The Spanish-American War: What It Meant For Cuba And America Over 100 years ago, 1898, Cubans fought for independence from Spain and Americans sought to gain greater world power, wealth and to become a more prominent nation. Both Cuba and the Americas could gain from this war if they played it right, and that's exactly what they did. It all started on the night of February 15, 1898 when a US battleship, the USS Maine was destroyed by an explosion. The explosion killed two-thirds of the Maine's crew. The fact was, nobody knew for sure what had caused the explosion, but the United States press saw this as a great opportunity to make som