This era was one of America's best, and a a turning point for the nation. The Great White Fleet, Speak Softly But Carry A Big Stick, The Roosevelt Collary, et cetera are all great themes/events that came from this time period. Not to mention that we annexed Hawaii, the Phillipines, Cuba and Puerto Rico from the Spanish. We also had basic control over the Dominican Republic and Haiti; and later Nicaragua. Being the jingoist that I am - a term that actually came from this time period - I love this period in American History. Teddy himself is one of my favorite presidents and usually hovers around fourth (way ahead of his cousin) on my Presidents list. I believe the Spanish-American War is a turning point for America. We finally decisively beat one of Europe's one. Albeit a poorly equipped one - while we fought with a steel navy, they had a wood one - Spain was totally routed. Manilla was a decisive victory for the American Navy as well as the naval battle for Cuba, whose name escapes me.
1898 confronted the US with its first two ocean war, which ultimately changed our strategic outlook permenantly; related to this, the famous voyage of the Oregon underscored the need for a Central American canal as a neccessity in our transition from a continental to a world power. The nation in general and the United States Army in particular had its first go at counter-insurgency warfare and nation-building in the Philippines - whose acquisition became our strategic Achilles heel for the next four decades. The Army, having lost its Indian-fighting mission now assumed a new one of imperial policing. As a result of the intial confusion that marked mobilization for the war, the Army would undertake a series of reforms, the most significant of which would be the creation of a general staff. And, of course, the retention of distant territories required the US to maintain itself as a naval power. Fairly momentous results from the "splendid little war."
America was put on the map initially by the American Revolution, formally put on the map by the War of 1812, and accepted as a world player by the Spanish-American War. Our Navy saw itself grow to the fourth largest in the world, we were included in the Naval Limitation Treaty (a European sponsored initiative) and we negotiated peace between Russia and Japan in Hartford, Connecticut. America wasn't an infant and in only 120 or so years, she became a world power with an empire of her own. I absolutely love this period in American History and I hold it to be our third greatest moment ever, behind today and WWII.
1898 confronted the US with its first two ocean war, which ultimately changed our strategic outlook permenantly; related to this, the famous voyage of the Oregon underscored the need for a Central American canal as a neccessity in our transition from a continental to a world power. The nation in general and the United States Army in particular had its first go at counter-insurgency warfare and nation-building in the Philippines - whose acquisition became our strategic Achilles heel for the next four decades. The Army, having lost its Indian-fighting mission now assumed a new one of imperial policing. As a result of the intial confusion that marked mobilization for the war, the Army would undertake a series of reforms, the most significant of which would be the creation of a general staff. And, of course, the retention of distant territories required the US to maintain itself as a naval power. Fairly momentous results from the "splendid little war."
America was put on the map initially by the American Revolution, formally put on the map by the War of 1812, and accepted as a world player by the Spanish-American War. Our Navy saw itself grow to the fourth largest in the world, we were included in the Naval Limitation Treaty (a European sponsored initiative) and we negotiated peace between Russia and Japan in Hartford, Connecticut. America wasn't an infant and in only 120 or so years, she became a world power with an empire of her own. I absolutely love this period in American History and I hold it to be our third greatest moment ever, behind today and WWII.
