Disaster of '98 - Short Summary

The years in which the Monarchical restoration in Spain (1875 -1898) was characterized by having a fairly conservative policy, devised by Cánovas del Castle on which the alternation in power of two major parties, the Liberal and the conservative. The guidelines ordered harmed, among other things, the development of a democratic system in Spain, among which meant the loss of the colonies it had overseas, which is what is known today as the Disaster of the 98.

Next, in this lesson from a TEACHER we offer you a brief summary on the Disaster of 98 which became the symbol of the first crisis of the political system of the Restoration.

Index

1. Spain in its international context
2. Colonial Wars: First Cuban War of Independence
3. Colonial wars: second Cuban war of independence
4. Colonial wars: the wars of independence of Puerto Rico and the Philippines
5. Colonial War: War with the United States

To understand well the disaster of '98

Territories such as Asia and Africa were disputed by countries such as France and Great Britain, which ended up dominating a large part of both continents. In the case of America, the economic influence exerted by the United States at that time made one wish also their territorial dominion, hence they took advantage of the opportunity that the wars of independence gave them from Cuba.

Spain, however, was more of a second-order power whose sole objective was to maintain all the colonies that it had overseas, especially Cuba for maintaining very strong economic ties.

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The overseas territories of the Spanish empire after having lost continental America at the beginning of the 19th century were reduced to the Island of Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and the Caroline and Mariana Islands in the Peaceful.

Already in the second half of the nineteenth century is when the phase of independence of these territories began, however, the different Spanish governments, that is, neither the Democratic Sexenio nor the Monarchical Restoration, which were those that covered the period of the First Cuban War of Independence (1868 - 1878) They knew how to solve it, since both, what they wanted was to maintain at all costs the authority over said territories, without favoring the demands of the Creole bourgeoisie, which was to have rights in making decisions in their islands.

This first war of independence ends with the Peace of Zanjón, which would mean the end of amnesty and slavery and new administrative and political conditions, however, everything that had been agreed was slowed down, fulfilling all expectations very late, as slavery was abolished in 1886.

During all these years in which the fulfillment of all the conditions will occur, the Cuban exiles among which were José Martí, leader of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, bet on the total independence of Cuba, counting on the support of many other Cuban sectors and the United States since the economic interests of this were very important, because with the 1891 tariff law in which Cubans were prohibited from free trade in the area, the sugar trade was greater in the United States than in Spain, which would end up becoming a support for the independentistas, in addition to seeing a possibility to extend their territory through the zone.

In this other lesson from a TEACHER we offer you a summary of the independence of Cuba.

The Second Cuban War of Independence (1895 - 1898) it began because even though the problems were pending and that were not solved after the first war, a great social unrest caused by the drop in the price of sugar, the Cubans seeing a way out in the fact of rising again against Spain.

The uprising was carried out by Jose Marti from exile with Antonio Maceo and Máximo Gómez, who returned to the island. At the beginning of the war, José Martí died leaving power in the hands of Maceo, who came to constitute the first provisional government. In the war, the strength of the well-organized Mambises and the help from the United States made the Spanish army need support.

Faced with this situation, Spain sends Martinez Campos again to pacify the island, however, his policy of concessions did not convince the Cubans and they caused him to be dismissed by Valeriano Weyler in 1896. The objective of this was to reinforce the army and initiate a policy of concentration in specific places and guarded by guards Spanish, the United States reacted to such a measure in order to safeguard the interests of many American families settled there.

In addition, the United States, as we have said previously, had the advantage of having greater dominance on the island of Cuba in economic aspects and its ultimate purpose was to expel the Spanish people.

Already on several occasions the Americans negotiated for the purchase of the island, but the Spanish government rejected it at all times. The United States wanted to intervene in some way or another in the conflict, and although in 1897 autonomy over Cuba was granted, the Cubans only wanted their independence.

The wars of independence of Puerto Rico and the Philippines They were carried out between the years 1896 and 1897 since there were also rebellions for not meeting their demands for independence. They were about very short wars because in a short time they were quickly controlled by the United States, losing Spain another of the territories it had overseas.

In the case of the Philippines, the US government had assured them that, if they sided with it, they would help it achieve its independence since the objective was to defeat the Philippines. Spain, and after defeating it, it turned against the Filipinos, (who ended up giving it important military and logistical aid in the war) seizing the Philippines since at that time the President of the US government McKinley he saw the Filipinos unable to govern themselves.

The Maine explosion in 1898 anchored near the bay of Havana was what served as an excuse for the intervention in the war of the United States against Spain, accusing them of being the Spaniards who had caused this outbreak, in this way the war began, launching the expansionist policy of the States United.

On July 3, 1898, Spain fell into defeat not having international support or having any role in international politics, apart from the fact that the The US navy was much better prepared than the Spanish, and the differences in armament were overwhelming.

It is in December 1898 when the signing of the Paris treaty with which the Spanish-American War in which Spain renounced its last colonial possessions overseas was ended:

• Cuba establishes itself as an independent republic but with a strong influence of the United States, since it could intervene militarily, reserve the right to create bases on the coast of Cuba and also had the right to control all the treaties that Cuba sign
• Puerto Rico that today is a territory that belongs to the United States with a status of self-government
• Philippines managed to become independent, but did not do so until 1946
• Finally the caroline islands and the mariana islands I ended up selling them to Germany in February 1899.

This way is how Spain ended its colonial empire, some losses that had great consequences in the country being immersed in a serious political and moral crisis.

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