Imperialism and the Spanish American War

Imperialism Definition.

• Make US a world power• New markets. Wanted to control

areas to protect investments.• Imperialism –strong nations

extend political, military and economic control over weaker territories.

• Social Darwinism-nations compete with each other and only the strongest nations would survive

Results of Imperialism

• Expansionism- Idea that country should acquire new territory, led to interests in– Japan- 1852 forced trade

with them via naval threat– Hawaii- helped American

planters overthrow Queen Liliuokalani and annexed territory.

Spanish American War

• Independence movement in Cuba led to war with Spain in 1898.

• USS Maine blew up in Cuban harbor, nobody knew who did it.

• Yellow journalists, who used sensational headlines and pictures, blamed Spanish.

• “Rough Riders,” including Theodore Roosevelt, helped defeat Spanish in Cuba and Puerto Rico.

Rough Riders

Philippine insurrection

• After the war, the US then brutally fought a uprising in the Philippines