After no compromise can be reached regarding ongoing concerns involving Cuban's and their fight for independence that also included the sinking of the battleship Maine, Spain declares War on April 23, 1898 and Congress declares on April 25. Within four months after numerous military defeats including both their Atlantic and Pacific fleets, Spain pleads to end the war and the Protocol of Peace is signed in DC on 08/12/1898. After two months of treaty negotiations in Paris, the formal peace treaty is signed on December 10, 1898. The treaty gives independence to Cuba and cedes the Phillipines, Peurto Rico, and Guam to the USA for $20 million. Spain also sells other overseas territories. Cuba gains independence on May 20, 1902 with USA having overuling rights of Cuban affairs and the Guantanamo bay naval base. Guam and Peurto Rico become territories with little resistance from the local populance. However, the Philipines does not and erupts into the American-Philipine War between the USA with allied Philipino's and the First Philipine Republic with other groups. The official dates for from June 2, 1899 to July 4, 2003 with the surrender of the Republic's President. But war carries on for 10 more years until the Battle of Bud Bagsak on June 15, 1913. Historians put a lot into the north and south fight the war together with black and white fighting alongside even if in segregated units. I don't refute this, but for me the more intruging is all the various groups fighting for the wars and against the wars domestic politics. The yellow journalism, lies, hyperbole by all partisan parties in a very polarizing time. In final, while the Spanish Empire had been decline and the USA was ascention, 1898 was a pivotal moment in history that put an exclamation point on Spain's fall from a world power and the USA's establishment as a world power in the next century and beyond. Especially in the Pacific with the addition of not only the Phillipines and Guam but also the annexation of the Hawaii Republic which becomes the Territory of Hawaii on July 7, 1898. Spanish-American War (April 25-August 12 1898) Cuban Republic: 10,665 dead United States Army: 345 dead, 1,577 wounded, 2,565 diseased United States Navy:16 dead, 68 wounded Spanish Navy: 560 dead, 300–400 wounded Spanish Army: 3,000 dead or wounded, 6,700 captured,13,000 diseased Philipine-American War (1899-1903) United States: 4,165 killed (about 75% from disease), ~3,000 wounded; 2,000 Philippine Constabulary killed or wounded Republic and others: ~12,000–20,000 killed Moro Rebellion (muslim Philippines, 1899-1913) United States: 130 killed, 323 wounded, 500 died of disease Philippine Scouts: 116 killed, 189 wounded Philippine Constabulary: 1,500 casualties Moro: 10,000–20,000 killed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish–American_War
