During the 19th Century, Spain's power and position in the world had gradually slipped, losing their colonies in the Americas and the Caribbean. By the dawn of the 20th Century, Spain's power in the Pacific had long since dwindled down to nothing. Japan, on the other hand, had begun asserting itself militarily and politically. This coupled with Spain's obvious weakness, and with the U.S. having split up into two mutually-hostile states, which kept each other busy and neither of which could afford any intensive involvement across the Pacific.