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Macmillan Wars of the United States
The War With Spain in 1898
The explosion that sank the battleship Maine and sent 266 American sailors to their deaths in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898 sparked a war that, in little more than 100 days, turned the United States into a great world power.
In this latest contribution to the acclaimed Macmillan Wars of the United States series, David F. Trask takes a close look at the Spanish-American War, from the first Cuban insurrections against Spain to the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
Trask's vivid narrative follows all of the heroes, battles, tactics, and strategies of a war the United States was reluctant to fight, but determined to win. He recounts the bloody storming of El Caney and San Juan heights, as well as the almost bloodless capture of Santiago by the 60-year-old, 300-pound Major General William R. Shafter. Trask also recalls the figures--both little-known and overpraised--of the war where malaria and yellow fever were more deadly than enemy guns--from Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and his romanticized "Rough Riders," to Admiral Cervera y Topete, who led a gallant, but futile, struggle against U.S. warships at Santiago.
Trask devotes considerable attention to the war at sea, where Commodore George Dewey's swift and brilliant victory at Manila, and Admiral William Sampson's successful blockade of Cuban ports typified the U.S. Navy's near-total dominance.
Much more than a superbly detailed military history, The War with Spain in 1898 examines every aspect of the complex political and diplomatic background of the war, at home and abroad. Trask chronicles the frantic diplomacy that failed to avert war, the sudden mobilization of a volunteer U.S. Army, and President McKinley's surprisingly effective coordination of planning and operations.
Trask also reaches a number of new conclusions, revealing that the United States did not declare war to build a colonial empire (as many recent historians argue). Public outrage over the Maine, fueled by sensationalistic newspaper accounts, forced an unwilling McKinley into battle to free Cuba; the decision to acquire the Philippines and Puerto Rico came later.
International in scope, with fresh insights into the relation between force and diplomacy, this is certain to become the definitive account of the "brief, glorious, and inexpensive" conflict that crushed the Spanish empire, made the Caribbean an American lake, the Philippines a strong foothold in Asia--and won the United States its place in the modern world.
In this latest contribution to the acclaimed Macmillan Wars of the United States series, David F. Trask takes a close look at the Spanish-American War, from the first Cuban insurrections against Spain to the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
Trask's vivid narrative follows all of the heroes, battles, tactics, and strategies of a war the United States was reluctant to fight, but determined to win. He recounts the bloody storming of El Caney and San Juan heights, as well as the almost bloodless capture of Santiago by the 60-year-old, 300-pound Major General William R. Shafter. Trask also recalls the figures--both little-known and overpraised--of the war where malaria and yellow fever were more deadly than enemy guns--from Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and his romanticized "Rough Riders," to Admiral Cervera y Topete, who led a gallant, but futile, struggle against U.S. warships at Santiago.
Trask devotes considerable attention to the war at sea, where Commodore George Dewey's swift and brilliant victory at Manila, and Admiral William Sampson's successful blockade of Cuban ports typified the U.S. Navy's near-total dominance.
Much more than a superbly detailed military history, The War with Spain in 1898 examines every aspect of the complex political and diplomatic background of the war, at home and abroad. Trask chronicles the frantic diplomacy that failed to avert war, the sudden mobilization of a volunteer U.S. Army, and President McKinley's surprisingly effective coordination of planning and operations.
Trask also reaches a number of new conclusions, revealing that the United States did not declare war to build a colonial empire (as many recent historians argue). Public outrage over the Maine, fueled by sensationalistic newspaper accounts, forced an unwilling McKinley into battle to free Cuba; the decision to acquire the Philippines and Puerto Rico came later.
International in scope, with fresh insights into the relation between force and diplomacy, this is certain to become the definitive account of the "brief, glorious, and inexpensive" conflict that crushed the Spanish empire, made the Caribbean an American lake, the Philippines a strong foothold in Asia--and won the United States its place in the modern world.
654 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1981
76 people want to read
About the author
David F. Trask
16 books2 followersA specialist in American diplomatic and military history, David Frederic Trask is the former chief historian for the U.S. Army Center of Military History and former professor of history at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He graduated with a degree in history from Wesleyan University in 1951, and after service in the US Army from 1952 to 1954, earned a Ph.D. in History from Harvard University in 1958.
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September 25, 2021
A very detailed book about the Spanish-American war. However, I wish the author had taken as detailed a look at the Spanish army as he did with the American forces (such as how individual regiments fared).
Displaying 1 of 1 review