1.
Battle of Santiago de Cuba
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Cuban revolutionaries had staged revolts against Spanish colonial authority in the Ten Years War, the Little War, and the Cuban War of Independence. As a consequence, many Cubans died of disease and malnutrition, enrique Dupuy de Lȏme was appointed the Spanish Minister to the United States in 1892. In this capacity, it was his duty to refrain from allowing his personal beliefs to intervene with his duty to support peaceful diplomatic relations between the United States and Spain. However, a letter that expressed his opposition to McKinley’s foreign policy decisions was exposed, many Americans considered it an insult to the nation and to the president. Although Spain apologized, on February 13,1898, the Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbor, Cuba, after a hasty naval court of inquiry, the American press blamed Spain and accused them of planting a mine that sank the battleship. The war with Spain became known as the “Correspondents’ War”, journalists not only wrote stories about the conflict, but took part in the fight. In 1898, the prestige of the press ran high, American society was changing as literacy rates increased. There was a new revolution of readers, as war zones became more open to the press, journalists wrote eyewitness accounts of what was happening. In an era before radio and television, newspapers were the source of information, opinion. You furnish the pictures and Ill furnish the war, newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst declared, in New York City, where the population was about 2,800,000, the combined circulation of daily papers was about 2,000,000. In response to the outcry, McKinley took action against Spain. On April 25, the United States declared war, moreover, the United States sought to expand economic ties with Cuba for its resources in sugar and tobacco, all of which influenced America’s decision to intervene. It was evident that gaining territories across the globe would increase the strength and influence of the United States, Spanish Prime Minister Práxedes Mateo Sagasta did not seek war with the United States. He did not expect victory, but he knew Spanish citizens would revolt if he conceded to American demands in Cuba. Meanwhile, Spanish naval leaders tried to employ a strategy where they would not win the war outright, on May 1,1898, American and Spanish naval forces met in the Philippines at the Battle of Manila Bay, which resulted in a decisive victory for the United States. The Spanish government sent their fleet under Admiral Pascual Cervera y Topete to defend Cuba and keep a line of communication with the Spanish garrison there. Indeed, that surprise is well justified, for nothing can be expected of this expedition except the total destruction of the fleet or its hasty and demoralized return. Lacking a clear strategy, the Spanish may have hoped to end the war quickly in a defeat against the more powerful U. S. Navy
2.
Santiago de Cuba
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Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city of Cuba and capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province in the south-eastern area of the island, some 870 km south-east of the Cuban capital of Havana. Historically Santiago de Cuba has long been the second most important city on the island after Havana and it is on a bay connected to the Caribbean Sea and is an important sea port. In 2004 the city of Santiago de Cuba had a population of about 509,143 people, Santiago de Cuba was the fifth village founded by Spanish conquistador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar on July 25,1515. In 1516 the settlement was destroyed by fire, and was immediately rebuilt and this was the starting point of the expeditions led by Juan de Grijalba and Hernán Cortés to the coasts of Mexico in 1518, and in 1538 by Hernando de Sotos expedition to Florida. The first cathedral was built in the city in 1528, from 1522 until 1589 Santiago was the capital of the Spanish colony of Cuba. The city was plundered by French forces in 1553, and by British forces under Christopher Myngs in 1662, the city experienced an influx of French and British immigrants in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, many coming from Haiti after the Haitian slave revolt of 1791. This added to the citys cultural mix, already rich with Spanish. It was also the location where Spanish troops faced their main defeat at San Juan Hill on July 1,1898, after capturing the surrounding hills, General William Rufus Shafter laid siege to the city. Spain later surrendered to the United States after Admiral William T. Sampson destroyed the Spanish Atlantic fleet just outside Santiagos harbor on July 3,1898, Cuban poet, writer, and national hero, José Martí, is buried in Cementerio Santa Efigenia. Pope Francis visited Cuba in 2015, Santiago was also the home of the revolutionary hero, Frank País. On July 26,1953, the Cuban Revolution began with an armed attack on the Moncada Barracks by a small contingent of rebels led by Fidel Castro. Shortly after this incident, País began talking with students and young working people informally. This developed into highly organized cells coordinating a large scale urban resistance that became instrumental in the success of the Cuban Revolution, País group prepared carefully, accruing weapons, collecting money, collecting medical supplies. They published a newsletter that reported news that criticized the government. In the summer of 1955, País organization merged with Castros July 26 Movement, País became the leader of the new organization in Oriente province, though two years later he was betrayed to the police and was shot after his capture. On January 1,1959, Fidel Castro proclaimed the victory of the Cuban Revolution from a balcony on Santiago de Cubas city hall, Santiago de Cuba was the hometown of poet José María Heredia. It is the birthplace of the world-famous Bacardi Brand, which was started by Facundo Bacardi Masso in 1862 and it now houses a museum that displays the extensive art collection of the Bacardí family. Santiago de Cuba is well known for its cultural life, some of Cubas most famous musicians, including Compay Segundo, Ibrahim Ferrer and Eliades Ochoa and trova composer Ñico Saquito were born in the city or in one of the villages surrounding it
3.
