The Sinking of the USS Maine

If you are not American, you may not be familiar with the Spanish-American war and a principal cause, the sinking of a US warship, the USS Maine. If you are American, there is a term that goes together with the sinking of the ship, “yellow journalism” that may immediately spring to mind. We will be exploring both the sinking of the Maine and the impact the press had on the US government’s 1898 decision to declare war on Spain in the aftermath of the sinking.

In the late 19th century, the United States was mirroring behavior of western European empires but with a focus on its own hemisphere, specifically intervening in affairs in Mexico and other parts of Latin America. This behavior was an extension of the American concept of “Manifest Destiny” or the belief that the United States should and would dominate the North American continent from east to west coast. Once the western frontier was “won” those Americans turned their focus beyond the North American coastline and focused on the Pacific, Central, and South America, including countries and territories like the Philippines, Cuba, Puerta Rico, and Hispaniola. In their way however was the Spanish Empire, who controlled large chunks of the Caribbean and swaths of the Pacific. At the same time, the American press industry was undergoing a dramatic shift. Within the American constitution, the first amendment protects and enshrines press editorial freedom, allowing news corporations to be creative in their delivery of the news if the information being delivered to readers is not libelous towards the subjects of the stories, and in the late 19th century, newspapers started to push beyond the limits of what is factual news. William Randolph Hurst and Joseph Pulitzer, both newspaper magnates, became known for delivering exaggerated, solacious, fabricated, distorted, or sensationalized stories and headlines in their respectively owned papers. This reporting behavior became known as “yellow journalism” in America. Today it is still very much an active practice in use by tabloid journals and magazines in the US, the UK, and around the world.

The Spanish Empire was a dying power in the 19th century, having been heavily weakened by centuries of sustained conflict with other European powers. Further eroding the power of the empire was a century of territorial instability with civil wars and overseas rebellion, crippling the Spanish economy. Lastly, the Spanish now had to contend with a burgeoning power threatening its interests, the United States. With America’s focus on expanding power beyond its borders and Cuba being only 90 miles away from the US mainland, it became a natural target of American expansionists. In 1895 Cuban revolutionaries launched an armed rebellion against the Spanish, kicking off the Cuban War of Independence. This rebellion was not the first, as Cuba had been in a state of on and off rebellion since the 1860s and garnered the sympathy of Americans, who only a century before had shaken off their own colonial overlords. Additionally, American economic interests were tied to Cuba, as they were a leading sugar importer to the US, with increased American government and economic concern growing as the instability in Cuba continued. Further damning against the Spanish was their use of concentration camps (the first use of this term and type of internment) and exploited by the American press for attention grabbing headlines. The United States under President William McKinley, attempt to act as a 3rd party negotiator to end the conflict, but the Spanish would promise reforms and routinely fail to deliver on them, trying the patience of the United States. The American public began to believe that war between the United States and Spain was justified to protect American interests and to aid the Cuban cause.

As the Spanish cracked down in Cuba and no end to the conflict in sight, in 1898 the American government dispatched a cruiser, USS Maine, to Cuban waters to “protect American citizens and interests.” This also served as a signal to the Spanish that the United States was willing to use naval and military power to get their way. The Maine arrived in Havana harbor on January 25th, where it stayed until suffering a large explosion on the 15th of February. The explosion ignited a powder store for the ship’s guns, nearly vaporizing one third of the ship. The explosion killed 261 sailors and marines out of the 355 total crew, only leaving 16 uninjured of the surviving 94.

Conflicting information immediately came out regarding the cause of the explosion, with President McKinley first being told it was an accident, along with numerous high ranking naval and civilian officials being told the same. One initial belief was that coal fire ignited the ship, causing the explosion and this was communicated to the Department of the Navy. Although a different narrative quickly overtook this, that a Spanish mine had caused the sinking of the Maine. The “yellow” press seized upon the percieved Spanish offensive action narrative, printing weeks’ worth of sensationalized headlines demanding revenge for the American deaths or reimbursing the US for its loss by granting Cuba independence. The public, after being bombarded by the overly biased headlines and coupled with often exaggerated news of concentration camps and Spanish atrocities (concentration camps and atrocities by the Spanish did occur but the American press often fabricated or exaggerated key details or incidents), advocated for war between America and Spain. The rallying cry of “Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain” entered the national American lexicon and once war was declared two months later, became one of the most memorable American slogans in history, being taught in American textbooks to this day. The Spanish were quickly defeated and humiliated in the subsequent war, with the conflict lasting just 16 weeks. In victory, the US took possession of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam, with Puerto Rico and Guam still being held as US territories to this day.

The United States and Spain each conducted their own investigations to understand what happened in the interim between the sinking and war, with Spain concluding that an internal explosion - likely from a coal bunker caused the sinking, with the US concluding that an external force, like a torpedo or mine was the cause.

