How the US Army Won The Spanish-American War

The Spanish-American War (fought in Cuba and the Philippines) kickstarted US global ambitions and expanded their influence far beyond the borders of the United States. At the same time the war marked the endpoint of the decline of Spain as a global power.

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» SOURCES
Brannen, Daniel E. Jr., Spanish-American War, (Farmington Hills, MI : Thomson-Gale, 2003)

Cerezo, Don Saturnino Martin, Under the Red and Gold, Being Notes and Recollections of the Siege of Baler, (Kansas City, MO : Franklin Hudson Publishing Co., 1909)

Henrickson, Kenneth E. Jr.,, The Spanish-American War, (Westport, CT : Greenwood Press, 2003)

Jude Paul Cleope, Earl; Rhimmel Hermandez; Victor Jimenez et al., Philippine History Source Book, (Manila : National Commission for Culture and the Arts, 2021)

Parker, John J. The Gatlings of Santiago: the History of the Gatling Gun Detachment, U. S. Fifth Army Corps, During the Spanish-American War, Cuba, 1898, (Leonaur Publishing, 2010)

Quesada, Alejandro de, The Spanish-American War and Philippine Insurrection: 1889-1902, (Oxford : Osprey Publishing, 2007)

Roosevelt, Theodore, The Rough Riders, (New York, NY : Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1899)

Schult, Volker & Wionzek, Harl-Heinz (eds.), The German and Austrian Navies in the Philippines and their role in the Spanish-American War of 1898, (Manila : National Historical Commission of the Philippines, 2017)

Telfer, George F. Manila Envelopes: Oregon Volunteer Lt. George F. Telfer’s Spanish-American War Letters, (Portland, OR : The Oregon Historical Society Press, 1987)

Valiña, Cayetano, ‘Diary of Cayetano Valiña’

Werstein, Irving, 1898: The Spanish-American War, (New York, NY : Cooper Square Publishers, Inc., 1966)


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Presented by: Jesse Alexander
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[TheGreatWar]

Also a correction for this episode: It wasn't general Shafter but general Wheeler who shouted ""Let's go, boys! We've got the damn Yankees on the run again!" - Shafter was a former Union general, Wheeler a former Confederate general in the US Civil War.

[Warmaster_]

From covering ww1 to this, man I am happy to see how far this channel has come, glad to see you covering the Spanish American War.

[Tadicuslegion]

Phillippines: We're free!
US: I wouldn't say Free so much as under new management.

[nbmdennis]

1898, Our Last Men in the Philippines is a Spanish language war movie from 2016 about the Spanish attempt to hold onto the Philippines. Highly recommended, it does a great job showing a Spanish garrison trying to preserve the once mighty empire as well as themselves against the Philippine revolutionaries. It's no masterpiece but it helped me visualize this conflict a bit better.

[podemosurss]

In Spain this war is known as the "War of Cuba" (Guerra de Cuba), and the loss (mostly of prestige, but also the loss of half the navy and the thousands of casualties suffered) is called the "disaster of 1898" (desastre del 98). It left the country marked, in fact there was an entire generation of writers influenced by the defeat and how it had removed the illusion of Spain having an Empire (generación del 98). They tried to adapt Spain into the modern world, to no avail.

[PhilipDeLong]

Gen. Shafter had been a Union officer; it was "Fightin' Joe" Wheeler, a cavalry commander, who was a former Confederate and to whom the famous "We got the damn Yankees on the run!" statement is attributed.

[benniotto]

Am I the only one who is a little shocked at how surprisingly frank William Randolph Hearst was when asked as to whether his papers were over exaggerating Spanish atrocities? The man more or less just said “ya we’re lying, but people wanna hear it so whatever.”

[michaelplanchunas]

The Spanish-American war was a turning point for the US Army. Prior to 1898 the "on paper" strength of the US Army was 25, 000 men in 25 regiments of infantry, 10 of cavalry and five of artillery. Promotion of officers was slow, the US having the British Regimental system of promotion. You were promoted within your regiment. Many West Point graduates spent 25-30 years as captains and retired in that rank because of the smallness of the army. After the expansion from 25, 000 to 125, 000 these captains suddenly became Lt. Colonels, with lower ranks also being promoted at least once. Roosevelt saw the deficiencies in the army during the war and instituted massive reforms in 1903, doing away with state militias and instituting the National Guard under US Army control for training and equipping. The Mexican border crisis of 1916-1917 showed the fruits of those reforms.

