It was one of the shortest conflicts in history, lasting just a little over three months. But the Spanish-American War of 1898 ended
Spain's colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere and secured the position of the United States as a Pacific power. The first salvoes were fired after the mysterious sinking of a US battleship in Havana Harbor during the Cuban War of Independence. What happened next was a swift and decisive series of military engagements that extended across the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and beyond.
So, what exactly were the causes and consequences of the Spanish-American War? Click through the following gallery and learn more about this brief but bloody conflict.