The Spanish-American War of [[TheGayNineties 1898]] was a war fought between Spain and the United States over the control of Spain's colonies - essentially, Cuba and the Philippines.

Through the mid-to-late 19th century, Cuban nationalism was on the rise. The result, given Spain's utter reluctance to let the colony go, was inevitably violent. Uprisings were attempted, but they were all crushed. One day, the USS Maine blew up and sank in Havana Harbor. The US took the opportunity to blame the Spanish, who were probably quite right to have claimed it was an accident at best or a WoundedGazelleGambit at worst. In any case, US President WilliamMcKinley was personally reluctant to make a war of the matter, but the US' law-making body - Congress - passed a resolution which effectively forced him to demand that Spain give Cuba independence or hand it over to the United States - or else. Though a far weaker country, the Spaniards were a proud people who quietly hoped that the US would just give up on the idea if they put up a good fight. Naturally they refused, and the US declared war upon them.

While Spain's giving up Cuba was the original ''casus belli'', the US ended up demanding the same deal for all of Spain's overseas colonies. The people of Puerto Rico also took the opportunity to demand independence, for instance, as did the peoples of the Philippines - who were already in open revolt and had established a provisional government which the US negotiated with. The US' naval power was employed to great effect, though the performance of the army was a little lacklustre - the US Army were inexperienced and ill-organised, and lost a great many officers due to Spanish snipers using 'smokeless'-powder weaponry (the US Army still used 'black-powder' weapons, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin which gave off dark clouds of gunpowder when fired]]). American and Cuban Revolutionary forces soon worked together to make good use of their numerical superiority over the Spanish loyalist and government forces, however. The infamous Charge at San Juan Hill [in which future US President 'TeddyRoosevelt' first attained national fame] and the Battle of Manila Bay, a CurbStompBattle if ever there was one, are good illustrations of the course of the war at large.

Spain soon sued for peace, and a Treaty concluding the war was signed in Paris later in the year of '98. In what was termed domestically as 'the Great Disaster' they ceded Cuba, the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico to the United States. It was a blow to Spanish national psyche and pride, one which gave birth to a wave of Spanish writers called The Generation of '98. Meanwhile, the Filipinos felt very left out of all this - the negotiations had been concluded without any reference to them or their representatives - and demanded the same independence terms as Cuba. The US refused and a second, more brutal war ensued as the Americans crushed the provisional Philippine Government and numerous rebel forces before establishing their own 'independent' regime over the islands.

The conclusion of the war marked a new height of US National Pride and also the zenith of belief in "Manifest Destiny" - the notion that the US was destined to rule over (all of the) Americas by virtue of its... well, innate virtue and (racial-moral) superiority. The USA's ability to project its influence into the Pacific and China, and Latin America, was of course enhanced by its newest conquests, leading to a period of 'imperialism' (in the bad sense) and events such as US involvement in the [[ImperialChina Qing Empire's 'Boxer Rebellion']] and ''The Banana Wars''.

!!Tropes involving the SpanishAmericanWar include:

* ATeamFiring: American gunnery at the Battle of Manila Bay was embarrassingly horrible. It's estimated that of some 4000 rounds of ammunition fired by Dewey's fleet, only about 2%, or eighty rounds, actually hit the enemy. A stationary enemy. And still the Spanish lost.
* {{Badass}}: Many on both sides. The Rough Riders of the United States were just one example.
* CurbStompBattle: The Battle of Manila Bay. With the sole American casualty due to heat stroke. The Battle at Santiago De Cuba had similar results, with only two American casualties.
** The entire war; Spain had long since been a VestigialEmpire, holding on to their last bit of imperial hubris in spite of several rebellions. The United States, on the other hand, was a very large, prosperous, wealthy, and powerful up and coming world power. The war was over in less than three months.
* CustomUniform: The Rough Riders' uniform. Because of shortage of uniforms, the men in this regiment had to do with blue wool uniforms, impractical in the tropical weather of Cuba. It was combined with a campaign hat and a scarf.
* TheEmpire: The Spanish Empire.
** At the time, and even after, there were critics of the war openly fearing of [[AmericaTakesOverTheWorld the United States itself turning into an Empire]] which went against the sentiment of being a Republic. Especially after annexing the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico. YMMV on this issue, considering that the U.S. eventually allowed for Philippine independence (only after a brutal guerrilla war and 40-plus years of occupation), and did win Cuban independence at the end of this war.
* ExpandedStatesOfAmerica: The Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico were annexed as commonwealths. While the Americans voluntarily and peacefully granted the Philippines independence in 1946, Puerto Rico and Guam remain US territories. Recent polls have shown that they prefer to keep it that way.
* [[TheGayNineties The "Not So" Gay Nineties]]: For Spain and her last colonies.
* LaResistance: The Cuban and Filipino resistance.
* Creator/MarkTwain: Started out supporting the war, but very quickly became disillusioned. He viewed the Philippine-American War as a great betrayal of both the Philippines and American democratic principles, and as absolutely caustic in his criticism of it.
* {{Sequel}}: The Philippine-American War.
* TheodoreRoosevelt: gained fame as the leader of the Rough Riders regiment.
* TwilightOfTheOldWest: This war was the last one in which the US Army (or some of it) fought in blue uniforms, and many regiments still carried black-powder weapons much like those used in the (just barely over) Indian Wars. TheodoreRoosevelt's Rough Rider regiment included many actual cowboys, as well.
* UngratefulBastard: The USA, in Spain's popular consciousness. The Kingdom of Spain had [[TheAmericanRevolution helped the USA secede]] from TheBritishEmpire. In return, the USA had annexed Spanish Florida and now wanted Cuba and The Philippines.
* VestigialEmpire: Spain, while it ruled a respectable overseas empire, was this. It had already lost Mexico and South America due to a series of revolutions, and was down to only holding Cuba, some other obscure islands, Puerto Rico, [[UsefulNotes/EquatorialGuinea some]] [[UsefulNotes/WesternSahara territory]] in Africa, and (most importantly) the Philippines. Its swift defeat in this war and the subsequent "Banana Wars" was a clear sign that the United States had become the dominant power in North America.
* WakeUpCallBoss: Even though the war was a quick American victory, the poor performance of the army in certain battles caused the government to sink more money into modernizing them.
* WarIsHell: During the Battle at Santiago De Cuba, the Spanish armored cruiser ''Viscaya'' was fatally damaged after a long running battle against the American North Atlantic Squadron and Flying Squadron. As the crewmen of the USS ''Texas'' looked on and cheered, their captain shouted them down:
-->'''Captain John Woodward Philip''': Don't cheer boys! Those poor devils are dying.

!!In Fiction:

* [[CitizenKane Charles Foster Kane]], as a William Randolph Hearst {{expy}}, manipulates the public opinion for the war.

<<|MilitaryAndWarfareTropes|>>