U.S. Wars

Introduction

First among the nations of the world in economic output and productivity, the United States ranks third in area (behind Russia and Canada) and also third in population (after China and India). Canada and Mexico are the country's only contiguous neighbors. Most of U.S. territory ranges across the North American continent in a broad band that encompasses the Atlantic seaboard; the Appalachian Mountains; the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri river valleys; the Great Plains; the Rocky Mountains; the deserts of the Southwest; and the narrow, fertile coastland adjoining the Pacific. Further contrasts are found in the two noncontiguous states: Alaska, in northwestern North America, where the climate ranges from severe winters and short growing seasons in the north to equable temperatures in the south; and Hawaii, in the mid-Pacific, where trade winds produce a narrow temperature range but extreme variations in rainfall. The United States has experienced long-term economic growth throughout most of its history, with marked short-term fluctuations in recent years. During 1960-2005 the real per capita change in GDP averaged 3.7 percent. December 2000 marked the 127th consecutive month of economic expansion, the longest period of peacetime growth in U.S. history. Budget surpluses continued to accrue into 2001 but went into deficit thereafter. This paper discusses causes, objectives & consequences of U.S. wars from 1898 to present.

Discussion

Since 1898, US has been involved in many conflicts and wars. Some major wars include Spanish American War, World War I & II, Vietnam War, Afghanistan war, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Now this paper discusses the US wars and their Causes, objectives & consequences.

Spanish-American War

The Spanish-American War of 1898 ended Spain's control over its last major colonial possessions in the Western Hemisphere and Asia, and it established the United States as a world power. In February 1895, Cuban revolutionaries renewed efforts to free Cuba from Spain. Led by the poet José Martí, the insurgents waged guerrilla warfare, destroying sugar plantations, processing mills, and military outposts. In 1896, General Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau took command of the Spanish army and started a reconcentration program that placed large portions of the peasant population into camps known as reconcentrados. Weyler intended to separate the guerrillas from their support base and thereby destroy the rebel army. However, the camps lacked even rudimentary sanitary facilities, resulting in horrific conditions that caused the deaths of more than 200,000 Cubans in a period of two years. (Rosenberg 79-80)

The war officially ended when Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. Cuba was freed from Spanish rule but occupied by the United States until 1902. Puerto Rico and Guam were ceded to the United States, and the Philippine Islands were sold to the United States for US $20 million. The war removed the last vestiges of Spanish power in the Western Hemisphere and established the United States as a regional power in the Caribbean Basin. The acquisition of the Philippines by the United States resulted in a bloody insurrection that cost more than ...