Final Battle for the Spanish

im glad you enjoyed the post. i have always wanted to be a yellow journalist. it dose not matter what people think now when the war took place they belived the maine was attacked and sank by the spainish. the filpinos initial greeted us as liberators as did the cubans. we were also seen as liberator because we did not make the countries colonies.

i was not in my post refering to long term affects of the war but the short term aftermath. you seem to miss that from my post. you merely assume that since i wrote about the prevailing veiws of the time that i belive them. history is writen and rewriten ever day. we cannot always understand exactly how or why things happen but to simple just wishing that people did not ythink or feel that way will not make them go away.

i feel it is good that you researched a spainnish point of veiw. your major problem is that you researced a modern spainish point of veiw not the stance spain took after the war or the perceptions of the world at the time.

we were put in the position of liberators for freedom

Not according to the Filipinos who we spent several years killing in a kind of Vietnam style war. It is worth noting that we took possession of all of Spain’s overseas empire, excepting Cuba which we dominated through economics and an alliance with a corrupt rightist government.

spain lost alot of credibillity as a world power. the spainish were looked down on.

True. Is anyone saying otherwise? But what does this have to do with honor? Is losing necessarily dishonorable?

hmmm well i hate to tell you this tim but at the time the explosion was blamed on the spanish.

By who? While Hearst was an enthusiast for this conclusion I think the rest of the world press took a more sophisticated view. Older US textbooks likely including those used in some high schools still support this conclusion. I gather you still blame it on the Spanish despite the rough consensus of English-speaking historians who believe it to be accidental.

i wonder mabye you should look for the veiw of thoose spainish colonies we took from spain?

Actually if you explore the site posted you will discover that the authors see the independence fighters as heroes while condemning those in the Spanish army and government who advocated terror and atrocity as villains. Various Spaniards, colonists and Americans are identified as either good guys or bad guys. Can you imagine that, a war in which one side wasn't all good and the other wasn't all bad? Rather more sophisticated than the point of view you seem to be proposing.

I must say that in this time where the average American has forgotten the Maine entirely it is refreshing to read a post reminiscent of 1898 yellow journalism unencumbered by historic fact or investigation of other points of view.

hmmm tim nice link. it proves you can find people that will say just about anything on the web. where is that site about how hittler was really a nice guy that just wanted to help the jews of europe? i wonder mabye you should look for the veiw of thoose spainish colonies we took from spain? they were fighting for some reason were they not? ohh but im sure they were just mistaken they did not understand that spainish honor ment they were inferior and they should have accepted it.

hmmm well i hate to tell you this tim but at the time the explosion was blamed on the spanish. spain lost alot of credibillity as a world power. the spainish were looked down on. if you want to live in a fantasy world where there is still spanish honor is unaffected by the loss of there colonies to america, that is your option. i also suggest you dont confuse honor with pride. they are not the same.

conquered nations sometimes still write there own histories. in this case there writing cannot change the fact that they lost their colonies and we were put in the position of liberators for freedom at the same time.

"spainish honor was lost because they lost the war and are still blamed for the maine. the winners claim the spoils and write the history."

Actually the Rickover commision concluded that the Maine was most likely destroyed by an internal explosion caused by the spontaneous combustion of coal dust. This was a not uncommon event in the age of coal fired navies. Most authorities in the English speaking world now believe that the destruction of the Maine was an accident and not the fault of the Spanish. Oddly enough authorities in the Spanish speaking world seem to have always taken this view.

Seeing as how we did not actually conquer Spain they have also "written the history". I am not aware of any good English translations, so here is a poor attempt at translation of the Spanish point of view.

http://candamo.iespana.es/candamo/1898/ingles/imarco.htm

sorry mike i dont seem to remeber writting that losing all the spainish navy would have preserved honor. you seem to mis interput what i said. spainish honor was lost because they lost the war and are still blamed for the maine. the winners claim the spoils and write the history. i think you did a grand job from what i am told. it seems you plotted an escape and that was successful.

I say congrats to the spaniards I'm surprised they were able to escape with that many cruisers...

Bah, our loss has paved the way for an end to a decadent monarchy and the rise of republicanism

In any event, I fail to see how losing all 8 vessels with the concommitant slaughter of Spanish crewmen by the American machine guns, pom poms, and trained sharks would have saved Spanish honor. Our mission was to maintain a fleet-in-being and in that we were successful.

well thats the end of spanish honor. it will be a hard future for that once great nation. i envision civil war in there future :cry: