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| - For centuries, Cuba had been under Spanish rule, but in the late 19th century, Cuba began agitating for independence. The brutal working conditions of Sugar mill workers only got worse as the price for Cuban sugar went down. The Cubans turned to guerrilla warfare, which was somewhat successful. To deal with the declining situation, Valeriano Weyler was sent to Cuba. Weyler used brutal tactics to crush the rebellion, word of which spread to the United States through yellow journalists such as William Hearst. These journalists slowly increased the demand for war, and President McKinley sent a ship to Cuba to protect U.S interests. When the ship mysteriously sunk, the media blamed it on the Spanish. On April 25th, 1898, Congress declared war on Spain.
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| abstract
| - For centuries, Cuba had been under Spanish rule, but in the late 19th century, Cuba began agitating for independence. The brutal working conditions of Sugar mill workers only got worse as the price for Cuban sugar went down. The Cubans turned to guerrilla warfare, which was somewhat successful. To deal with the declining situation, Valeriano Weyler was sent to Cuba. Weyler used brutal tactics to crush the rebellion, word of which spread to the United States through yellow journalists such as William Hearst. These journalists slowly increased the demand for war, and President McKinley sent a ship to Cuba to protect U.S interests. When the ship mysteriously sunk, the media blamed it on the Spanish. On April 25th, 1898, Congress declared war on Spain. Between June 22 and June 24, the U.S corps under General William Shafter landed at Daiquiri and Siboney, east of Santiago, and established an American base of operations. A contingent of Spanish troops, having fought a skirmish with the Americans near Siboney on June 23, had retired to their lightly-entrenched positions at Las Guasimas. The battle ended indecisively in favor of Spain and the Spanish left Las Guasimas on their planned retreat to Santiago. The U.S. army employed Civil War era skirmishers at the head of the advancing columns. The Battle of Las Guasimas showed the U.S. that the old linear Civil War tactics did not work effectively against Spanish troops who had learned the art of cover and concealment from their own struggle with Cuban insurgents, and never made the error of revealing their positions while on the defense. American soldiers were only able to advance against the Spaniards in what are now called "fireteam" rushes, four-to-five man groups advancing while others laid down supporting fire. On July 1, a combined force of about 15,000 American troops in regular infantry, cavalry and volunteer regiments, including Theodore Roosevelt and his "Rough Riders," notably the 71st New York, 1st North Carolina, 23rd and 24th Colored, and rebel Cuban forces attacked 1270 entrenched Spaniards in dangerous Civil War-style frontal assaults at the Battle of El Caney and Battle of San Juan Hill outside of Santiago. More than 200 U.S. soldiers were killed and close to 1200 wounded in the fighting. Supporting fire by Gatling guns was critical to the success of the assault. Cervera decided to escape Santiago two days later. The Spanish forces at Guantanamo were so isolated by Marines and Cuban forces that they did not know that Santiago was under siege, and their forces in the northern part of the province could not break through Cuban lines. This was not true of the Escario relief column from Manzanillo, which fought its way past determined Cuban resistance but arrived too late to participate in the siege. Due to the American advances, the Spanish called for a ceasefire on August 12. In the Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded nearly all of its territories to the United States. Cuba was temporarily placed under an American lease, before its permanent status could be settled. Without a specific amendment to decide the fate of Cuba, the island remained under American occupation, as American businesses gained more influence in the region. When the lease expired in 1906, President Roosevelt encouraged Congress to permanently annex Cuba to the U.S. With Imperialists controlling Congress, Cuba was annexed.
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