Cuban Revolution
After I read the materials and watched the videos I was fascinated with the creation and history of Cuba. I really had no prior knowledge of the history of Cuba before analyzing these materials. I knew that there was a history of slavery, a large history of agriculture such as sugar and tobacco and I knew very little about Fidel Castro. I really found it interesting to learn about the early founding of Cuba by Christopher Columbus in 1492, the same year he discovered America. Which I did not know; and now I really have a grasp on the importance that Cuba had in the world centuries ago. It was a place that everyone wanted to have a hand in because of the resources, and the opportunity that was there to exploit those resources. The location of the island was important because it was a place for the Spanish to stop in between their journeys and the sugar that would be produced there would create an enormous industry that countries wanted a part of. And this brings the United States into the picture. The U.S of course knew that there was a war going on between Spain and Cuba. A war for independence had taken place once before, a few decades prior to U.S intervention and independence was unsuccessful for the Cubans. Then again in the late 1800’s, is when the second war for independence took place for Cuba. The United States took interest in this because they blamed the Spanish for the sinking of the USS Maine even though there was no known reason as to why the ship had sank and no evidence that the Spanish were to blame (History of Cuba, n.d). I’m skeptical of this situation. I’m confused as to why Spain would attack the United States. What would they gain from this? Clearly they gained nothing and lost a great deal, because they ended up losing the war for Cuba. I think that the United States should have acted differently after the sinking of the USS Maine by asking Spain if they had done it and why. Or asking Cuba if they had done it. Could it have been an accident? Did they mistake the USS Maine for an enemy? These types of mistakes can happen during war and it would have been a smarter Idea to investigate it further, instead of reacting militarily. Something to me just doesn’t make sense. Why wouldn’t the U.S take investigative measures after losing a naval vessel?However, could it be possible that the U.S faked the sinking of the USS Maine in order to gain a political and/or military reason to engage in this war. Meanwhile the United States knew that if they were successful in the war they would attain power in Cuba, and this was the incentive to get involved.
Discussion Questions:
Do you think that the sinking of the USS Maine was an inside job? In other words do you think that the United States purposefully sank their ship in order to gain reason to engage in the war for Cuba?
If the USS Maine was not destroyed do you think that the United States would have found other reasons to get involved in the war between Cuba and Spain? And after reading the materials do you think that the United States getting control over Cuba would have been better or worse than if Spain had gained control?
Kästle, Klaus. “___ History of Cuba.” History of Cuba - Nations Online Project, www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/History/Cuba-history.htm. Accessed 29 Dec. 2023.
Hi Mac!
ReplyDeleteI personally do not discount the USS Maine being an inside job. The US was in the sweep of manifest destiny at the time and wanted economic and political influence over Cuba for its own benefit and to be seen as more powerful on the world stage. With examples from history like Operation Northwoods, it would certainly not be the first time the government would want to attack its own citizens to push a political agenda.
With this in mind, if the USS Maine had not worked I fully beleive that other casus beli would be found to justify their aims. I do think US control would be better given our values, it would not be by much, and the Cubans deserve their right to autonomous governance.
To answer your first question, and parts of your second, firstly I think it is near impossible to prove that the sinking of the USS Maine was an inside job. However, I certainly would not put it past the US government at the time. It is clear the the United States government was looking to expand its territory as apart of manifest destiny, and Cuba presented the perfect opportunity for imperialist expansion and resources for the young country. For this reason, manufacturing the reasoning for a war with Spain has its merits. I do think that the United States would have eventually ended up moving to take Cuba if the explosion had not happened, but it is without doubt that the explosion accelerated the process.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your assumption that Spain had no reason to attack the United States. Outside of its relationship with the US, Spain was in Contention with England for power over the sea for quite a bit of its history. Getting back on topic, the USS Maine was an inside job. At this point before the Spanish-American War, the majority of Congress was composed of warmongers. These people wanted an excuse to expand American land and to take whatever land was held by other countries on the North American continent. To the north this included Canada and to the South, this included Mexico and essentially everything that was in the Caribbean. The problem with Canada was that Britain was able to fight back. while Spain was able to fight back, and up more of a loss for the Spanish than a stalemate like the War of 1812. A better way of saying how Cuba was treated at this time was not a person coming to save them but it was instead a change of management since they went from one person exploiting them to another person exploiting them.
ReplyDeleteHi Mac,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the questions you have posed which have left me in thought for a few minutes.
I do not believe the sinking of U.S.S. Maine was inside job. I take the side with many historians who believe the incident did not occur under the pretext of starting a war (the investigations of the incident have no definitive conclusion as to who/why it happened); however, without a doubt, the event was instrumental in forming public opinions leading to U.S. involvement.
In response to your second question, I believe that even without the destruction of the U.S.S. Maine, the United States still would have found reasons to get involved. Tensions between Spain and the U.S. would only continue to grow with the popularity of Yellow Papers, American journalists heavily covering the Cuban War of Independence, and the existence of "territories" such as Guam, Philippines, and Puerto Rico. Additionally, the U.S. had a growing interest in the economic prospects of Cuba.