Fighting the Spanish-American War

By the end of this tutorial, students will able to:

• Describe why the Spanish-American War was "a splendid little war"
• Describe the success of Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders
• Discuss why the United States needed a large navy at the beginning of the 20th Century
• Describe why the United States controls a naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba

In 1898, the United States declared war against Spain and almost immediately won a series of battles in the Philippine Islands in the Pacific Ocean and Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Atlantic.  The war, called "a splendid little war" by U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain John Hay, lasted only 10 weeks, but gave the United States an empire that stretched over 10,000 miles.