Cuba
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Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean where the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and it is south of both the U. S. state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Haiti, and north of Jamaica. Havana is the largest city and capital, other cities include Santiago de Cuba. Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, with an area of 109,884 square kilometres, prior to Spanish colonization in the late 15th century, Cuba was inhabited by Amerindian tribes. It remained a colony of Spain until the Spanish–American War of 1898, as a fragile republic, Cuba attempted to strengthen its democratic system, but mounting political radicalization and social strife culminated in the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1952. Further unrest and instability led to Batistas ousting in January 1959 by the July 26 Movement, since 1965, the state has been governed by the Communist Party of Cuba. A point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, a nuclear war broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America, Cuba is a Marxist–Leninist one-party republic, where the role of the vanguard Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Independent observers have accused the Cuban government of human rights abuses. It is one of the worlds last planned economies and its economy is dominated by the exports of sugar, tobacco, coffee, according to the Human Development Index, Cuba is described as a country with high human development and is ranked the eighth highest in North America. It also ranks highly in some metrics of national performance, including health care, the name Cuba comes from the Taíno language. The exact meaning of the name is unclear but it may be translated either as where fertile land is abundant, authors who believe that Christopher Columbus was Portuguese state that Cuba was named by Columbus for the town of Cuba in the district of Beja in Portugal. Before the arrival of the Spanish, Cuba was inhabited by three distinct tribes of indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Taíno, the Guanajatabey, and the Ciboney people. The ancestors of the Ciboney migrated from the mainland of South America, the Taíno arrived from Hispanola sometime in the 3rd century A. D. When Columbus arrived they were the dominant culture in Cuba, having a population of 150,000. The name Cuba comes from the native Taíno language and it is derived from either coabana meaning great place, or from cubao meaning where fertile land is abundant. The Taíno were farmers, while the Ciboney were farmers as well as fishers and hunter-gatherers, Columbus claimed the island for the new Kingdom of Spain and named it Isla Juana after Juan, Prince of Asturias. In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa, other towns soon followed, including San Cristobal de la Habana, founded in 1515, which later became the capital
4.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
5.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
6.
Restoration (Spain)
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After almost a whole century of political instability and many civil wars, the aim of the Restoration was to create a new political system, which ensured stability by the practice of turnismo. This was the rotation of the Liberal and Conservative parties in the government, so no sector of the bourgeoisie felt isolated. This was achieved by electoral fraud, opposition to the system came from republicans, socialists, anarchists, Basque and Catalan nationalists, and Carlists. The pronunciamiento by Martinez Campos established Alfonso XII as king, marking the end of the First Spanish Republic, after this, the Constitution of 1876 was written and enforced during the whole restoration. This constitution established Spain as a monarchy with a bicameral legislature, consisting of an upper house. This constitution gave the King the power to name Senators and to revoke laws if he wanted to and these years were marked by economic prosperity. Spains economy had fallen behind those of the other European countries, on most fronts production was increased, supported by extreme protectionist measures. The two parties alternated in the government in a process known as el turno pacífico, the Liberal Party was led by Sagasta. In 1898, Spain lost its last major overseas colonies in the Spanish–American War and this was the start of the systems decline, giving energy to all manner of conflicting opposition movements at a local and national level. The government declared a state of war and sent the army to crush the revolt, causing over a hundred deaths, the problems in Morocco worsened as an army of natives attacked the Spanish army. They achieved surprise and, due to the skill of the Moroccan chieftain, Abd-Al-Krim, virtually annihilated the Spanish army, advancing almost as far as Melilla in the Battle of Annual. The military discontent, the fear of anarchist terrorism or a revolution, and the rise of nationalist movements ultimately caused great agitation amongst the civilians. On 13 September 1923, Miguel Primo de Rivera, Captain General of Catalonia, orchestrated a coup détat, Alfonso XIII backed the General and named him Prime Minister. Primo de Rivera proceeded to suspend the Constitution and assume absolute powers as a dictator and he created the Unión Patriótica Española, which was meant to be the sole legal party, abolishing all other parties. During this time, he increased government spending on business and public services. He lost the support of the military and faced serious health problems, opposition to his regime was so great that Alfonso XIII stopped supporting him and forced him to resign in January 1930. Alfonso XIII, in an attempt to gradually to the previous system and restore his prestige. This failed utterly, as the King was considered a supporter of the dictatorship, Berenguer resigned and the King gave the government to Admiral Juan Bautista Aznar
7.
