Conflict:
The explosion of the USS Maine contributed to the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in April 1898.
Date:
USS Maine exploded and sank on February 15, 1898.
Background:
Since the late 1860s, efforts had been underway in Cuba to end Spanish colonial rule. In 1868, the Cubans began a ten-year rebellion against their Spanish overlords. Though it was crushed in 1878, the war had generated widespread support for the Cuban cause in the United States.
Seventeen years later, in 1895, the Cubans again rose up in the revolution. To combat this, the Spanish government dispatched General Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau crush the rebels. Arriving in Cuba, Weyler began a brutal campaign against the Cuban people which involved the use of concentration camps in rebellious provinces.
