Chapter 325 The Spanish-American War

The Spanish-American War finally broke out.

On February 7, 1888, the US Congress issued a resolution: recognize Cuba, demand that Spain withdraw from Cuba, and grant the president the right to use force, and declare that the United States has no intention of annexing Cuba. On February 10, the US Navy's "Noschville" warship captured a Spanish merchant ship. On February 11, Spain declared war on the United States. The next day, US President Grover Cleveland delivered a speech at the White House and also declared war on Spain.

No one was surprised.

This was a war that everyone had expected, including Spain and the United States. Even the two countries fought for two years. Unfortunately, Spain had already declined, not only its political situation was chaotic, but also internationally. Therefore, even though they knew that the United States had bad intentions against them, they could not help international relations to curb each other's attempts. Moreover, their angrily counterattack also suffered a shameful failure in Colombia.

So, they could only watch the Americans put the knife on their necks.

However, after all, it had been two years of preparation, and the Spaniards did not intend to admit defeat. After declaring war, the main force had already gathered in Cuba and concentrated all warships at the port of Santiago, intending to fight the American Atlantic Fleet. However, the Spaniards did not expect that they had just concentrated the fleet, and the American Atlantic Fleet blocked the port at night... The other party came so fast that they could not even react.

But they clearly got the news that William Sampson, the commander of the Atlantic Fleet, was not in the east, and his ship, the flagship of the Atlantic Fleet "Rochester", was also cruising in Boston for the first generation. How could the Americans dare to block Santiago directly without a commander and a main flagship? You know, without a flagship or that powerful battleship, the US navy is not much stronger than Spain. Why are they so confident?

The commander of the Spanish fleet, Severa, thought for a long time, but couldn't figure out why the Americans dared to be so bold. But after being blocked in the Port of Santiago for a day, he decisively ordered an assault... Then, he encountered the two huge warships painted pure white.

The two ships, a total of ten double-equipped 305mm cannons, wiped out the Spanish fleet in less than two hours. After more than 160 casualties, Severa surrendered with the remaining 1,800 people. In this battle, the Atlantic Fleet suffered zero casualties!

The "Default"-class battleship debuted on the ocean for the first time, and appeared in the eyes of the whole world.

Afterwards, under the continuous bombardment of two dreadnoughts, the US Federal Army, which followed, conquered Santiago and occupied the second largest city in Cuba. Just when the Atlantic Fleet easily wiped out the Spanish Navy, another fleet of almost purely transport ships also crossed the Sinkbaras Islands under the secret response of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, landed in Hucaro in central Cuba, and then raided and conquered the important city in central Cuba, the Segod Avila in the center of industry, commerce and transportation. This army was the Qing army secretly set out from Barranquilla, and the leading general was Liu Yongfu.

The eastern and central regions were attacked at the same time, the navy was almost wiped out, and the army was divided into two sections, and the Spanish garrison was frightened. The Cuban governor hurriedly dispatched troops to block the enemy in the central and eastern regions. However, the Spanish governor named Valeriano Weirer was obviously more afraid of the Chinese. Therefore, at the suggestion of Nicholas, he adopted the tactic of dividing troops to block the Americans and concentrating the main force to eliminate the Chinese. Except for some of the troops sent to the east to support Santiago, some of which were ordered to stop at Rastunas, Olgin and Bayamo, to form a triangular formation to block the Americans' attack, the remaining troops were ordered to turn westward, joining the main force of the Spanish army sent by Havana, strangling the landing Qing army from both east and west.

Faced with such a situation, Liu Yongfu hurriedly passed the war report to Barranquilla. Ronglu and others who had been staying there hurriedly informed the news to the US military command and asked the Atlantic Fleet to go to Hukaro to support the landing Qing army. At the same time, they also sent a telegram to the US Army for help, hoping that the army that had landed in Santiago could quickly advance westward and share the pressure for the Qing army in Segode Avila.

However, the telegrams from Ronglu and others fell into the sea, and the US military remained silent.

Soon, tens of thousands of Spanish troops gathered in Segod Avila and launched an attack on Liu Yongfu, who had less than 10,000 troops.

