Military History: The United States as Pacific Power

Introduction

The Spanish-American War is one of the factors that contributed to the U.S becoming an imperial power after its acquisition of Spain’s holdings when the war ended. In this essay, the focus is on how the projected needs for an increasingly international military role encouraged the U.S to seek imperialistic power.

Expansion after Spanish-American War

Prior the 19^th Century, the U.S was uninterested in imperialistic power until some influential elites urged that the country places military bases abroad. Although this was highly debated at first, circumstances such as the Spanish-American War encouraged U.S’ external expansion. The Spanish-American War was declared in April 1898. Spanish went to war with U.S because the U.S favored Cuba’s wish to secede from Spanish rule (U.S Army, 2005). The U.S sympathized with Cuban subjects being put under harsh conditions by the Spanish military commander, leading to deaths by starvation, diseases, and exposure in concentration camps. The Guerrilla warfare in Cuba was also bringing loses to the U.S economic investments in the region; hence it was time to take control (U.S Army, 2005).

The war awakened the U.S army need to gather intelligence and develop strategies of attacking its enemy. For example, naval developments were used to determine when and where the Army undertook its Caribbean operations but during the early period of May 1898, the whereabouts of the Spanish Fleet, under Admiral Cervera could not be uncovered, and the news was that he had skillfully evaded the American naval blockade and slipped into the bay at Santiago de Cuba (U.S Army, 2005). This pointed to a lack of information that would disable the army from determined the precise point where it should launch an attack. Nevertheless, the U.S army destroyed the Spanish Fleet off Santiago Bay at Cuba on July 3^rd 1898 forcing Spain to surrender on July 17. A peace treaty was signed on August 12 and ratified on February 6, 1899 giving the U.S control over Puerto Rico, Guam, Cuba, and the Philippines (U.S Army, 2005).

In conclusion, the U.S initially did not seek to expand externally, but the need to have its army bases overseas for intelligence and protection against enemies provided a platform through which the country gained imperialistic power in the Pacific.

Reference:

U.S Army. (2005). American military history, vol. 1: The United States Army and the forging of a nation. R. W. Steward (Ed.). U.S: Military Bookshop.