War and Genocide in Cuba, 1895-1898

John Lawrence Tone

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Year: 2006
• Print ISBN:
  9780807859261
  9780807830062
• eBook ISBN:
  9780807877302
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

From 1895 to 1898, Cuban insurgents fought to free their homeland from Spanish rule. Though often overshadowed by the “Splendid Little War” of the Americans in 1898, according to John Tone, the longer Spanish-Cuban conflict was in fact more remarkable, foreshadowing the wars of decolonization in the twentieth century.

Employing newly released evidence — including hospital records, intercepted Cuban letters, battle diaries from both sides, and Spanish administrative records — Tone offers new answers to old questions concerning the war. He examines the origin of Spain’s genocidal policy of “reconcentration”; the causes of Spain’s military difficulties; the condition, effectiveness, and popularity of the Cuban insurgency; the necessity of American intervention; and Spain’s supposed foreknowledge of defeat.

The Spanish-Cuban-American war proved pivotal in the histories of all three countries involved. Tone’s fresh analysis will provoke new discussions and debates among historians and human rights scholars as they reexamine the war in which the concentration camp was invented, Cuba was born, Spain lost its empire, and America gained an overseas empire.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Dedication
• List of Tables
• Preface
• 1 - Eloy Gonzalo and the Disaster of War
• 2 - The Origins of Cuban Independence
• 3 - José Martí A Dream of Cuba
• 4 - Emilio Calleja and the Failure of Reform
• 5 - Máximo Gómez and Total War
• 6 - Antonio Maceo and the Battle of Peralejo
• 7 - The Cuban Liberation Army
• 8 - The Spanish Army
• 9 - Arsenio Martínez Campos Defending the Indefensible
• 10 - Mal Tiempo and the Romance of the Machete
• 11 - The Invasion of the West
• 12 - Valeriano Weyler The Butcher
• 13 - The Death of Maceo
• 14 - Reconcentration
• 15 - The Monster and the Assassin
• 16 - The Jingoes
• 17 - Frascuelo versus Edison
• 18 - The Splendid Disaster
• Notes
• Bibliography