Hawaiian queen. The United States wanted to get in on the imperialistic fever which had gripped the Western world in the latter half of the nineteenth century. They saw the Spanish empire as being weak and something the American military could bully. The American battleship Maine was sent to Havana Harbor in order to preserve order and to ensure that no further damages were done to American property in the area. When the Maine exploded, it was considered an act of war by Spain, when in reality it was probably an internal explosion caused by a faulty boiler. Divers cleaning the harbor later reported that the explosion which sunk the vessel left a hole consistent with an internal explosion, and not the attack from a mine that the U.S. government claimed at the time.  

The greatest effect of the war was that the United States gained Guam, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines from Spain. The Philippines would be harder to subdue, because the Filipino rebel Emilio Aguinaldo wanted to rule the nation himself, and he fought against the Americans for three years in a war that would kill more Americans than the Spanish-American War. Another effect was it made Theodore Roosevelt into a war hero, and probably made him the front-runner to be McKinley's running mate in 1900. This would be key as Teddy Roosevelt would go on to become one of America's most influential presidents.  

The main effect of the Spanish-American War was to make the United States something of a global imperial power.  Before the war, the United States had not really had any possessions outside of North America.  With the conclusion of the war, the US gained an empire.  This led to a major debate within the US as to the advisability of having such an empire.

From this war, the US got Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam.  This meant that the US had possessions stretching from the mainland US almost all the way to the mainland of Asia.  It also meant that the US, for the first time, had undertaken to rule a large number of non-white, non-American people.  This led to some amount of debate among Americans as to whether it was ethical and/or wise to have such an empire.

So, the main effects of this war (for the US, at least) were to give the US an empire and to make Americans think about the pros and cons of being an imperial world power.

The victory by the United States in the Spanish-American War had several consequences. One consequence is that the United States became a colonial power. Many Americans wanted the United States to expand beyond its borders. These people wanted to spread American influence and American ways of living around the world. The United States rallied around how poorly the Spanish were treating the people of Cuba. Ultimately, the United States went to war again Spain. When the United States won the Spanish-American War, the country got some of Spain’s colonial possessions. The United States gained control over Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.

Victory in the Spanish-American War was the beginning of the spread of American influence around the world. The Open Door Policy protected American trading interests in China and also helped keep China independent. The United States eventually helped Panama become independent, which led to the building of the Panama Canal. The United States also began to increase its control over the rest of the Americas. The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine told Europe that the United States would resolve any issues that Europe had with any countries in the Americas. The United States also sent its new powerful navy around the world to show off the power and the influence of the country. The victory in the Spanish-American War helped make the United States a world power with influence that spread around the globe.

American victory in the Spanish-American War launched the United States as a global imperial power. The war was short and decisive, with the United States Navy destroying the Spanish fleet in the Philippines and American ground forces winning in similarly short order in that country and in Cuba. What was significant about the war was the peace settlement with Spain that followed. As part of the agreement, known as the Treaty of Paris, the United States received the Philippines as well as the islands or Puerto Rico (in the Caribbean) and Guam (in the Pacific.) Cuba, whose struggle for independence from Spain was ostensibly one of the major causes of the war, gained its independence, although American diplomats inserted a provision in its constitution that permitted American intervention in Cuban affairs to protect its interests. Cuba thus became a protectorate. In the Philippines, annexation was followed by a bloody struggle for independence by Filipino rebels who objected to American rule as much as that of Spain. The United States military, at great cost, put down this rebellion and ruled the Philippines as a territory until after World War II. As for Puerto Rico, it became a US territory, and remains one today. Guam is also an American territory. Overall, the result of the war expanded American influence in Latin America, where US troops intervened in support of American interests literally dozens of times, and in the Pacific. The war, in short, made the United States a global empire. 

The main immediate effect of the Spanish-American War (for the United States, at least) was to make the United States an imperial power. 

Before this war, the US had had very little in the way of overseas possessions.  That changed with this war.  The US took effective control of Cuba.  It also took complete control of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.  By taking the Philippines, in particular, the US became an imperial power.  The war therefore also helped America’s standing in the world.  It was the first time the US had defeated a European country in a war and it showed that the US was on its way to being a major power in the world.

