When did USS Maine explode in Havana Harbor and Americans demand war?

Answer 1

The USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898. Newspaper publishers William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer fanned the war fever in their newspapers. By April 25 this paid off as the US Congress declared war on Spain, kicking off a "splendid little war" and inaugurating an age of American Imperialism.

Answer 2

On 15 February 1898.

For years, during the 1890s, the American press had been inciting the public to be sympathetic toward the plight of the Cuban people, but the catalyst that sparked this battle occurred on 15 February 1898 with the explosion and sinking of the second-class battleship USS Maine in Havana Harbor, resulting in the loss of 260 men. There is still conjecture as to the exact cause of the explosion - an underwater mine, a torpedo or an internal coal-dust/magazine explosion. Even after the Maine was raised from Havana Harbor, inspected, towed out to sea and scuttled in March of 1912, it still could not be determined with certainty, who or what, had initiated the original blast. Both the Spanish forces and Cuban insurgents fighting for their independence from Spain had motives. Spain wanted to dissuade the US from becoming involved in Cuba, while the Cuban rebels reasoned that an attack on a US ship would draw America into the conflict; whoever or whatever was responsible, this incident ultimately prompted US Congress to declare war on Spain two months later.