What was the Disaster of '98 in Spain?
The Disaster of '98
El Desastre del 98
1898. Most of Spain's American empire had won independence in the 1810s and 1820s, but Cuba and Puerto Rico remained, along with the Philippines.
Where: The Spanish Caribbean, Spain, The whole Spanish-speaking world, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Philippines
What happened
Most of Spain's American empire had won independence in the 1810s and 1820s, but Cuba and Puerto Rico remained, along with the Philippines. In 1895 Cubans rose again. After the US battleship Maine blew up in Havana harbour in February 1898 (the cause is still debated, and many studies point to an accident on board), the United States went to war. Spain's two fleets were destroyed, in Manila Bay on 1 May and off Santiago de Cuba on 3 July. By the Treaty of Paris in December, Spain lost Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam. Writers of the Generation of '98, such as Unamuno and Baroja, asked what Spain was for.
Say it
En 1898 España perdió Cuba, Puerto Rico y Filipinas.
In 1898 Spain lost Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines.
Why it matters
1898 ended four centuries of Spanish rule in the Americas and began the Hispanic presence inside the United States' orbit: Puerto Rico became US territory, and Cuba a republic under American tutelage. In Spain the shock produced a generation of writers who remade Spanish prose.
Read about it
Connected
- Spanish in the United States (1513–)
- Ayacucho: the end of Spanish rule in South America (9 December 1824)
- Ayacucho: the end of Spanish rule in South America (9 December 1824)
- The abolition of slavery in Cuba (October 1886)
- José Martí and the Cuban War of Independence (24 February 1895–1898)
- José Martí and the Cuban War of Independence (24 February 1895–1898)
- The Generation of '27 and Lorca (16 December 1927–August 1936)
- The Generation of '27 and Lorca (16 December 1927–August 1936)
- The Cuban Revolution (1 January 1959)
- The Cuban Revolution (1 January 1959)
Sources
- Chronology — The World of 1898 — Library of Congress
- Cuba — Countries — Office of the Historian, US Department of State