What were the political, strategic, and economic implications of the U.S. winning the Spanish-American War - Essay Example

On The Splendid Little War The Spanish-American War, also dubbed as the “Splendid Little War”1was a brief battle between Spain and the United s basically caused by the latter’s intervention in Cuba’s battle for independence from Spain. To note, Spain was the dominant world power of the 1600s controlling a great number of colonies. Over the succeeding centuries, they had unfortunately lost this authority due to independence revolutions spurred by its dependents in Asia and on the Caribbean islands.

Since Cuba acquired independence from Spain with the aid of the United States, the latter became the emerging dominant world power of the era through acquiring Spain’s former colonies. One political implication is that “when the balance of power in an international system is shifting, war becomes more likely when leaders’ domestic political outcomes depend on a favorable national outcome in the international system”.2 Note that the Americans, due to yellow journalism, had felt perturbed due to the atrocities that reportedly happened from the Spanish Occupation in Cuba.

In return, the state leaders were seized to follow the demands of their voting public to avoid defeat in elections even though they wished for more peaceful settlement. Moreover, winning a war implies better chances in winning the masses’ heart. This move was a form of the traditional politics of forming public image and pleasing the public.Because of the Cuban War of Independence from Spain, the economy of the United States led to a downturn due to its heavy involvement in the Cuban economy.

As the Cubans were freed, “the rise of the United States as a world power derived from its gains in the world economy. The U.S. share of world manufacturing production climbed.making it by far the supreme industrial nation.” 3 Winning the war against Spain may imply that the US had a hidden desire to either set Cuba free to improve the health of their economy or to emerge as a dominant world power to manipulate economic conditions for national benefits.American’s derived the main strategy of attacking Spain’s other colonies through naval bombing.

“Although the war was ostensibly over Cuba, U.S. forces attacked Spain’s other colonies. This might be excused as strategically necessary — had not the United States subsequently absorbed these ­territories” 4 In July, after Santiago had fallen and Spain had already sued for peace, U.S. forces invaded the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico. In the Pacific, a U.S. cruiser began shelling Guam and then seized Manila. This strategy of attacking colonies of the other party suggests that the United States had already been setting their stage and rising up to be a dominant global power.

They were hitting two birds at a time, conquering the colonies and partially taking over it Spain slowly surrenders the fight. Because the Americans were able to win the war over the Spaniards, they have claimed the throne for world power. The economic, strategic and political implications of this triumph mainly deal with benefiting from the power that they gained from this short-term battle. BibliographyAnonymous. CIOCCA History. https://cioccahistory.pbworks.com.(accessed August 22,2012 )Paterson, Thomas G. 1998. U.S. Intervention in Cuba, 1898: Interpreting the Spanish-American-Cuban-Filipino War.

Perloff, James. August 2012 Spanish-American War: Trial Run for Interventionism. http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/history/item/12338-trial-run-for-interventionism. (Accessed August 22, 2012)Wang, Bella. E-International Relations. May 2012. Power, Domestic Politics, and the Spanish-American War http://www.e-ir.info/2012/05/21/power-domestic-politics-and-the-spanish-american-war/ (accessed August 22, 2012)