Causes of the Spanish-American War

The Spanish-American War arose primarily because of the controversy over Cuba. The Cubans had been trying unsuccessfully since 1868 to become independent of what they felt was unfair Spanish rule. In 1895, the Cubans created another rebellion against Spain which resulted in the Cubans purposely spoiling their land so that the Spanish troops would leave, while the Spanish put many Cubans in concentration camps (where the people were left to starve and die) as a result of the Cubans' actions. Although there had been many of the Cuban revolts, this one was the most publicized by the new "j…