Spanish-American War begins,

Spain declares war on the U.S., after rejecting the U.S. demand to withdraw from Cuba. The U.S. responds with its own declaration two days later. Tensions between the two countries were sparked by the explosion of the battleship USS Maine in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898. Fighting ends on August 12, 1898, and Treaty of Paris, under which Spain relinquishes control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines to the U.S., is signed on December 10, 1898.