How to Build an Empire in 100 Days Quiz

Answer: Reconcentration

Spain tried many approaches to hold on to Cuba during the Cuban War of Independence fought from 1895-1898 (image depicts a cavalry charge by the Cuban revolutionaries). Of all their methods, Reconcentration was the one that left the deepest scar. In 1896, General Valeriano Weyler ordered rural civilians to abandon their homes and move into guarded towns and special camps. The main idea was to cut off Cuban insurgents from food, shelter, and support. On paper, it sounded at best coldly strategic. At worst, it was a humanitarian catastrophe of heartbreaking scope.

The camps were overcrowded, poorly supplied, and riddled with disease. Food shortages were severe, sanitation was pretty much nonexistent, and medical care was a rarity. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were placed in camps, and estimates of the number of deaths from starvation and disease range from 170,000 to as high as 400,000. The suffering caused by Reconcentration drew international outrage, especially in the United States, where newspapers seized on the story and helped turn public opinion strongly against Spain. The policy is often cited now as one of the earliest examples of what would later be called concentration camps.

Answer: Teller Amendment

Urged on by the yellow journalism of the day, Americans were hankering for a war with Spain, and when the USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, killing over 250 men, they got it. Modern historians generally believe that the explosion was an accident.

Before the declaration came in April of 1898, many Americans were uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a colonial power. To allay these concerns, Congress passed the Teller Amendment, which promised that the United States had no intention of annexing Cuba and would leave control of the island to its people once peace was restored. It was political assurance aimed at voters who supported Cuban independence but did not want another overseas territory added to the map.

The Teller Amendment was attached directly to the war declaration and helped present the conflict as a generous act of liberation rather than one of conquest. At the time, it played well both domestically and internationally, presenting the United States as a reluctant warrior acting on behalf of Cuban freedom. It was a fine plan, even if it didn't work out exactly that way.

Answer: Theodore Roosevelt

In 1898, Theodore Roosevelt decided that cheering from a desk in Washington was not his style. As Assistant Secretary of the Navy, he had been a major advocate for war with Spain, and once the fighting began, he resigned his post to join the action directly. He helped organize the First United States Volunteer Cavalry, better known as the Rough Riders, a unit that mixed cowboys, Ivy League athletes, frontiersmen, and a healthy dose of Roosevelt's gung-ho attitude.

Roosevelt served as lieutenant colonel under Leonard Wood, though circumstances soon effectively pushed him into command. The Rough Riders fought in Cuba during the Santiago Campaign, most famously at the Battle of San Juan Hill. Roosevelt led from the front, charging uphill on horseback and on foot, giving Americans that image of a fearless leader that would follow him for the rest of his life and beyond.

Answer: George Dewey

In the early hours of May 1, 1898, Commodore George Dewey led the United States Asiatic Squadron into Manila Bay. His fleet confronted the Spanish Pacific Squadron and, within a few hours, destroyed it with remarkably few American casualties. The battle was one sided enough to feel almost mythical, and Dewey emerged as a national hero.

Dewey's calm command style is the stuff of legends, and that calm demeanor can be seen in his famous order, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley." The press loved him. The victory at Manila Bay effectively ended Spanish naval power in the Pacific and gave the United States control of the Philippines for the rest of the war. And all that quite literally before breakfast.

Answer: Battle of San Juan Hill

The Battle of San Juan Hill is one of the most famous moments of the Spanish-American War, even though the name is a bit misleading. The Rough Riders, along with other U.S. Army units, actually made their most famous charge up nearby Kettle Hill, which was part of the larger San Juan Heights, but the Battle of San Juan Hill it remains in American lore.

On July 1, 1898, American forces advanced uphill under heavy Spanish fire near Santiago de Cuba. Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders charged forward with a mix of bravery, confusion, and just plain momentum. The fighting was intense and costly, but the Americans eventually took the heights, with nearly three times the casualties of the Spanish.

The victory helped force the surrender of Santiago soon afterward and marked a turning point in the Cuban campaign, making the Rough Riders a legend.

