Who won the Spanish-American War?

The United States won the Spanish-American War against Spain in 1898. The conflict grew out of Spain’s struggle to control Cuba, where revolutionaries had been fighting for independence. Tensions in the United States intensified after the battleship USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor, and the U.S. declared war on Spain in April 1898.

American forces quickly defeated Spanish fleets in both the Caribbean and the Pacific. Commodore George Dewey destroyed Spain’s Pacific fleet at Manila Bay in the Philippines, while U.S. forces captured key positions in Cuba, including San Juan Hill near Santiago. The fighting lasted only about ten weeks.

The Treaty of Paris, signed on December 10, 1898, formally ended the war. Spain gave up control of Cuba and ceded Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States; it also transferred the Philippines to the U.S. for $20 million. Cuba became formally independent, although American influence remained strong. A common mix-up is confusing this war with the later Philippine-American War, which began in 1899 when Filipino forces resisted U.S. rule.