William Rufus Shafter
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William Rufus Shafter was a Union Army officer during the American Civil War who received Americas highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Battle of Fair Oaks. Shafter also played a prominent part as a general in the Spanish–American War. Fort Shafter, Hawaii, is named for him, as well as the city of Shafter, California, Shafter was born in Galesburg, Michigan on October 16,1835. He worked as a teacher and farmer in the preceding the Civil War. Shafter served as a 1st lieutenant the Union Armys 7th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment at the battles of Balls Bluff and he was wounded at the Battle of Fair Oaks and later received the Medal of Honor for heroism during the battle. He led a charge on the first day of the battle and was wounded towards the close of days fighting. In order to stay with his regiment he concealed his wounds, on August 22,1862 he was mustered out of the volunteer service but returned to the field as major in the 19th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He was captured at the Battle of Thompsons Station and spent 3 months in a Confederate prison, in April 1864 after his release he was appointed colonel of the 17th Regiment of U. S. Colored Troops and led the regiment at the Battle of Nashville, by the end of the war, he had been promoted to brevet brigadier general of volunteers. He stayed in the army when the war ended. During his subsequent service in the Indian Wars, he received his Pecos Bill nickname and he led the 24th Infantry, another United States Colored Troops regiment, in campaigns against the Cheyenne, Comanche, Kickapoo and Kiowa Indians in Texas. While commander of Fort Davis, he started a controversial court-martial of second lieutenant Henry Flipper, in May 1897 he was appointed as a brigadier general. Just before the outbreak of the Spanish–American War, Shafter was commander of the Department of California, Shafter was an unlikely candidate for command of the expedition to Cuba. He was aged 63, weighed over 300 pounds and suffered from gout, nevertheless, he received a promotion to Major General of Volunteers and command of the Fifth Army Corps being assembled in Tampa, Florida. One possible reason for his being given this command was his lack of political ambitions, Shafter appeared to maintain a very loose control over the expedition to Cuba from the beginning, commencing with a very disorganized landing at Daiquiri on the southern coast of Cuba. Confusion prevailed over landing priorities and the chain of command, during the disembarkation, Shafter sent forward Fifth Corps Cavalry Division under Joseph Wheeler to reconnoiter the road to Santiago de Cuba. In a complete disregard of orders, Wheeler brought on a fight which escalated into the Battle of Las Guasimas, Shafter apparently did not realize the battle was even underway nor did he say anything to Wheeler about it afterward. A plan was developed for the attack on Santiago
8.
Nelson A. Miles
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Nelson Appleton Miles was a United States soldier who served in the American Civil War, Indian Wars, and the Spanish–American War. Miles was born in Westminster, Massachusetts, on his familys farm and he worked in Boston, read military history, and mastered military principles and techniques, including battle drills. Miles was working as a store clerk in Boston when the Civil War began. He entered the Union Army on September 9,1861, as a volunteer and he became a lieutenant in the 22nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, and was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the 61st New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment on May 31,1862. He was promoted to colonel after the Battle of Antietam, other battles he participated in include Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and the Appomattox Campaign. Wounded four times in battle, on March 2,1867 he was brevetted a brigadier general in the army in recognition of his actions at Chancellorsville. He was again brevetted, this time to the rank of general for his actions at Spotsylvania Court House. He received the Medal of Honor for his gallantry at Chancellorsville and he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers as of May 12,1864, for the Battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House. On October 21,1865, he was appointed general of volunteers at age 26. After the war, he was commandant of Fort Monroe, Virginia, during his tenure at Fort Monroe, Miles was forced to defend himself against charges that Davis was being mistreated. In July 1866, Miles was appointed a colonel in the Regular Army, in March 1869 he became commander of the 5th U. S. On June 30,1868, he married Mary Hoyt Sherman, Miles played a leading role in nearly all of the U. S. Armys campaigns against the American Indian tribes of the Great Plains. In 1874–1875, he was a commander in the force that defeated the Kiowa, Comanche. In the winter of 1877, he drove his troops on a march across Montana. For the rest of Miles career, he would quarrel with General Oliver O. Howard over credit for Josephs capture, the heliographs were supplied by Brig. Gen. Albert J. Myer of the Signal Corps. In December 1880, he was promoted to general in the Regular Army. Crook had relied heavily on Apache scouts in his efforts to capture the Chiricahua leader, instead, Miles relied on white troops, who eventually traveled 3,000 miles without success as they tracked Geronimo through the tortuous Sierra Madre Mountains. Gatewood, who had studied Apache ways, succeeded in negotiating a surrender, under the terms of which Geronimo and his followers, agreed to spend two years in a Florida reservation
United States
Republic of Cuba
Kingdom of Spain
William T. Sampson