Ronglu and others were extremely anxious and wanted to continue to increase their troops for Liu Yongfu, but were accused of being called by the US military. In other words, the US Army requisitioned the transport ships originally equipped for the Qing army. The remaining 60,000 troops of the Qing army could only watch Liu Yongfu be beaten in Barranquilla. Ronglu and others were furious and angry, and captured the telegram to Seattle. Soon, two fearless-class battleships forced to leave the Atlantic Fleet and set off from Santiago to Hucaro... But no one expected that at this time, the Qing army had already won the victory under the leadership of Liu Yongfu, not only defeating the invading Spanish army, but also taking advantage of the victory to drive the enemy to Camagui in the east of Segod Avila.

It turns out that Spain's 250,000 troops in Cuba were only about 12,000 people who could really fight. These people were veterans who had experienced the Spanish Civil War, and the remaining more than 230,000 were almost all recruits temporarily recruited, and they had little combat power at all. But unfortunately, the more than 10,000 veterans in Spain who could fight were once led by Campos and Nikolai respectively invaded Colombia. As a result, they suffered heavy losses in the war, not much left, and most of them were recuperating. Weile

Almost all of the tens of thousands of soldiers gathered in a hurry were recruits, and the officers leading the army had no combat experience. However, Liu Yongfu's army was not. In order to succeed in the battle and not to embarrass the Qing Dynasty, Ronglu and others gave their vanguards the capital to the boss. Not only was the former commander of the Black Flag Army a veteran, but most of the vanguards of the Qing army led by him were elite veterans. Although it had only experienced a few months of new military training, its battlefield experience was far beyond that of new recruits.

Moreover, Liu Yongfu did not fight alone. Before he set out, Guo Jinzhang sent someone to give him a flag from Seattle. This flag is very special. It consists of three blue roads that symbolize the ocean (some say the three earliest provinces in Cuba), and two white roads that symbolize the cause of purity and patriotism. There is a red triangle on the left side of the flag, which is a symbol of the Catholic Freemason, symbolizing the winning of the national championship through bloodshed and sacrifice. The three corners symbolize equality, fraternity and freedom, and one in the red triangle.

White Star, inspired by the "Lone Star Republic" in Texas (a country inspired by the United States, established by Texas after leaving Mexico and was soon incorporated into the United States), symbolizing the "absolutely free Cuban people". This flag is the Cuban flag of later generations, and at this time, this flag also had extraordinary appeal in Cuba, because it was the "Black of Lopez", the flag of Nasiso Lopez, an unsuccessful Cuban revolutionary, and a pioneer of Cuba's career.

Speaking of which, Nasiso Lopez is also an amazing person. He made outstanding contributions to the cause of Cuba. It was precisely because of his unremitting struggle with a group of patriots that he won the Cuban War in full swing. However, Nasiso Lopez is not a native Cuban, nor is he a natural Cuban revolutionary. On the contrary, he served for Spain and even fought for the Spanish colonial army. This was an anti-Spanish colonial fighter from the Spanish colonial army.

Lopez's ancestral home is in the Basque region of Spain. He was born in the Spanish South American colony at that time. Today, Venezuela's father Pedro was a local wealthy businessman. Lopez became the secretary of Spanish general Rodriguez when he was 20 years old and had a bright future. However, his future changed because of the South American War: in 1820, he was forced to join the army and fought against the "father of South American" Simon Bolivar's revolutionary army. In 1821, the colonial army was defeated, and Lopez had to join his family and flee back to Spain with the defeated army boarding the ship and settling in Valencia.

But despite his defeat, Lopez showed outstanding military temperament and talent. He was promoted to the rank of colonel at a young age. He performed outstandingly in the Battle of Calavovo, known as the "Fight of the Foundation of Venezuela". Although the battle ended in the defeat of Spain, he survived and won the respect and praise of a large number of young officers and gained enough popularity.

His career in Spain was smooth sailing, and he served as the commander of the garrison of Seville (the old capital of Spain) and the capital Madrid. In 1825, he was appointed as the assistant to the Spanish Governor to Cuba, and set foot on this land that was later closely related to him for the first time.

