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The Spanish-American War (SAW) was one of the five most important foreign wars in US history. In the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the American States achieved, and then defended, their independence. In the Mexican-American War, the United States established its Continental dominance. In World War II, the US halted the most violent and destructive ideology to date, and established itself as the clear leader of the free world. In the Spanish-American War, the US laid the foundation for its leadership role in WW II (and WW I), the Cold War, and beyond. It was the SAW which provided international recognition of the US as a great power. By defeating an ancient European grand power, however decrepit its military had become, Washington forced the other members of the great power circle – Britain, France, Russia, and the newcomers Germany and Japan – to pull up an extra chair. At the same time, the SAW had two major impacts within the US. One the one hand, it made Americans aware of a greater world around them, and of the need for the US to play its part. By defeating Spain hands down (after much speculation concerning the size and might of Spain's armed forces) Americans also gained self confidence in the ability of the US to project power abroad. On the other hand, the SAW was promoted largely as a "crusade" against an evil regime – much like both World Wars, like Korea and Vietnam, and like the ongoing war against terrorism. Unlike previous American conflicts which were largely fought for practical reasons – defeating Indian raiders, opening up new territories for settlements, acquiring resource-rich lands – the SAW was ostensibly fought for two reasons: liberating the oppressed people of Cuba from what was perceived as the Spanish whip (Spain played into US hands by establishing concentration camps and a brutally repressive regime to deal with local independence movements) and exacting revenge for the bombing of the Maine (attributed at the time to Spanish agents). The once isolationist United States quickly became an activist international power. Only two years after the SAW Washington dispatched a major contingent to the first "coalition war" of the modern era, the international China Relief Expedition against the terrorist Boxers who were slaughtering Christians and foreigners, and who besieged the western diplomatic legations in Peking. By World War I the US had progressed economically and politically to the point where Old World powers became dependent on American intervention – the situation which persists, to an ever greater extent, today. The fast and relatively easy victory of the US in the Spanish-American War did not come about by magic. It was the fruit of a decade long effort of a dedicated group of far-sighted Americans known as "Navalists". Future statesmen such as Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge fought tooth and nail (and with plenty of subterfuge) to build up a strong American fleet as the backbone of future American power. Realizing that the US could not live through the 20th century as a political island, the Navalists saw a strong navy as the only alternative to American dependence on Britain for protection of national interests. Had the US not been prepared, militarily and psychologically, to fight and win the Spanish-American War, the history of the 20th century would look much different than it does.
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