During the election of 1896, proponents of American Imperialism opposed William Jennings Bryan. When he became President they lamented that America’s great opportunity to establish itself as a great power had been squandered by an idealistic pacifist. This was an inaccurate portrayal of the situation. The truth is that Bryan, while anti-Imperialist, was no pacifist. America would first learn this in December of 1897. There was increasing pressure on the President and Congress to declare war on Spain and liberate Cuba. “Yellow journalists” such as Bryan supporter William Randolph Hearst agitated for war. Within Bryan’s own cabinet there was also pressure. Secretary of War John T. Morgan is credited for convincing the President that war with Spain was necessary in the fall of 1897. The cruelties of Governor of Cuba Valeriano Weyler, who Spanish Prime Minister Cánovas[1], who had recently survived an assassination attempt, saw fit to keep in power, horrified Bryan, who called upon Congress for a Declaration of War. After some debate, Congress agreed and on December 10, 1897, America was at war with Spain. Bryan proclaimed that America was fighting not to conquer but to liberate. The war of liberation would be called the Cuban War.
-Excerpt from
America's Silver Age, Edward S. Scott, Patriot Publishers, 2017.
(Left: Spanish Prime Minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, Right: Spanish Governor of Cuba, Valeriano Weyler)
The first actions of the War were on the sea, and all were in the US’ favor. On December 22, 1897, the
USS Maine and the
USS Texas, along with some smaller ships sunk the Spanish Cruiser
Cristóbal Colón, along with gunboats
Sandoval,
Antonio Lopez, and
Alvarado, as well as a few torpedo boats at the port of Cienfuegos. This was followed by American victories at Havana and Guantanamo Bay. In January, the invasion of Cuba began. On January 20, 1898, American forces landed at Guantanamo Bay, outnumbering the Spanish defenders nearby 2 to 1. In addition, thousands of Cuban rebels assisted US troops in battle. While the Spanish forces fought bravely they were defeated and they surrendered Guantanamo Bay on January 22. Santiago de Cuba fell a few days later. On February 4, 1898, the USS Maine bombarded Manzanillo as Americans and Cuban rebels made short work of the Spanish garrison. The battle featured a cavalry charge led by Theodore Roosevelt and Leonard Wood. By the end of February, American soldiers and Cuban Rebel fighters controlled much of the Western edge of Cuba.
(Top: USS Maine, Bottom: Spanish Cruiser Cristóbal Colón)
Spain made a final attempt to break American naval power, hoping to cut off US troops on the Island. This failed and Americans continued to advance in Cuba. In the Pacific, which had been a sideshow, the Spanish Navy was losing and the military was unsure if it could hold on to the Philippines as American ships approached Manilla. Meanwhile, a small force of American marines landed west of Havana on March 1. After Spanish forces failed to push them back, Spain called for a ceasefire. Cánovas, urged by Regent Maria Christina (whose son, King Alfonso XIII was only 11 at the time). wanted to end the war before things turned even worse for Spain. He was committed to his colonial empire and wanted to keep as much of it as possible. America accepted the ceasefire and soon the two sides were at the negotiating table in Paris. The US sent a delegation led by Secretary of State Henry Teller, who Bryan most trusted to represent the United States in Paris. The Spanish Prime Minister ordered the Spanish delegation to not accept an American annexation of the Philippines or Puerto Rico. Cánovas was an Imperialist hardliner, who earlier had stated that “the Spanish nation is disposed to sacrifice to the last peseta of its treasure and to the last drop of blood of the last Spaniard before consenting that anyone snatch from it even one piece of its territory.” By the summer of 1898, his policy had changed to one of abandoning Cuba to save the rest of the empire. To the Spanish delegation’s surprise, Teller didn’t ask for either. Cuban Independence was the main goal of the US delegation. The other demands were tolerable to Spain. The provisions of the 1898 Treaty of Paris were:
-Spain must relinquish control of Cuba, which is now to be an independent nation.
-Spain must pay 5 million Pesetas in reparations to Cuba.
-Spain must respect the rights of those living in its colonies and provide a form of self-government for the Philippines and Puerto Rico.
(Regent of Spain, Maria Christina)
Spain agreed to the demands made at Paris, with the intention of never fully enforcing the third provision of the treaty. Spain had been humiliated, but it could have been much worse. Many in the Spanish government were just happy to keep part of their empire and pivoted their focus from the Caribbean (Puerto Rico was much more loyal than Cuba and unlikely to rebel) to the Pacific. In America the public was thrilled, and after the divisive first year of Bryan’s Presidency, everyone was united in celebration. The war helped Bryan win the confidence of those who thought he was weak on foreign policy. Cuban War veteran Theodore Roosevelt would later claim that the war caused him to finally respect the President. Others were displeased, some because they opposed the war in the first place, but others because they thought Bryan didn’t do enough. Among these were journalists such as Joseph Pulitzer and politicians such as William McKinley. They criticized Bryan for leaving the Philippines and Puerto Rico in Spanish hands when. As Massachusetts Senator Henry Lodge would say, “he [Bryan] had a knife held to Spain’s throat, and then he just walked away. All that America gained was one naval base.”
The war also caused disagreements within the President’s cabinet. Secretary of War John Morgan, a former slaveholder, hoped to have an all-white army fight in Cuba. William Jennings Bryan found his proposal ridiculous, stating “Why would you turn down a man willing to die for his country?” Morgan, along with Navy Secretary Whitney, found themselves at odds with Bryan and Teller’s anti-Imperialism. They wanted America to annex Puerto Rico and the Philippines. In July of 1898, Bryan gave a speech to Congress in which he stated that the only time America should go to war is if the war is a Just War. This is a reference to Thomas Aquinas’ Just War Theory. Bryan said that the Cuban War met all the qualifications for it to be a Just War. First, he stated that the war was declared by a properly instituted authority, the United States Congress. Second, he stated that the war had a good and just purpose, the liberation of the Cuban people from their Spanish oppressors, and was not for self-gain. He stated that peace was the central motive even in the midst of violence; American troops fought the war against Spain with the goal of the liberation of Cuba in mind, and ended the war once the goal had been achieved. Congress would later pass the Just War Act, requiring every American War to conform to these principles. The remainder of Bryan’s Presidency was mostly peaceful.
-Excerpt from
The Guide to the Executive Mansion, an in Depth Look at America's Presidents by Benjamin Buckley, Harvard Press, 1999.
1: OTL the Prime Minister was assassinated by an anarchist in 1897. After he died the dreaded Weyler was removed from his post in Cuba.