Why Did the U.S. Invade Cuba?
Thesis: At this time in American history we were becoming one of the most dominant countries in the world. America invaded Cuba because it wanted the land, Cuba was in the middle of the Caribbean and was the midway point between North America and South America.
Body:
I.) One could easily argue that we were upset about the destruction of the Maine but I personally believe that the invasion of Cuba was because we wanted and needed the extra land.
A.) Rimland Theory, you can control the seas you can control the world.
B.) Guantanamo Bay, we wanted a place to keep terrorist. This was just more land that we could have.
C.) We wanted there exports and wanted control of there country's decision making (Platt Amendment)
II.) We did not like Spain or agree with them on most things and they were in control of Cuba.
A.) We wanted the Eastern World or Europe out of the Eastern Hemisphere
B.) We did not want Spain to control Cuba because they were treating them harshly and was making Cuba a bad place.
C.) We didn't want Spain to take over Cuba and have a Spaniards just south of us because it would be like having the threat of Spain very close to us.
III.) Cuba had concentration camps and harsh treatment of the women and children.
A.) We needed to set a good example for the rest of the world and show the world that we aren't selfish and we care about our allies.
B.) Although we wanted to help we saw that there was weakness in Cuba and it was any easy time to gain control of the centrally located Cuba.
C.) We needed to show strength and show the world that we weren't the ones to step down from a war with Spain after they blew up our ship.
Conclusion:
At the time, Spain was hated by most of the world and the media was trying blame this all on Spain. Assuming that Spain has any intelligence at all, they would not want to start a war with the United States. The United States was and still is one of the most feared and tactical countries in the world and even Spain would not want to get into that type of mess. With that being said, I believe that the Maine was blown up by a technical error from the inside of the ship. We saw that we could use this as an advantage, the explosion of the Maine was just another reason to invade Cuba. Although this is all just a conspiracy, this wouldn't be the first time we tried to cover up a mistake. This big mistake ended being a good reason to be mad and invade Cuba. There are multiple reasons and theories why would did it but it ended up working in our favor.
