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As wars go, the Spanish-American War (1898) was neither very long, nor extremely violent. It was nothing like the horrible Civil War (1861-1865) that the US had fought a few decades earlier, or the total warfare of World War I (1914-1918).

Yet, the Spanish-American War had considerable historical significance. American success against Spain took many European powers by surprise, Demonstrating that the US had become a world power. For the US, perhaps the war was too successful or too easy, instilling an optimism about war in the American public, which was quick to forget just how horrible the Civil War had been. As a further result of the war, US national pride soared, and nationalism and jingoism peaked. The US took a first successful step onto the world stage. Pledging that it was fighting a war against empire with anti- imperialist statements like the Teller Amendment, the US somehow emerged from this originally anti-imperialist war with an empire of its own. In this, the Spanish-American War blatantly revealed some of the dualism in American foreign policy that would remain throughout the twentieth century in more subtle forms. As in the Spanish-American War, the US would continue to preach high ideals, but those ideals would almost always be invoked whenever they most conveniently served US interests.

Finally, the Spanish-American War offered a sign that the US really was a union again. For the first time since the Civil War divided the country, Northern and Southern soldiers had fought on the same side against a common enemy. In this way, the 1898 war with Spain serves as a transitional moment between 19th century America and 20th century America.

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