Cuba–Spain relations Poet José Martí who died in May 1895 at the Battle of Dos Ríos. The war lasted until 1898 when the United States deployed forces to the island. That same year, American naval ship, USS Maine (ACR-1) exploded and sank in the Havana Harbor and resulted in the United States blaming the incident on Spain. This resulted in the Spanish–American War which began in April 1898 until August 1898. At the end of the war, the United States came out as the victors in the war and obtained Cuba as a possession and it resulted in the defeat and collapse
Raid on Santiago de Cuba (1603) by the English since the advent of the Anglo-Spanish war. Santiago de Cuba was the second largest town in Cuba having been founded in 1515. The town had been targeted by pirates before, notably in 1553. On 12 May 1603 the English landed in a bay near Santiago de Cuba and met no resistance. They then took the small but unfinished fort; a ravelin and battery on the south-western beach of the promontory which covered the bay from the land side. Soon after Cleeve's men then marched towards the town and then launched an attack. They surprised the militia who