The Spanish-American War 1898

The Spanish-American War 1898

Author: BBC Radio 4 April 30, 2026 Duration: 55:22

Misha Glenny and guests discuss a turning point in world affairs in 1898 that left Spain greatly reduced as an imperial power and the US the owner of the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico, with a significant influence over the newly independent Cuba where the war broke out. The US had been eyeing Cuba for decades, waiting for the right moment and the right kind of action, and in April 1898 intervened in the long-running fighting on the island for independence from Spain. With a much stronger navy it was a very uneven battle and the US soon triumphed over Spanish forces from Manila to Santiago de Cuba. This brief war confirmed the US as a power on the world stage and made a shocked Spain turn inwards to ask what had gone wrong. Meanwhile, people in the Philippines were about to attempt a new and bloody independence fight with the US.

With

Frank Cogliano Professor of American History at the University of Edinburgh

Mary Vincent Professor of Modern European History at the University of Sheffield

And

Stephen Wilkinson Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Buckingham

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Sebastian Balfour, The End of the Spanish Empire, 1898-1923 (Clarendon Press, 1997)

Sebastian Balfour, ‘Riot, Regeneration and Reaction: Spain in the Aftermath of the 1898 Disaster’ (The Historical journal 38.2, 1995)

Ada Ferrer, Cuba: An American History (Scribner, 2021)

Greg Grandin, America, América: A New History of the New World (Torva, 2025)

Richard Kluger, Seizing Destiny: How America Grew from Sea to Shining Sea (Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2007)

Robert W. Merry, President McKinley: Architect of the American Century (Simon & Schuster, 2017)

Walter Nugent, Habits of Empire: A History of American Expansion (Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2008)

Louis A. Pérez Jr., Cuba Between Empires, 1878–1902 (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1983)

John Lawrence Tone, War and Genocide in Cuba, 1895-1898 (University of North Carolina Press, 2006)

Mary Vincent, Spain, 1833-2002: People and State (Oxford University Press, 2007), especially chapter 3

In Our Time is a BBC Studios Production

Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.


For anyone with a restless mind, the weekly In Our Time podcast from BBC Radio 4 offers a deep and engaging conversation across the vast terrain of human thought and experience. Host Misha Glenny guides a panel of distinguished academics, not in lecture format, but through a lively, accessible discussion where ideas genuinely collide and unfold. You might find yourself immersed in the complex legacy of a figure like Napoleon one week, and the next be untangling the scientific principles of photosynthesis or the philosophical arguments of the Enlightenment. The scope is deliberately broad, covering history, religion, culture, science, and philosophy, because understanding one often requires context from another. What you hear is the genuine process of exploration-the questions, the debates, and the connections made in real time by leading experts. It’s the kind of podcast that doesn’t just recount the Sack of Rome or the intricacies of Russian court politics, but examines why these moments mattered and how their echoes are still felt. The result is a consistently stimulating hour that treats listeners as curious equals, offering the intellectual satisfaction of following a great conversation to its illuminating conclusion.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

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