Which conflict began over Cuban independence in 1898, involving the United States and Spain?

• A. World War I
• B. Spanish-American War
• C. Isolationism
• D. Kellogg-Briand Pact

Answer: (B)

The key idea here is identifying the war that brought the United States into combat with Spain over Cuba’s struggle for independence in 1898. That conflict is the Spanish-American War. It started as Cuba’s fight for freedom from Spain, and American outrage over events in Cuba plus the sensational reporting about them helped push the U.S. to declare war after the USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor. The war ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1898, shifting Spain’s overseas empire and leaving the United States as a more assertive international power. Cuba became independent in form, though the United States still influenced its affairs for years afterward.

World War I began in 1914 and involved many nations in a broad global conflict, not tied to Cuban independence. Isolationism is a policy stance, not a conflict. The Kellogg-Briand Pact was a 1928 treaty renouncing war, not a war between the U.S. and Spain.