In Cuba, Lopez married the sister of Marquis Durse, established a happy family, and obtained the rank of general. This made him extremely excited and ready to do something. In 1843, there was news that he might be the governor of Cuba, which made him even more excited, but it disappointed him. Not only did he fail to become the governor of Cuba as he wished, he was dismissed after the new governor took office and lost his assistant's job. When he returned to Spain in disappointment, he resigned from his military post and devoted himself to the financial industry, but he also failed repeatedly.

Lopez's life plummeted and became increasingly unsatisfactory. At this moment, some native white friends he met in Cuba and former comrades in the South American army, out of dissatisfaction with Spanish colonial rule, began to organize some secret groups to carry out underground activities to win the Cuban. Out of charisma and dissatisfaction with his own situation, Lopez also participated in the activities of these organizations. As a result, their activities were soon discovered by the Spanish authorities. In 1848, the organization was destroyed and many comrades were arrested. Lopez, who heard the wind, had to cross the Atlantic again and set foot on American land for the first time.

However, although Lopez became an exile, he was not alone and depressed, because in the United States, there were many former colonial officers who fought side by side with him and survived death. Not only that, as a young general of that year, he enjoyed a certain reputation, which brought a lot of comfort to the frustrated person.

But Lopez is not a man who has no ambitions and only wants to die of old age. He is eager to make achievements and a vigorous career on the battlefield. In the United States, he firmly established his position to seek Cuba's top position and soon became one of the recognized leaders of the Cuban revolutionary movement. He traveled to New York, where politicians and businessmen gathered, and New Orleans, a large number of Cubans, to plan for the revolutionary cause.

It turned out that Lopez felt that Cuba was weak in its primary country, and its enemies were strong and we were weak. If we wanted to win the battle from the Spanish, we had to find powerful foreign aid. The United States not only relied on its own strength to get rid of the colonial rule of North American power, but also had just seized Louisiana from the Spanish. Under the banner of "America is the Americas of the Americans", it was close to Cuba. In the eyes of Lopez and many Cuban revolutionary patriots, the United States was not only an excellent springboard for the Cuban revolution, but also a Cuban ally created by heaven.

As soon as Lopez arrived in the United States, he began to lobby in New York. Washington actively tried to gain official support from the United States. He found an American politician who was keen on expansion, and jointly recruited a large number of armed ronin, preparing to set out from New York and New Orleans at the same time in 1849, attack Cuba in two directions. After seizing Cuba, he built Cuba into an overseas territory with considerable autonomy under the United States.

However, his actions were not favored by the American politics. The US president at that time was Taylor. Although this president, who was born as a planter and tended to represent industrial and commercial interests, he was a professional officer and led his troops to win the US-Mexico War, he was reserved for uncontrollable overseas expansion. In his opinion, this old-style colonial development not only cost the people and damages the image of the "free country" of the United States, but also only increased the strength of the southern slave states for nothing, which was not good for the United States itself. Therefore, he not only refused to support Lopez, but even took extraordinary measures to obstruct his actions: when Lopez and O'Sullivan's expeditionary fleet was about to leave the port, the US Navy suddenly blocked the port and detained all the ships of the expeditionary fleet.

O'Sullivan was frightened by this, and his ambition turned into spring water. He then alienated Lopez. Most of the funds of the Lopez expedition came from the sponsorship of New York merchants, but they died before they left the port. Naturally, they were in debt and could no longer gain a foothold in the north and had to go south to New Orleans.

But Lopez did not give up the plan to "alliate the United States and resist the West" because of this setback. Instead, he keenly observed from this setback that the conflict between the North of the United States, which represents the interests of industry and commerce, and the South of the United States, which represents the interests of slave owners, is no longer irreconcilable. Therefore, he decided to use this contradiction to find allies from the southern states of the United States.

He first found Senator Jefferson Davis, who was a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee at the time and was very influential in the southern states and even the United States. Davis participated in the Spanish colonial army's battle against Bolivar, and long admired the name of Lopez, and welcomed Lopez's arrival. He gave the Cuban Revolutionary Organization $1 million and a coffee plantation in his personal name. This was a huge sum of money at the time. Lopez, who received such great help, immediately moved his headquarters to New Orleans.

