta.
In 1893, the Liberals presented a program in the Cortes for autonomy for Cuba, a project that was rejected primarily due to economic interests. In 1891, the Spanish government decreed a tax known as the Cánovas tariff, levied on products imported by the island from countries other than Spain. The tax caused great distress among Cubans and the United States, the largest importer of sugar and tobacco (86%), while products sold in Cuba only represented 34%. U.S. President McKinley expressed his discomfort and threatened to stop importing goods from Cuba. This situation affected sugar plantations, leading to declines in production and jobs, which directly impacted popular support for the revolution.
3. The Revolution Begins
In 1893, the intellectual José Martí founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party. Revolutionaries such as Máximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo, who did not accept the Pact of Zanjón, joined this party. The revolution spread rapidly across the island, and in February 1895, the revolution and the war finally began. Spain sent General Martínez Campos to negotiate with the revolutionaries, but he achieved nothing in the political arena and the war progressed.
Spain sent a new general, Valeriano Weyler, who employed more forceful methods in the war. Believing that the western part of the island was less revolutionary than the eastern part, he imposed a system of trails, isolating towns and important cities with soldiers. This system produced high mortality, lack of livelihoods, and the rebels burned a large number of plantations and roads. The island’s economy suffered greatly under this system and the war.
In 1897, Cánovas was assassinated by an anarchist, and the government ceded power to the liberal Sagasta. The government sent General Blanco with a series of concessions to the island to end the war, including equal rights for Spaniards and Cubans, the establishment of their own institutions with a viceroyalty, and representation in the government and management by Cubans. They also granted free trade. The Cubans did not accept the conditions; autonomy was too late.
In early 1898, the American battleship Maine anchored in Havana harbor to monitor the conflict. The Americans blamed the Spanish for its sinking and declared war on Spain (recent studies show that the Maine sank unexpectedly due to a fire in the kitchen areas). Spain faced the United States and Cuba. The war ended in 1898 after the defeat of the Spanish squadron in Cavite (Philippines) and Santiago de Cuba.
The Treaty of Paris ended the conflict. Spain withdrew from Cuba, which remained under the protection of the Americans, and sold Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and the island of Guam to the Americans. This ended the war in Cuba. It is important to mention the revolutionary process in the Philippines, where there were few Spaniards, mostly religious and students. José Rizal was the architect of the Philippine Revolution, but it was less virulent than in Cuba. He was executed, and after the Battle of Cavite, the islands passed to the Americans.
4. Consequences of the Disaster
The loss of the last colonies provoked a state of hopelessness and frustration in Spanish society and the political class, considering that European powers were busy acquiring vast empires in Africa and Asia. The European press promoted the idea of Spain as having a corrupt political class and an ineffective army. This idea resonated with much of Spanish society. The myth of imperial Spain ended, and it became a second-rate power that was not taken into account in international relations.
At the political level, many predicted the collapse of the Restoration system and the state. Despite the loss of the colonies, the Restoration system continued, demonstrating that the system was well established and able to adapt to any situation. At the economic level, the years after the war were not years of crisis, as repatriated funds were used to promote industries and reduce the public deficit. The crisis of ’98 was fundamentally a moral and intellectual crisis.
Before the conflict, a current known as Regenerationism emerged. Its main architect was Joaquín Costa, who in his work Oligarchy and Caciquismo aimed to regenerate political life by ending caciquismo. For the Regenerationists, it was essential to end Spain’s backwardness, and therefore he proposed the phrase “school and pantry.” The idea of a glorious and imperial Spain was shattered, as he concluded in his Seven Keys to the Tomb of the Cid.
Nationalism experienced a boom in the wake of the disaster. Even in Catalonia, there were those who sought to regenerate Spain from their community. Autonomist demands increased, and projects for autonomy and self-government began.
The army, criticized by society and politicians for its ineffectiveness, began a new era of interference in politics from this moment, culminating in the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. At the intellectual level, a generation known as the Generation of ’98 emerged. This group included Unamuno, Azorín, Pío Baroja, and others. They shared pessimism in their work and questioned the idea of Spain in history and the role it had played for centuries.