Causes of the Spanish-American War

The Spanish-American War arose primarily because of the controversy over Cuba. The Cubans had been trying unsuccessfully since 1868 to become independent of what they felt was unfair Spanish rule. In 1895, the Cubans created another rebellion against Spain which resulted in the Cubans purposely spoiling their land so that the Spanish troops would leave, while the Spanish put many Cubans in concentration camps (where the people were left to starve and die) as a result of …

…Then, an American naval ship, the "Maine," blew up, and the U.S. automatically assumed it was Spain's fault. This prompted Congress to begin war preparations. To avoid a war, in March 1898 McKinley asked that there be a peaceful agreement that Spain no longer act in a hostile manner towards the Cubans and that they close the concentration camps, but Spain only agreed to the latter, forcing himself and Congress to declare war on April 25, 1898.