However, Lopez's happiness did not last long. Davis was a fearful person. His wife was angry at this unreasonable waste of money and quickly forced her husband to "quit". Davis, who felt sorry for it, recommended his close friend, Robert Lee, commander who had just returned from the frontline of the American-Mexico War. The latter read Lopez's overall plan very seriously, but eventually politely refused to join, because "too many fantasies."

Davis was the "president" of the Confederacy during the Civil War, and Robert Lee became the commander-in-chief of the Southern Army during the war and the president of the University of Washington after the war. A general who is said to be even better than Grant in terms of military talent, and even the famous American general respected by the enemy. If these two people joined, the history of Cuba's struggle would be rewritten, but history has no possibility.

However, Lopez was not discouraged. His lobbying finally impressed some American politicians and celebrities, such as Mississippi Governor Quitman, former Senator Henderson, and editor of the New Orleans Delta, Siegel. These people used their influence to help Lopez recruit people, raise funds, purchase weapons and military supplies, and finally formed a commando of about 6,100 people in early 1850.

Of course, these people will not do these jobs in vain. The reason why they are so "generous" is that they are moved by Lopez's more generous promise.

Lopez promised that as long as the United States helps Cuba get rid of Spanish colonial rule, Cuba will be "gratitude" and joining the United States Federation as a slave state, which is indeed quite attractive to the southern states that are striving to win more allies in the fight against the abolitionist states in the north. In other words, the creator of the Cuban flag, the pioneer of the Cuban revolution, once planned to exchange freedom for "the union of the United States" and end the slavery of Spain at the cost of accepting American rule.

In May 1850, Lopez led his commando from Kivester, Florida and began to march towards Cuba. They soon landed in the town of Cardenas in Cuba and raised their own flags for the first time in Cuban territory. Lopez was excited to think that as long as the flag of justice is raised and as soon as he called up, the Cuban people would respond actively, unite under his flag, and start war against the Spanish colonists. However, he was wrong. The local people were concerned about this storm.

However, the "foreigners" that emerged felt at a loss. Where did these live-fire people come from? What do they want to do? Who is their enemy? The locals knew nothing. For most of the day, almost no local responded. On the contrary, when the Spanish colonial army rushed to the scene after hearing the news, some people actually stood on the side of the colonial army to start a war against the commando... They mistakenly regarded these fully armed strangers as thieves who invaded their homes.

Lopez never expected this to be the result. He led his troops to board the ship in a hurry and returned to Kivester, and announced his disband before the US police arrived, so as not to violate the "Neutrality" formulated in 1918.

This action of starting and falling short has caused most American politicians to lose confidence in Lopez, especially after Mississippi Governor Quitman, who supported Lopez, stepped down.

But Lopez did not give up. After escaping judicial prosecution in the United States, he quickly gathered his troops and prepared to revolution again. Due to the loss of the support of American politicians, it took him more than a year to barely gather hundreds of people, most of whom were Cuban exiles, and a few Americans, mainly his former colleagues in the Spanish colonial army in South America.

In August 1851, Lopez's commando landed again on the northern coast of Cuba. Lopez divided his troops into two groups and let his deputy, the American Crittan, stayed at the colonel, guarded the baggage and was responsible for the support, and led the main force to march into the inland mountains. However, the main force of the Spanish colonial army soon arrived and the two revolutionary armies were surrounded respectively. In the end, due to their weak strength, Lopez and Crittanden were both captured and executed, and many captured commandoes were sent to the mine for hard labor.

However, although Lopez failed again, his flag became a symbol of Cuban revolutionaries. Almost all troops holding this flag would be recognized by the local people... At this time, there were a large number of Chinese workers in the Cuban Revolutionary Army. These Chinese workers performed well in battle, did not know how to retreat in battle, and never had any rebellion. They were deeply trusted by the Cuban people. Therefore, Liu Yongfu received strong support from the local residents of Segod Avila. This also became an important factor in his successful counterattack this time.

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Chapter completed!