During the Spanish-American War, the Spanish ruled over Cuba for approximately 400 years and finally, Cuban rebels declared independence. Also during this time, Americans had expansion fever so we decided to help Cubans overthrow the Spanish. However, Americans used yellow journalism to create reenactments of the war to show citizens back home what war was like, but sometimes the reenactments were lies. The war started because the United States’ ship, the Maine, mysteriously exploded in one of the harbors of Cuba and we blamed it on the Spanish with no proof. When the United States attacked Cuba, it was our first attempt at global expansion. For the United States, 1 soldier that died during combat, 13 other soldiers due to uncured diseases.