Barbary Pirates and American Captives In 1804 American ships set out of Maryland headed to a Spanish port. On their way the encountered a ship full of Barbary pirates, a North African Muslim based crew. The Pirates jumped over and boarded the American shipped with weapons, forcing the Americans to strip to shirts and draws. By the end of the year the Pirates had taken over more than ten ships and vessels. The pirates enslaved and killed the crews.
The U.S is not justified in annexing the Philippines and fighting a war to keep it because it was just a chance to exploit people and land to earn power and prestige. On April 25, the United States declared war on Spain following the sinking of the Battleship U.S.S. Maine in Havana harbor sent by President McKinley to protect U.S citizens. Cuba was the first to initiate its own struggle for independence. Spain used ruthless brutal tactics to bring down the revolt where the U.S intervened due to sympathy for Cuban rebels.
Napoleon's first major mistake was made in March of 1808, when Napoleon intervened in a dispute between the present king of Spain and the king's son. He placed them both in prison and put his own brother on the throne. The people of Spain did not take too kindly to this act and so began a bloody war that was not defined by major battles, but by guerrilla warfare that kept a large number of French troops occupied to keep control of the country. French troops would end up executing hundreds of Spaniards who were thought to be resisting French power. Britain saw an opportunity to weaken Napoleon's empire by landing 13,000 troops on the coast of Portugal, where they made their way up along Spain's coastline.
The Spanish Inquisition occurred at this time as well, in which people that didn’t convert to Catholicism were tortured and killed or put into slavery. This is the world that Columbus and his men lived and worked in. Columbus was an Italian explorer and ex-slave trader that had a hard time convincing someone to finance his voyage. He finally convinced the king and queen of Spain to commission him Admiral of the Ocean Sea and to provide money, men, and ships for his voyage. In this deal he would sail under the flag of Spain and would receive a share of the profits secured from whatever lands he reached in Asia.
Spanish-American war * In Cuba, then a Spanish colony, angry nationalists known as the insurrectos began a revolt against the ruling Spanish colonial regime. When Spain sent in General "Butcher" Weyler to stabilize the situation in Cuba, he put much of the population in concentration camps. The US, which had many businessmen with investment interests in Cuba, became concerned. * In 1898, the US dispatched the USS Maine on a "friendly" mission to Cuba. The ship was to wait, ready to rescue US citizens who might be endangered by the conflict in Cuba.
When Cortes first moved to Cuba in 1511, he assisted Diego Velazquez, Cortes’ brother-in-law and governor of Cuba in his conquest of the island. Realizing how limited his powers in Cuba were, Cortes wanted to conquer Mexico, [persuading] Velazquez to make him commander of the expedition. It was only as Cortes was about to set sail when Velazquez cancelled Cortes’ commission, suspicious of his motives. Cortes’ determination and hunger for power resisted Velazquez’s demands and set sail despite what Velazquez had to say. In 1519, he and his men took over and established what [now is Veracruz]; dismissing the authorities of Velazquez and placed himself directly under Charles V’s orders.
Another cause of the civil war was the actions of John Brown, who attacked on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. His plan was to seize the weapons and help the slaves revolt, but it didn’t work (Doc 6). When violence broke out in Kansas’s territory over slavery, Charles Sumner gave a speech on the “crime against Kansas”. Preston brooks, took it upon himself to defend his colleagues and beat Sumner with a cane (Doc.8). If America was not faced with these problems that I have mentioned in the paragraphs above we might not of had a Civil War.
Skull and crossbones buccaneers have resurfaced with "Terminator"-style tactics, shining a spotlight on an age-old crime that some experts warn could inspire terrorists “The Carnival-owned cruise liner Sea bourn” Spirit recently fended off a pirate attack along Africa's eastern coast, with one person sustaining injuries. The attempt to hijack a cruise ship highlights the pirates' growing audacity - wielding rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, the pirates off of Somalia's coast have stolen some of the fairy-tale glamour of yesteryear's high sea thieves. “Ahoy-There”. In 2008 there were 293 incidents of piracy against ships worldwide - 11 per cent up on the year before. Attacks off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden almost trebled.
In 1898, we claimed that the Spanish had blown up the USS Maine in Havana Harbor (which was actually an accidental combustion) in order to justify going to war with Spain. The Spanish-American War was fought all over the world; in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Manila, and a few other places. America defeated Spain in 113 days, and the Treaty of Paris was signed, giving the United States Cuba and the rest of the Spanish Empire, both in the Caribbean and the Pacific for $20 million; a bargain. As promised in the Teller Amendment, the US gave Cuba its independence but placed on them certain conditions in the Platt Amendment. One of the conditions was that the US could trade freely with Cuba.
The United States of America is a relatively young country. The country was originally a British colony but after several disagreements between the American settlers and the British Central Authority, the United States of America declared its independence on July 4th 1776 mainly because they were dissatisfied with paying taxes to the English Central Authority without having real political influence. The Revolutionary War actually ravaged the country from 1775-1781, but eventually the Americans, under the leadership of George Washington, succeeded in obtaining their freedom despite many setbacks. George Washington also became the first American president in 1789, and the capital of the United States of America was therefore named after him and positioned close to his estate in Virginia. Remarkably, George