When we speak of the causes of this war, we need to separate the immediate causes from the deeper causes.  There were events that led directly to the war, but it is possible to argue that the war was actually caused by conditions and attitudes, not by specific events.

The events that caused the war were connected to a Cuban rebellion against Spain, the colonial power that owned Cuba. Cubans had wanted independence for some time and fighting had flared up in 1895.  There was a great deal of sympathy in the United States for the Cuban rebels because of the US’s history as a colony that fought for its independence.

The rebellion in Cuba led to the USS Maine (a warship) being sent to Havana to help protect American interests.  The ship was destroyed in an explosion that was blamed on Spain.  This was a major cause of the war.  So was a letter from the Spanish ambassador to the US in which the ambassador made fun of President McKinley.  This was seen as a major affront to the honor of the US.  Within two months of these events, war was declared.

But these events are not necessarily the real causes of the war.  There were arguably two deeper conditions that caused the war.  The first was, as mentioned above, sympathy for groups rebelling against their colonial masters.  The second was the fact that the US was becoming more powerful and many Americans were calling for a war to prove the country’s place among the major powers of the world.  People like Theodore Roosevelt wanted very much to have a war that would make America into a more aggressive and powerful country.  This desire for war had a great deal to do with the coming of the war with Spain.

The major unintended result of the Spanish-American War was that the United States was faced with the question of whether to make itself an imperial power.  When the United States started to get interested in Cuba, it had no particular interest in taking a country on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.  However, the war gave it the chance to take the Philippines.  Presented with this opportunity, the US had to decide whether it was worth it to take control over a country that was so far away and which had an independence movement that the US would have to fight for control.  In the end, of course, the US decided to become an imperial power by taking the Philippines.

The Spanish-American War did not have very many major events as it was a rather short war.  There are three events that were (more or less) part of this war that are famous in American history.

The first of these was not an actual event from the war itself.  Instead, it was a cause of the war.  This was the explosion of the USS Maine in Havana harbor.  The US blamed it on the Spanish, helping to bring the war about.

Within the war, the most famous land battle was fought on Cuba.  This was the battle in which the US attacked San Juan Heights.  The attacks on Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill are famous because they helped make Theodore Roosevelt a major national figure.  This battle was the only major land engagement on Cuba.

At sea, the most famous battle was the US attack on Manila Bay in the Philippines.  This was a very one-sided battle in which only 9 Americans were wounded.  This allowed the US to take control of the Philippines from Spain.  There followed a long fight against Filipinos who wanted to become independent, but this is not typically seen as part of the Spanish-American War.

The largest effects of this war were that it ended the Spanish Empire and began the American one.

The Spanish Empire had been in a long, slow decline for more than two centuries and by 1898 had very few colonies under their control.  By challenging and defeating the Spanish, the United States for the first time became a colonial power, taking Guam, the Philippines and Puerto Rico as US territories.

This ended easy Spanish access and influence in both the Caribbean and Asia and gave the Americans bases to project their military power (especially the US Navy) around the globe, securing resources and trade routes.  The Spanish-American War ended the long era of Spanish naval power.

It also led to a long guerrilla war fought by Filipinos against their new colonial rulers, the Americans.

The Spanish American War was the result of American expansionist goals and policies colliding with territories under Spanish control.

American sugar planters had established plantations on Cuba and Puerto Rico as early as 1870 even though the island was technically the property of Spain. By the 1890’s, political leaders and other pro-expansionist groups were keen to annex these islands. They decided the U.S. should enforce the Monroe Doctrine and remove Spain from the western hemisphere.

American newspapers helped fuel the fire by reporting on Spanish “atrocities” that were highly exaggerated. As these stories became more and more sensational, American public opinion turned and soon American were willing to go to war with Spain to help the Cuban people. This was why President McKinley eventually ordered the battleship Maine into Havana harbor.

On February 15th, 1898 the Maine exploded. Since nobody was really sure why it detonated, the American government used the opportunity to claim it was a Spanish bomb and used the event as an excuse to call for war.

Faced with growing pressure from both the public and Congress, McKinley eventually asked congress to declare war in 1898. The Spanish-American War was on.