From 1895 to 1898, Cuban insurgents fought to free their homeland from Spanish rule. Though often overshadowed by the "Splendid Little War" of the Americans in 1898, according to John Tone, the ...longer Spanish-Cuban conflict was in fact more remarkable, foreshadowing the wars of decolonization in the twentieth century.Employing newly released evidence--including hospital records, intercepted Cuban letters, battle diaries from both sides, and Spanish administrative records--Tone offers new answers to old questions concerning the war. He examines the origin of Spain's genocidal policy of "reconcentration"; the causes of Spain's military difficulties; the condition, effectiveness, and popularity of the Cuban insurgency; the necessity of American intervention; and Spain's supposed foreknowledge of defeat.The Spanish-Cuban-American war proved pivotal in the histories of all three countries involved. Tone's fresh analysis will provoke new discussions and debates among historians and human rights scholars as they reexamine the war in which the concentration camp was invented, Cuba was born, Spain lost its empire, and America gained an overseas empire.From 1895 to 1898, Cuban insurgents fought to free their homeland from Spanish rule. Though often overshadowed by the "Splendid Little War" of the Americans in 1898, according to John Tone, the longer Spanish-Cuban conflict was in fact more remarkable, foreshadowing the wars of decolonization in the twentieth century.Employing newly released evidence, Tone offers new answers to old questions concerning the war. He examines the origin of Spain's genocidal policy of "reconcentration"; the causes of Spain's military difficulties; the condition, effectiveness, and popularity of the Cuban insurgency; the necessity of American intervention; and Spain's supposed foreknowledge of defeat. The Spanish-Cuban-American
war proved pivotal in the histories of all three countries involved. Tone's fresh analysis introduces new topics for discussion and debate among historians and human rights scholars as they reexamine the war in which the concentration camp was invented, Cuba was born, Spain lost its last American colonies, and America gained an overseas empire.-->.
On Captivity Ciges Aparicio, Manuel; Walker, Dolores J; Schmidt-Nowara, Christopher
2012, 2012-10-24
eBook
On Captivity is the first translation into English of Del Cautiverio , Manuel Ciges Aparicio’s account of his imprisonment in the notorious La Cabaña fortress in Havana during ...the Cuban War of Independence (1895–98).   Ciges enlisted in the Spanish army in 1893 at the age of twenty. He served in Africa and then in Cuba, where he opposed Spanish General Valeriano Weyler’s policies in Cuba as well as the war itself. Ciges soon found himself imprisoned and facing execution for treason as punishment for an article critical of Weyler’s conducting of the war that was intercepted by Spanish authorities before it could be published in the pro-Cuban Parisian paper L’Intransigeant .   First published in book form in 1903, Ciges’s account includes detailed observations concerning prison organization, perceptions of political events and personalities of the time, as well as graphic descriptions of the daily life of the men confined in the infamous prison. Ciges is the only one of the so-called Generation of 1898—writers considered to have been deeply marked by el desastre (the loss of the colonies)—who was in Cuba during the war years. His witness to events there, colored by his stance as a freethinker and political skeptic, constitutes a significant historical document. Following his release from prison, Ciges returned to Spain where he resumed his career as an activist journalist and also earned acclaim as a translator and novelist. In time, his political allegiances shifted from socialism to liberal republicanism. He was acting as provincial governor of Avila when he was killed by unidentified assassins on August 4, 1936—eighteen days after the Falangist uprising against the Second Republic.  
Tomando como referencias la bibliografía especializada y un amplio conjunto de fuentes archivísticas, fundamentalmente británicas, este artículo comienza analizando la nueva situación internacional ...que caracteriza la última década del siglo XIX, las líneas generales de la política exterior española y la posición internacional de Inglaterra como consecuencia de su necesidad de hacer compatible la defensa de su posición en el Pacífico con el reforzamiento de la seguridad de Gibraltar cuando se formaliza la alianza franco-rusa. Sobre esta base, la decisión española de no renovar los Acuerdos Mediterráneos, el estallido de la insurrección cubana, los primeros pasos de la intervención norteamericana y los continuados esfuerzos españoles para lograr la intervención de las grandes potencias en general, y de Inglaterra en particular, para frenar al gobierno de Washington, fueron la ocasión de la intervención de sir Henry Drammond Wolff, embajador británico en Madrid, que intentó empujar al gobierno del marqués de Salisbury en favor de los objetivos de los sucesivos gobiernos españoles. Aunque no tenga éxito, la intensa actividad de Wolff y su abundante correspondencia con el Foreign Office permite conocer no sólo las líneas generales de la diplomacia que las grandes potencias en general —y Inglaterra en particular— desarrollaron en Madrid, sino también las perspectivas, los objetivos y las iniciativas de la política exterior española en los años que precedieron al «Desastre».
