A struggle for independence gave the United States the rationale for intervening in Cuba, a colony of Spain. The US battleship Maine exploded in Havana Harbor in February 1898, with a loss of two-thirds of its crew. Two months later, President William McKinley asked Congress for permission to use military force in Cuba, and shortly thereafter the USS North Atlantic fleet blockaded Cuba. The war lasted four months. By its end, the United States had shown itself to the world as a major power. Spain granted Cuba independence, and ceded Guam and Puerto Rico, and sold the Philippines, to the United States.
Additional resource for further exploration
The video clips at the link below offer glimpses of the Industrial Revolution and the Victorian era, such as the life of child workers in coal mines and in textile mills, development of transportation and significant inventions in the Victorian era, the life and work of Florence Nightingale, and more.
