February 15:

1898 : The Maine explodes

A massive explosion of unknown origin sinks the battleship USS Maine
in Cuba's Havana harbor, killing 260 of the fewer than 400 American
crew members aboard.

One of the first American battleships, the Maine weighed more than
6,000 tons and was built at a cost of more than $2 million. Ostensibly
on a friendly visit, the Maine had been sent to Cuba to protect the
interests of Americans there after a rebellion against Spanish rule
broke out in Havana in January.

An official U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry ruled in March that the ship
was blown up by a mine, without directly placing the blame on Spain.
Much of Congress and a majority of the American public expressed
little doubt that Spain was responsible and called for a declaration
of war.

Subsequent diplomatic failures to resolve the Maine matter, coupled
with United States indignation over Spain's brutal suppression of the
Cuban rebellion and continued losses to American investment, led to
the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in April 1898.

Within three months, the United States had decisively defeated Spanish
forces on land and sea, and in August an armistice halted the
fighting. On December 12, 1898, the Treaty of Paris was signed between
the United States and Spain, officially ending the Spanish-American
War and granting the United States its first overseas empire with the
ceding of such former Spanish possessions as Puerto Rico, Guam, and
the Philippines.

In 1976, a team of American naval investigators concluded that the
Maine explosion was likely caused by a fire that ignited its
ammunition stocks, not by a Spanish mine or act of sabotage.

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1898 : The Maine explodes
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihVideoCategory&id=4766

1942 : Japan celebrates major victory in the Pacific
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6808

1965 : Canada adopts maple leaf flag
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4767

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