Theodore Roosevelt was a man of wide interests, strong opinions, and intense ambition for both himself and his country. When he met Leonard Wood in 1897, he recognized a kindred spirit. Moreover, the ...two men shared a zeal for making the United States an imperial power that would challenge Great Britain as world leader. For the remainder of their lives, their careers would intertwine in ways that shaped the American nation. When the Spanish American War came, both men seized the opportunity to promote the goals of American empire. Roosevelt resigned as assistant secretary of the navy in William McKinley's administration to serve as a lieutenant colonel of the Rough Riders, a newly organized volunteer cavalry. Wood, then a captain in the medical corps and physician to McKinley, was promoted to colonel and given charge of the unit. Roosevelt later took over command of the Rough Riders. In the Battle of San Juan Hill, he led it in a charge up Kettle Hill that would end in victory for the American troops and make their daring commander a household name, a war hero, and, eventually, president of the United States. At the Treaty of Paris in 1898, Spain ceded Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States. The next year, Wood became military governor of Cuba. He remained in the post until 1902. By that time Roosevelt was president. One of the major accomplishments of his administration was reorganization of the War Department, which the war with Spain had proved disastrously outdated. In 1909, when William Howard Taft needed a strong army chief of staff to enforce the new rules, he appointed Leonard Wood. Both Wood and Roosevelt were strong proponents of preparedness, and when war broke out in Europe in August 1914, Wood, retired as chief of staff and backed by Roosevelt, established the "Plattsburg camps, " a system of basic training camps. When America entered the Great War, the two men's foresight was justified, but their earlier push for mobilization had angered Woodrow Wilson, and both were denied the command positions they sought in Europe. Roosevelt died in 1919 while preparing for another presidential campaign. Wood made a run in his place but was never taken seriously as a candidate. He retired from the army and spent the last seven years of his life as civilian governor of the Philippines. It was a quiet end for two men who had been giants of their time. While their modernization of the army is widely admired, they were not without their critics. Roosevelt and Wood saw themselves as bold leaders but were regarded by some as ruthless strivers. And while their shared ambitions for the United States were tempered by a strong sense of duty, they could, in their certainty and determination, trample those who stood in their path. Teddy Roosevelt and Leonard Wood: Partners in Command is a revealing and long overdue look at the dynamic partnership of this fascinating pair and will be welcomed by scholars and military history enthusiasts alike.
El 24 de febrero de 1895 la mayor parte de los habitantes de Cuba no deseaba una guerra de independencia, porque se acababa de votar en el parlamento de Madrid por reformas liberalizantes para la ...isla. La reacción del gobierno de Antonio Cánovas del Castillo a la insurrección iniciada en Cuba en esa fecha fue no implementar las reformas y tratar a todos los cubanos como insurrectos. En 1896 Cánovas envió al general Weyler a Cuba, quien logró frenar el avance de los insurrectos, pero la reconcentración de los campesinos en centros urbanos que este decretó para privar de su apoyo a los insurrectos causó miles de muertes por hambre y enfermedad y en los Estados Unidos la opinión pública comenzó a favorecer la intervención en Cuba, acción aconsejada por expansionistas como el Cónsul General de los Estados Unidos en La Habana, Fitzhugh Lee. La guerra comenzada en 1895 para la independencia de Cuba tuvo como consecuencias la guerra de los Estados Unidos con España y su transformacion en una potencia global al apropiarse de las colonias españolas en Asia y América en 1898.
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