Spain’s 1898 Crisis: The Spanish-American War and Its Impact
Spain’s Colonial Empire and the 1898 Crisis
Between 1814 and 1824, under King Ferdinand VII, Spain lost much of its colonial empire, retaining only Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and some Pacific islands. These remaining territories were lost in 1898, a year often referred to as ‘the Disaster.’ Spain’s colonial policy aimed to retain these overseas possessions. While Cuba provided significant economic benefits, Cubans were treated as second-class citizens. Madrid’s restrictive trade policies, which prevented Cubans from purchasing cheaper American goods, fueled discontent. This led to an uprising for independence, known as the Grito de Yara, and subsequently the Ten Years’ War (1868-1878), which began during Spain’s Six Years of Democracy. Upon ascending the throne, Alfonso XII tasked Arsenio Martínez Campos with ending both the Carlist Wars and the conflict in Cuba. This conflict concluded with the Peace of Zanjón, under which Spain agreed to abolish slavery and grant political autonomy to the island. However, the Spanish government was slow to abolish slavery and failed to implement the promised autonomy. Later, Antonio Maura attempted to grant new autonomy, but the Madrid Court refused, leading to the Second Cuban War of Independence.
Cuban and Philippine Independence Movements
The conflict garnered strong support from the African and mulatto populations. The Montecristi Manifesto proclaimed Cuba’s freedom. From the outset, a guerrilla war emerged, allowing rebels to gain control of significant areas of the island. The Spanish government dispatched Martínez Campos to crush the rebels (known as Mambises), but he failed to defeat them. Later, Antonio Cánovas del Castillo adopted a more successful, albeit brutal, strategy, establishing re-concentration camps where rural populations were forcibly relocated to isolate the Mambises and deprive them of peasant support. A similar situation unfolded in the Philippines, where leaders like Emilio Aguinaldo and José Rizal spearheaded an uprising against Spanish rule. Spanish General Camilo Polavieja brutally suppressed the revolt, and Rizal was executed in 1897. However, the United States decided to intervene, supporting the rebels.
US Intervention and the Treaty of Paris
The United States had significant economic and political interests in the Spanish colonies. The US had supported the Cuban independence movement, first during the Ten Years’ War and then in the Second War of Independence. Witnessing Spain’s failure to quell the rebellion by 1897, the US became directly involved in the war, fueled by public opinion shaped by figures like William Randolph Hearst. The bombing of the USS Maine, a battleship anchored in Havana harbor, served as the pretext for US intervention. Although the explosion was later determined to be an accident in the engine room, Americans widely believed it was an act of Spanish sabotage. The American president offered Spain money to withdraw from Cuba, threatening war if they refused. Spain did not accept, and the war began in April, largely decided by naval engagements. In May, the US destroyed the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay, and in July, they achieved a decisive victory in Santiago de Cuba. The Spanish defeat was complete, leading to the signing of the Treaty of Paris in December.
Impact of Spain’s 1898 Defeat
The loss of the colonies was considered a profound military and diplomatic disaster. It deprived Spain of colonial revenues, captive markets, and access to goods that would now have to be purchased at international prices. The Spanish army was completely discredited, and politicians blamed the military for the defeat. The loss of the colonies led King Alfonso XIII to become obsessed with establishing a strong Spanish presence in Morocco. This ‘Africanism’ effectively replaced the lost American colonialism. The Cuban War exposed the arbitrary nature of the ‘system of fifths’ (quintas), which allowed wealthy families to buy their sons out of military service, while the sons of the poor were sent to die or be mutilated. Consequently, workers increasingly opposed conscription and war, while the army became more right-leaning. Across Spain, a new wave of Spanish nationalism gained strength, expressed notably through the Regenerationist Movement. This movement, spearheaded by intellectuals of the time, particularly the Generation of ’98, sought to understand the causes of Spain’s perceived backwardness and the ‘Disaster.’ They attributed these issues to the politics of the Restoration era, which they believed alienated the electorate and perpetuated economic and social stagnation. They proposed policies focused on the common good rather than benefiting only the oligarchy. The dynastic parties attempted a revision of Cánovas’s optimistic political system. With Alfonso XIII’s ascension to the throne in 1902, two significant reform attempts were made: conservative reforms by Antonio Maura and liberal reforms by José Canalejas. However, Canalejas’s assassination led to a crisis of the turnismo (the alternating two-party system) that Cánovas had established. This crisis, which neither party could resolve, escalated, erupting into further crises in 1917 and from 1921 to 1923, ultimately leading to Miguel Primo de Rivera’s coup d’état.