Spanish-American War: Battle of Cuba

The so-called Antilles Campaign became the most intense part of the Spanish-American War, which began on April 23, 1898.

In the chain of Antillean islands was the “prize” desired by the United States - Cuba, with its sugar and tobacco industries. This was precisely the reason why the United States supported the Cubans' struggle for independence from the Spanish colonialists.

At the same time, Spain also did not want to lose one of its most significant colonies at that time. It is worth noting that in the initial stages before the war with the Americans, the kingdom managed to suppress the uprising.

If we talk about the goals of the parties to the conflict, which was already inevitable, then for the United States the main task at the first stage was the blockade of Cuba and Puerto Rico, in order to prevent attempts by Spanish ships to “raid” American territory. This was followed by the seizure of Cuba and other Antilles.

The Spaniards, in turn, planned to hold the defense of Cuba. The main emphasis was on coastal ground defensive lines, which were supposed to prevent the Americans from carrying out a major landing operation and capturing the island. At the same time, another important task was to organize the supply of troops during the blockade.

By the way, about the landing. His landing took place 2 months after the start of the war. On June 22-24, 18 American troops landed at Daiquiri, arriving on 35 ships. By June 26, together with Cuban rebels, US troops besieged Santiago from Sushi.

On July 3, a Spanish squadron attempted to break the blockade of Santiago by sea in order to deliver food to the besieged troops. However, all the Spanish ships were sunk. Characteristically, the losses on the American side in this battle amounted to one killed sailor.

On July 10, 1898, the final stage of the American operation to capture Cuba began, which consisted of a massive bombardment of besieged Santiago.

The garrison defending the city announced its surrender on July 14. Moreover, by the beginning of August the Americans had completely captured Cuba.

It is worth noting that despite achieving the goal in such a short time, the operation to capture Cuba did not go smoothly for the United States. For example, during the battle for San Juan Hill, located east of the city of Santiago, the Americans and their Cuban counterparts had a 16-fold superiority in strength. At the same time, they suffered the same losses as the Spaniards.

In turn, during the entire Spanish-American War, the United States lost 2446 soldiers out of about 306 thousand, and the Spaniards lost 2159 soldiers out of about 200 thousand.

Comments

[knn54]

This is how Cuba acquired its “independence”.

[dump22]

American operation to invade Cuba

Moreover, the local Cuban population greeted the Americans as liberators!
The American occupation of Cuba lasted until 1902.
During the occupation, the United States partially carried out reforms - the separation of church and state, the law on civil marriage, etc.
Elections were also held for the Constituent Assembly, which adopted the first constitution of the Republic of Cuba.

But the United States at the same time pushed the delegates of the Constituent Assembly (by promising tariff concessions to Cuba) to include the so-called “Plata amendment” in the constitution.
It was for this reason that in 1903 the United States received an indefinite lease of the Guantanamo naval base.

[Tikhonov_Alexander]

On February 15, 1898, the American battleship Maine entered the port of Havana, which no one had invited or expected there. All the officers went ashore. At night there was an explosion and the battleship sank - more than two hundred crew members (mostly blacks, it seems) died. We blamed Spain for what we had done and started a war. About 2 years later it was determined that the explosion was from within. This is exactly how mattress makers plan and carry out provocations for which they blame others.