[yrobtsvt]

The footage you found for this is fantastic. Be it reenactments or whatever, I had no idea there was video to illustrate this war. The illustrations are great too. edit: And the battle diagrams are amazing omg

[davedrifter]

My Grand Uncle Albert Jones enlisted and served in “The War with Spain”. He marched along with others from Newport Tenn to Atlanta, Georgia some 200 miles. He served in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. He was discharged after suffering malaria and consequently died from complications at a young age. His mother my maternal Great Grand Mother received a small pension as a defendant, $6 per month. I acquired this information from the National Archives.

[Aaryq]

My dad's uncle was a sergeant in the 9th. He was wounded the day before Roosevelt took the San Juan Hill.

[QALibrary]

From my understanding, this war was the first war where journalists could report and esp take photos and be part of the action in real-time due to being able to get their "copy" back to media outlets due to the development of technology - A highly recommended book to look up is Shooting War: Photography and the American Experience of Combat, Susan D.Moeller early part of the book covers this conflict

[MrGouldilocks]

Great video guys! I love the various quotes from influential individuals and the newspaper clippings that accompany your video. They do a lot to put events in context and frame the historical perspective.

"He has the backbone of a chocolate eclair.". What a sick burn; I'll have to add that one to my vernacular.

[John.McMillan]

I watch alot of history channels and this one is consistently the most accurate. I hardly ever cross check anything on this channel anymore because the only things I've ever seen that were wrong were either minute details or things with contested answers.
Its very refreshing, you can tell this channel actually cares about history and quality of content.

[JaykPuten]

My wife who watches "the nick" (she's a nurse and only cares about medical history) had asked me so many questions about "the war with Spain" and "why did that cause problems with them getting medication shipments" never got any of my long winded explanations, or even my more concise explanations

And after having her watch this one video it answered all her questions on the topic, and she even said "I hate history videos but liked that one"

So thank you for making another amazing video that in 30minutes covers all the right and important pieces of information to understand the topic

And for lovers of history it's awesome to have these videos that I can watch and then go and search for more in-depth information very easily

Thank each and every member of your staff, as they're clearly amazing at what they do
So keep up the excellent work

As the fact that you guys can make a history video that even my "I hate non medical history videos" can watch from start to end, and enjoy as well as actually remembers the content of, is a feat very few history channels can do, and the other few channels are all your guy's channels

So again thank you for all the hard and amazing work you do to make what could easily be a 4+ hour video, condensed into 30 minutes and managing to hit all the most important notes

Love this and all your guy's other related channels!

[alexvaraderey]

My Great, Great Uncle, General Vara de Rey, was the Spanish military governor of the Phillipines in the 1890's and then at the outbreak of the war was transferred to Cuba. He was the commanding officer at El Caney and died in action. Statues to him were raised in Ibiza and Madrid, paid by public donations.

[ClassicFormulaOne]

I was born in 1981 but I knew my great grandmother who died in 1993. She was born in 1898 when this war erupted. Weird thought because this war is so long ago and feels ancient! Teddy Roosevelt was roaming with his rough riders, Queen Victoria was still alive and the British Empire was still No1. Totally different times...

Weird coincidence with this video: my great grandmother's surname in dutch was 'van Spanje' which litteraly means 'of Spain' 🤗

[RANDALLBRIGGS]

Major General William Shafter (17:00), Commanding General of V Corps, had not been a Confederate officer, but in fact had been a Union officer during the American Civil War. The officer who made the "Yankees on the run" comment was Shafter's subordinate, Maj. Gen. Joseph "Fighting Joe" Wheeler, who commanded the Cavalry Division of V Corps.

EDIT: I see that this correction has already been made. Carry on!

[ak]

My great grandfather was in the 1st volunteer cavalry John O'Neil troop E. I still have his items, including hat, uniforms, medals and pictures.

[Davemte]

Glad to hear the mention of Bethlehem Steel. Its iron mines in Cuba were crucial for expansion of the company.