American Navy ship USS Maine sinks whilst anchored in Havana Harbor, Cuba in 1898.
Many Wars Follow.
sinking was an accident, not an attack
On the 15 February 1898, there was an explosion on board the US Battleship Maine while it was in the Havana Harbor, Cuba. Newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst immediately blamed Spain for the explosion (Cuba was a Spanish colony at the time) while other newspapers were more cautious.
But goverment and public speculaton enflamed by media aggrandisement soon created “war fever” in America.
Nevertheless, war with Spain soon followed. Once again, powerful elites had gotten a cash cow to milk and profit from.
The American war and victory against Spain led to the U.S. emerging predominant in the Caribbean region, and resulted in the U.S. acquiring Spain’s colonial possssions in the Pacific, ie: Peurto Rico, Guam, the Philippines and temporarily, Cuba.
The American possession of the Philippines then led to the Philippine-American War as the Philippine people once again had to go to war to take back control of their own country, this time from the USA, finally succeeding 50 years later.
Pumpkin Pie Failures 