"Spanish American War - "A Splendid Little War"" Topic

"On April 21, 1898, the United States declared war against Spain. It would be the first overseas conflict fought by the U.S. It involved major campaigns in both Cuba and the Philippine Islands.

The reasons for war were many, but there were two immediate ones: America's support the ongoing struggle by Cubans and Filipinos against Spanish rule, and the mysterious explosion of the battleship U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor.

Half a world away and only 11 days after the war began, the Spanish Pacific fleet in Manila Bay was defeated by the U.S. Navy in swift strike made by Commodore George Dewey. Unaware of Dewey's quick success, President McKinley ordered troops to mount a campaign against the capital of Manila.

The military base best suited to stage this campaign was the Presidio of San Francisco. Volunteer soldiers from all over the United States gathered and trained at the Presidio before the long sea voyage to the Philippines.

Their quest was described as a "splendid little war" by Secretary of State John Hay…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Pretty splendid indeed! Just as pretty and perfect as the knitted little slogan, "Remember the Maine, to hell with Spain!"

The Maine exploded under mysterious circumstances …. Pretty Little Lies? 🤔

I read in an issue of National Geographic issue, many years ago, which had an article about what happened to the Maine. It included underwater photographs showing the hole in the hull.

It is noteworthy the hole indicated the blast was directed OUTWARD not inward. Those photos discounted the charge a mine did the Maine in, but rather an explosion as a result of excessive coal dust in the coal bunkers.

Thank you RebelPaul for your comments on this. Very much appreciated. A topic one studied, in Berlin, at university, in my final year, many moons ago.

Interesting possibility. External explosion sets off a much larger internal explosion which destroys all evidence of the external explosion. One suggestion was that it was the rebels who set off the explosion as the Spanish would not gain anything by blowing up the Maine.

Actually, I also so the special about the Main explosion and they thought it was a fire in the coal bunker. The fire heated up the bulkhead enough to set off the munitions stored next to the coal bunker. They used the PC Olympia to show how it could have happened.

Admiral Rickover's investigation was fairly conclusive in its findings that the explosion was internal and an accident. Alooking an attack of that type would have been too complex for the Spaniards to have undertaken. The Maine simply served as an unfortunate causus belli for a war that was going to happen anyway

Was it the first war sponsored by big media?

As in -

Hearst Artist Frederic Remington, cabled from Cuba in 1897 that "there will be no war," William Randolph Hearst cabled back: "You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war."

fantastic podcast from Dan Carlin on this:

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