Under the Shadow of War: Propaganda in Cuba, Spain and the United States during the Era of the Spanish American War
Abstract:
The Spanish American War took place at a critical time in history. The latter part of the nineteenth century was a time of significant transition for Cuba, Spain and the United States. Cuban revolutionary forces were once again fighting for independence against their Spanish colonial overlords. Spain was in a state of political and economic upheaval suffering an economic and cultural decline that ultimately resulted in the loss of over its 400 year-old empire. One of the shortest wars in American history, lasting only 113 days, victory in the Spanish American War in 1898 propelled the United States in to becoming a world power at the beginning of the twentieth century. This project is a study of propaganda during the era of the Spanish American War. This project will present and analyze various types of propaganda from Cuba, Spain and the United States. The propaganda during this era shaped the course of the war and its outcome. Media makers from Cuba, Spain and the United States uniquely fused together the ideas of politics and entertainment in order to promote and encourage domestic nationalism while taking measures to deliberately undermine the integrity of the other nations involved in the war in the eyes of the public.