The Battle of San Juan Hill and EI Caney

Abstract

Did The Battle of San Juan Hill and El Caney set the stage for America's emergence as a world power? Historians will concur that before 1898, the superpowers were led by Great Britain, Spain, and Portugal followed by Germany, Belgium, Japan, France, and Austria. By the end of 1898, the world would have one more, the United States. Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, and Germany had vast empires around the globe. Empires did two things for these world superpowers: 1. The colonies provided natural resources and markets for trade, which provided great wealth. 2. Colonies provided projection platforms for their Armies and coal-refueling stations for their Navies to create global reach. William McKinley defeated Grover Cleveland to become the 25th President of the United States in 1898. The United States borders stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The United States in 1898 was in full recovery from a depression that had gripped the country for over 30 years, since the Civil War. The America of 1898 was motivated by a variety of forces that led to the involvement in the Spanish American War. The most obvious force was "Yellow Journalism". Yellow Journalism is the practice of sensationalism, distorted stories, and misleading images for the sole purpose of boosting newspaper sales and exciting public opinion. The New York Journal led by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World were the two main newspapers that manipulated public opinion, which pushed the United States into war with Spain. Many subscribers received papers in the mail, one to two weeks late. The newspapers changed colors from white to yellow, thus Yellow Journalism was born. Pulitzer and Hearst exaggerated and fabricated stories on what was happening to the Cuban people.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 18, 2005
Accession Number
AD1142585

Entities

People

  • Brian Pierce
  • Chris Kalili
  • Linda Williams

Organizations

  • United States Army Sergeants Major Academy

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Atlantic Ocean
  • Civil War
  • Emergency Medicine
  • Journalism
  • Lessons Learned
  • Medical Personnel
  • Natural Resources
  • New York
  • Newspapers
  • Oceans
  • Pacific Ocean
  • Portugal
  • Public Opinion
  • United States
  • War

Fields of Study

  • History

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.