Cuba in the 18th and 19th Centuries

Key word: independence

18th Century Cuba

• Huge slave population• Under the direct control of Spain• Only allowed to trade with Spain• All trading companies owned by Spain• Class system • America and Britain show interest

The Taking of Havana

• 1762: Havana captured by the British during the Seven Years War

• Britain allowed Cuba to trade with the rest of the world as part of the British Empire

• 1763: Cuba swapped for Florida

• Spain had to allow Cuba to continue to trade with the world or face rebellion

After 1763

• Cuban trade grew quickly• A middle-class began to develop• They wanted representation in government• Government was controlled by Spanish• Prepared to use violence to get representation

– 1791 Haiti Rebellion

19th Century Cuba

• Many were unhappy: – No political rights– No chance of government jobs– Slavery still allowed– Mistreatment of Cubans by Spanish– Banned from setting up businesses– Couldn’t travel without permission

• This started the Ten Years War 1868, aimed at getting Cuban independence

The Ten Years War

• Cuban leaders were Carlos Manuel de Cesperdes, Maximo Gomez, Calixto Garcia and Antonio Maceo

• All were middle class• Some wanted

independence, others just reforms

End of the Ten Years War

• The war ended with the Pact of Zanjon• Slaves who had fought against Spain were to

be released• Garcia (who had been captured) was set free• Cubans were to get representation in

government

After 1878

• Most of the promised reforms did not happen

• Slavery ended in 1888• Cubans continued to

lose out to Spaniards• In 1895, Jose Marti, a

poet, called for the start of a War of Independence

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War of Independence – 1895-98• Their strategy was to make Cuba economically

worthless to Spain: crops and factories were burnt

• In 1898, the U.S. entered the war on the Cuban side

• In December 1898, Spain surrendered to America (not Cuba) and they signed the Treaty of Paris. Cuba was not allowed at the discussions

• 1st January 1899 Spanish rule ended

Tactics and Atrocities• There were few pitched battles during the war.• The Cubans employed a hit-and-run, or guerilla, strategy.• They didn’t always wear uniforms.• Concentration camps set up by the Spanish, as well as the burning

of crops and buildings by both sides.• General Weyler, the Spanish leader.• Spanish soldiers often killed or raped captured Cubans.• Spanish soldiers dug vast ditches, known as fosas, and forced

Cubans into them. They were then left to die.• This led to immense distrust of foreign forces by Cubans.

War of Independence – 1895-98

Sources

Source 2 – excavations into a fosa

Source 3 – General Weyler’s order to the Cuban people in the Cuban War of Independence: “I command all the inhabitants of the country outside my line of fortification, to enter a town occupied by my troops. Anyone who, after eight days, is found in the countryside will be considered a rebel and treated as such”.

Source 1 - a US report into a fosa near Havana , 1896: “There was a complete accumulation of bodies dead and alive, so that it was impossible to take one step without walking over them; the greatest want of cleanliness, want of light, air and water; food lacking in quality and quantity, thus sooner putting an end to these broken-down wretches; complete absence of medical assistance; no consolation either moral or religious; if any young girl in any way nice looking was found, she was infallibly condemned to the most abominable of traffics”

Questions

• Study Source 1. Suggest and explain two areas where it may be exaggerating, and explain why this report might be exaggerated.

• Study Source 2. How far does this confirm or deny the statements in Source 1?

• Study Source 3. Why did Weyler issue this order? Explain your answer.

• Study all the sources. Do you think that the strategies of Weyler helped or hindered the Spanish in the war? Explain your answer.

American Occupation• American forces remained in Cuba until 1901.• American values of the time moved into Cuba.• In 1902, Cuba and America agreed the Platt

Amendment.– Gave USA control of the port of Guantanamo

– Gave USA the right to intervene in Cuban politics if “independence” was “threatened”