Why did the Spanish choose to fight the USA in 1898? (Short Animated Documentary)

Summary by Krater

This video examines why Spain chose to fight the United States in the Spanish-American War of the 1890s despite being vastly outmatched, concluding that domestic political pressure, fear of revolution, and the belief that other European powers would intervene made surrender the only viable path to saving face.

From the video

Answers: Why did Spain fight the United States in the Spanish-American War?

• Spanish-American War
• Cuban War of Independence
• Treaty of Paris
• Spanish Empire
• 19th-century geopolitics

What it concludes

• Spain chose to fight the United States rather than abandon Cuba due to intense military pressure, fear of domestic revolution, and the belief that other European powers would intervene to prevent American expansion.
• Spain's naval and military inferiority made defeat inevitable, leaving them with no strategic path to victory.
• The 1898 Treaty of Paris stripped Spain of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam, permanently ending its status as a world power.