Answer:
The Spanish-American War took place in 1898 between the United States and Spain. The war resulted in the United States gaining control of Spanish possessions in the Caribbean and the Pacific (Cuba, the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico). Cuba gained its independence and the rest of the territories were bought by the United States from Spain for 20 million dollars.
On February 15, 1898, an explosion occurred on the American warship USS Maine, which was in the port of Havana. The ship sank and 266 men died. The investigation into what caused the explosion did not come to a final result, but the US press thought it was a sabotage act. After years of Spanish hostile propaganda in the United States by, for example, journalist Joseph Pulitzer, who constantly criticized the Spanish rule in Cuba, President William McKinley was finally pressured to go to war. Spain offered to compromise but the US responded with an ultimatum demanding that the Spaniards simply surrender the island. From Madrid came a declaration of war which was answered shortly afterwards in Washington.