Answer: Santiago de Cuba

The naval Battle of Santiago de Cuba, fought on July 3, 1898, effectively ended Spain's ability to continue the war in the Caribbean. After being bottled up in Santiago harbor, the Spanish fleet under Admiral Pascual Cervera attempted a desperate breakout. Waiting outside was the U.S. Navy, faster, better armed, and very much ready for a brawl. What followed was a running sea battle that ended with every Spanish ship destroyed, scuttled, or beached.

The defeat was decisive and dramatic. Spanish vessels burned, exploded, or ran aground along the Cuban coast while American ships suffered minimal damage and very few casualties. With its Caribbean fleet wiped out in a single day, Spain lost any realistic chance of defending Cuba or maintaining power in the region. The news was greeted at home with celebrations and a sense that the war's outcome was now inevitable.

Answer: Buffalo Soldiers

During the Cuban campaign of the Spanish-American War, African American soldiers known collectively as the Buffalo Soldiers played a crucial role in combat operations. Units from the 9th and 10th U.S. Cavalry fought alongside Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders during the Battle of San Juan Hill (San Juan Heights) on July 1, 1898. These were regular Army troops that were experienced, disciplined, and already seasoned by years of service on the western frontier.

As the assault moved uphill under intense Spanish fire, Buffalo Soldier units advanced steadily and provided vital support. Accounts from the battle make clear that their actions helped stabilize the advance and protect exposed volunteer units, including the Rough Riders. Roosevelt himself later acknowledged their bravery and professionalism, noting that the attack would have been far more difficult without them.

This image was taken in 1890, eight years before the Spanish-American War

Answer: John Hay

This remark came from John Hay, a diplomat and politician who served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom during the Spanish-American War and later as Secretary of State. In a private letter written in 1898, Hay described the conflict as "a splendid little war," reflecting how brief and militarily successful it appeared from an American perspective.

At the time, the war seemed almost unusually tidy by nineteenth century standards. Major battles were short, American casualties were relatively low compared to earlier wars, and victory over Spain came quickly (a little more than 100 days). From the viewpoint of policymakers and diplomats like Hay, the war delivered clear strategic gains with minimal cost, at least on the surface.

In retrospect, the comment sounds flippant and almost humorously ironic. The war led directly to long, difficult, and very ugly wars fought in the Philippines, as well as ongoing American involvement in Cuba and other former Spanish territories.

The photograph here was taken in 1902, four years after the war.

Answer: The Philippines

Despite the promise of the Teller Amendment, at the end of the Spanish-American War, the Treaty of Paris of 1898 ended up reshaping the map. Under the treaty, Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States in exchange for a payment of $20 million. The money was ostensibly compensation for Spanish infrastructure and property, though it didn't sit well with the Spanish, who had ruled over the colony for more than three centuries. It sat even worse with the Filipinos.

The purchase put the United States in possession of a distant archipelago with millions of inhabitants who had never really asked to be bought by anyone and had in fact been promised independence in exchange for their assistance. What followed was not peace but the Philippine-American War, as Filipino forces who had been fighting Spain (shown here) now resisted American rule. The conflict was long, brutal, and very costly, undermining the idea that the Spanish-American War had been simple or clean.

Answer: Insular Cases

After the Spanish-American War, the United States suddenly found itself in possession of overseas territories like Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. This raised an uncomfortable legal question about just how the Constitution applied to the people in these new territorial possessions. The Supreme Court took up the issue in a series of decisions between 1901 and 1914 that became known collectively as the Insular Cases.

The Court ruled that full constitutional rights did not automatically extend to all territories under American control. Instead, it introduced a distinction between incorporated territories, which were considered on a path to statehood, and unincorporated territories, which were not. In the latter case, only what the Court called "fundamental" rights applied. This delightfully flexible definition gave Congress broad power to govern territories without extending all constitutional protections. Although rarely revisited directly, the reasoning of the Insular Cases still influences debates over citizenship, rights, and self-government in American territories today.