Sunday, October 28, 2018
Why did Spain not win the Spanish American War?
We all imagine the Spanish empire as powerful and almost God-like in prestige, so it seems almost incomprehensible that America would win so easily. However, Spain had long been a nation in decline. The 19th century was a complete disaster to Spain, Napoleon rebellions and defeats caused Spain to barely survive in one piece. This combined with the fact that Spain had not invested in their navy made them woefully unprepared for the American war machine. Which struck devastating blows at the very beginning of the war. In the end, this is why the Spanish American war was nothing more than "A splendid little war". The US successfully bullied a dying nation and confiscated their lands. One step closer to firmly making this age the age of America
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Would you attribute American victory in the Spanish American War to decentralized Spanish control over its colonial territories? Sure, the power of Spain has greatly declined due to the many European conflicts they were part of. However, the Spanish American War was fought over Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam. These territories were under Spain's ineffective control, so their defeat, I would argue, was less of a consequence of their declining empire, but rather the ineffectiveness of colonization.
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