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Reasons For The Spanish American War Of 1898

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"The Spanish-American War of 1898 transformed the United States into a major overseas power" (Schultz, 2014). The major reasons for the Spanish-American War of 1898 were for a variety of humanitarian, geopolitical, and commercial causes. The Cubans strived for independence from the harsh treatment by the Spanish and in 1895, violence erupted, provoking an interracial rebellion between the Cubans and the Spanish government. The three-year-long war devastated the Cuban economy, which had impacted the Americans that were heavily invested in the Cuban sugar plantations. Despite the lack of support from the Cubans for the U.S. to enter the war, it became inevitable in February of 1898 after the U.S. intercepted a letter from Spain's U.S. Ambassador

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