The Spanish-American War: Birth of an Empire Quiz

Answer: A U.S. battleship that blew up in the harbor of Havana, Cuba.

The battleship USS Maine was destroyed by an explosion on the night of February 15, 1898 while at anchor in Havana harbor, resulting in the deaths of 266 Americans. The ship had been sent there to protect American lives and property during civil unrest in Cuba. It was unclear at the time whether the explosion was accidental or the work of a Spanish mine.

Answer: Sixteen weeks

Ten weeks is the generally accepted length, from April 23rd to August 12th, 1898. However two more months of difficult negotiations elapsed before a peace treaty was signed in December, 1898. U.S. Ambassador John Hay, in writing to his friend and future President Theodore Roosevelt, is quoted as calling it "a splendid little war."

Answer: The Virgin Islands

The U.S. Virgin Islands -- St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas along with a multitude of smaller islets -- were purchased from Denmark for $25 million dollars in March, 1917. The Philippines were captured after the crushing defeat of the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Manila. Guam, another Spanish territory in the Pacific, was taken by U.S. forces with little resistance during the Spanish-American War as well.

Answer: William McKinley

At first fending off public and Congressional pressure to go to war, McKinley finally gave into the so-called war fever that swept the nation following the loss of the USS Maine. Grover Cleveland was McKinley's predecessor in the White House. Woodrow Wilson would later inhabit 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as a wartime President during World War I.

Theodore Roosevelt was elected Vice-President in 1900 and became President after McKinley's assassination in 1901.

Answer: George Dewey

George Dewey was a U.S. naval officer in both the American Civil War and the Spanish-American War. At the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1st, 1898 he caught the Spanish fleet by surprise and destroyed them in a six hour battle with very few American casualties. Standing on the bridge of his flagship, the USS Olympia, Commodore Dewey uttered those famous words "Gridley you may fire when ready" to the ship's captain to start the battle.

Answer: Joseph Wheeler

"Fighting Joe" Wheeler was a dashing young Confederate cavalryman in the American Civil War. Following the war Joseph Wheeler was elected to the U.S. Congress. Upon outbreak of the conflict with Spain, and while still a sitting Congressman, Wheeler volunteered for Army service. Appointed a Major General, Wheeler commanded the cavalry division that included Teddy Roosevelt's' Rough Riders. Actor Gary Busey turns in a wonderful cameo appearance as Wheeler in the 1997 movie "Rough Riders".

Answer: True

Disease played no favorites with either side in the conflict, being the biggest killer of both U.S. and Spanish forces. While the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy suffered only 361 total combat deaths, 2,565 Americans died from disease and the oppressive Cuban heat. The Spanish fared even worse: 3,560 died in combat, while over 13,000 died due to disease.

Answer: Yellow journalism

The phrase yellow journalism, or sometimes yellow press, was applied to newspaper and magazine stories that often deliberately played fast and loose with the facts of a particular event. The more scandalous the stories and headlines, the more newspapers Hearst and Pulitzer would sell. Ironically the Pulitzer Prize -- one of the highest honors for quality work in print media, literature and music -- is named for Joseph Pulitzer.

Answer: Ninety percent

Nearly all of Cuba's sugar growing and processing was controlled by American corporations. The so-called "sugar kings" had contributed large amounts of money to President McKinley's 1896 election, and lobbied him hard to do something about the civil unrest in Cuba. McKinley sent the USS Maine partly to watch over their sugar businesses.

The Maine blew up, which led to the Spanish-American War.

Answer: The Philippines

Feeling they had only exchanged one colonial master for another, Filipino guerrillas intensified their attacks on American forces. The Philippine-American War cost the lives of at least 200,000 Filipinos and over 4,000 Americans before its conclusion in 1902. Ironically, some forty years later they would fight side-by-side with U.S. forces against the Japanese in World War II.