Spanish-American War

U.S. secretary of state John Hay described the Spanish-American War as a “splendid little war.” The United States and the Empire of Spain fought the war in the summer of 1898. The Spanish Empire employed approximately 340,000 troops and militia in an attempt to hold onto its colonial possessions in the face of around 300,000 American regulars and volunteers, along with 230,000 allied rebels and irregulars. The 1898 Treaty of Paris ended the war. It required Spain to cede most of its once large empire to the United States. Specifically, the United States acquired permanent colonial ownership of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, as well as temporary control over Cuba, as a result of the war. This transfer marked the end of the Spanish ...