El desastre del 98

On December 10, 1898, the peace treaty ending the Spanish-American War was signed in Paris. This short conflict, lasting just over three months, eliminated the last remnants of the Spanish overseas empire. Spain ceded Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippine Islands, and Guam to the United States. For the Philippines, Washington agreed to pay $20 million in compensation, a sum that was hotly debated in Congress. The Spanish government, then led by the liberal Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, aware of the total defeat in Cuba and the Philippines, was very generous in its concessions because it feared that, if the war did not end immediately, it would spread across the Atlantic, threatening the Canary Islands and the Iberian Peninsula itself. The head of the Spanish delegation, Eugenio Montero Ríos, had little room to negotiate. From the outset of the talks, he knew he would have to give in to whatever was asked of him because his position was extremely weak. After a month and a half of negotiations, they reached an initial agreement that was not entirely satisfactory, but which Montero Ríos relayed to Madrid. The response arrived directly from the Royal Palace and read verbatim: “Her Majesty’s Government, moved by noble reasons of patriotism and humanity, will not assume the responsibility of bringing all the horrors of war back to Spain. To avoid them, it resigns itself to the arduous task of submitting to the law of the victor, however harsh it may be, and since Spain lacks the material means to defend the rights it believes are its own, it accepts the only terms that the United States offers for the conclusion of the peace treaty.” It was a historic agreement, as it erased the Spanish presence in the Americas after more than four centuries. It also meant that the United States would become a colonial power, hegemonic in the Caribbean and with direct influence in the Far East. But in both countries, the stipulations of the agreement were not entirely welcome. In the United States, many opposed imperialism and colonialism. This group criticized the agreement and denounced it in the press and in the legislative chambers. For them, what had been signed in Paris subverted the constitutional principles that had given rise to the United States a century earlier. When it reached the Senate, its members argued heatedly, accusing each other of betraying the Founding Fathers. In the end, the treaty was ratified by 57 votes in favor and 27 against, that is, only one vote above the two-thirds majority required by law. In Spain, it was considered an unprecedented humiliation. When the treaty reached the Cortes months later, the deputies of both parties, the Liberal and the Conservative, refused to ratify it, which forced the regent Maria Christina of Habsburg to intervene. She invoked Article 55 of the 1876 Constitution, which allowed the Crown to "alienate, cede, or exchange any part of Spanish territory." The regent had to lend a hand to Sagasta's government because, otherwise, the war would have resumed, and Spain, as had been seen in Santiago de Cuba and Cavite, was in no position to confront the United States. In Spain, what had been signed in Paris was considered an irreparable disaster that served as a starting point for a process of reflection on the state of Spain and the problems that afflicted it. It had all stemmed from a very swift, predicted, and inevitable defeat. For years, the reasons for this defeat were studied. Some were learned, others not. 125 years have passed since then, and the matter is still a topic of discussion. In The Counter Seal: The Annexation of the Sudetenland The Origin of the Royal Houses Bibliography: "The Disaster of '98 and the End of the Spanish Empire" by Ángel Luis Cervera Fantoni - https://amzn.to/3NyK6vm "The Cuban Wars" by Andreas Stucki - https://amzn.to/3PgG502 "1898: Chronicle of a Negotiated Defeat" by Federico Miguel Santaella - https://amzn.to/3qHcKSd "Cuba and the Philippines" by Jesús Lorente Liarte - https://amzn.to/3Jhcy2F And remember, BP Ultimate with Active technology, up to 56 kilometers more per tank. Find out more at https://www.bp.com. Promotion valid until June 30th • Telegram Channel: https://t.me/lacontracronica • “Hispanics: A Brief History of Spanish-Speaking Peoples”… https://amzn.to/428js1G • “The Counter-History of Spain: Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of a Country in 28 Episodes”… https://amzn.to/3kXcZ6i • “Luther, Calvin, and Trent: The Reformation That Never Was”… https://amzn.to/3shKOlK • “The Counter-History of Communism”… https://amzn.to/39QP2KE #FernandoDiazVillanueva #CubanWar #Disasterof1998