But do we know the actual cause of the explosion over 120 years later? Numerous investigations have been launched to uncover the true cause of the explosion, as the naval mine or torpedo narrative is greatly disputed. The initial US inquiry in 1898 used testimony from the surviving crew and wreck divers to conclude that the ship was struck by a naval mine that ignited its forward magazine, as many survivors reported hearing two explosions. But this study had detractors within the navy who argued that a coal fire was the cause. In 1911, the Maine was raised from Havana harbor in a large operation where she was studied before being sunk again. This investigation concluded that an external explosion had indeed caused damage to the Maine and likely detonated its powder magazine. This investigation also was able to recover most of the sailors who went down with the ship and intern them in the US national military cemetery, Arlington. However, in 1974 another investigation led by US Admiral Hyman Rickover using photographs and wreckage pieces, with a book being released of the Rickover team’s findings in 1976. This study concluded that the explosion was not caused by an external explosion, but instead was caused by an internal explosion due to a buildup of methane and other gasses produced by the US Navy’s switch over to a more volatile coal type, igniting the magazine. To further muddle to the investigation into the Maine’s sinking, National Geographic conducted an investigation of their own in 1998, using computer graphics for the first time. Their investigation was inconclusive, with differing opinions amongst the members even as to the cause. The NatGeo team concluded that a small mine COULD have caused the blast but that an explosion due to coal gas build up could also be the cause. In 2002, an investigation by the US television network, the Discovery Channel, concluded that a coal bunker fire and explosion was the cause, with a design flaw in the metal separating the coal bunker from the magazine showing that a fire could have penetrated the barrier and led to a massive explosion.

The cause of the sinking of the Maine, whilst still disputed to this day, may never be fully known but the ship’s sinking and the American press’ sensationalism of the incident is absolutely a main cause of the Spanish-American war. Although ensuring protection of editorial integratory and news reporting is key in today’s 21st century America and the UK, looking back on the press’ actions around the Maine’s sinking and the subsequent US declaration of war provides us with one of history’s greatest example of government policy being affected by public sentiment and opinion being galvanized by a biased press.

Operation Catapult

One obscure part of World War Two history is what happened to French forces immediately after their defeat to the Nazis. When the French surrendered to the Nazis in the Second World War, these forces didn’t just turn in their weapons and go home, France as an entity still existed in some form and needed forces to defend her from Allied and Axis threats alike. Would French military assets be neutral or now used against the Allies? In the immediate and chaotic aftermath of French capitulation to the Germans, British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, made a decision that is still derided in France today, and resulted in the death of nearly 1,300 French sailors, attacking the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir. Churchill himself would write “this was the most hateful decision, the most unnatural and painful in which I have ever been concerned.” This article will detail the events around this attack, and the context around the Allied decision.

With the collapse of the French in 1940, the Nazis occupied northern France but left southern France and most of the French Colonial possessions “unoccupied.” These unoccupied and colonial areas were organized under a new government known as Vichy France, named after the new capital city of Vichy, which took a collaborationist stance with the Nazis. The Nazis also sent around two million French prisoners of war (POWs) into forced labor camps throughout Nazi controlled Europe. However, not all French armed forces accepted this new government and Nazi rule; a French general, Charles de Gaulle, successfully fled to England and set up the “Free French” forces and government in exile, vying against Vichy France to be the legitimate government of France. The free French forces consisted of French African colonial forces, escaped French forces, the French foreign legion, and fragmented resistance groups.  These Free French forces would serve alongside the Allies for the duration of the war and even against Nazi allied Vichy forces. As the war waged on, and the Allies invaded places like North Africa and Italy, Vichy forces routinely joined the Allies, and the numbers of Free French forces swelled to 1.2 million by the war’s end. But our story takes place in 1940, just after the capitulation of French forces to the Nazis.

As the new armistice went into effect between Germany and France, the British government feared that the Nazis would take control of the French navy, even though the armistice directly referenced that the Germans would make no demands of the French fleet, with a similar statement in the armistice with the Italians. The British doubted that the Italians and the Germans would hold to their world and leave the French fleet neutral, and their fears (in their minds) started to be realized when the Italians requested the French to “temporarily” relocate the bulk of their fleet to North African ports, within reach of Italian forces. The British feared this move could lead to the Italians/Germans taking control of the fleet, and with a combined Italian, German, and French fleet against the lone British Royal Navy, the balance at sea would swing towards the Axis powers, leaving the British position untenable for the long term. To the British, an allied or neutral French fleet could be the difference between victory or total defeat. To counter the potential threat of a French fleet being used against them, the British devised an operation known as Operation Catapult, the main objective being the securing of French naval assets in multiple locations such as Egypt, French Algeria, and England.

However, before the British launched Operation Catapult, negations were opened with their former allies to secure a peaceful transition of French naval vessels around the world into British hands. These negotiations were not successful, so the British delivered an ultimatum to the French admiral in charge of the most powerful group targeted in Operation Catapult, Admiral Marcel-Bruno Gensoul, at Mers-el-Kébir, in French Algeria. The British fleet to deliver this ultimatum and use force if necessary to secure the ships at Mers-el-Kébir, was known as Force H. Force H, in communications back to the British high command, indicated their wish to avoid hostilities and predicted that hostile action would alienate French forces everywhere. The Admiralty, earlier directed by Churchill, were insistent on hostilities if the French did not agree to the demands, saying “firm intention of His Majesty’s Government that if the French will not accept any of your alternatives, they are to be destroyed.” The task force arrived off the Coast of French Algeria on 3 July. Also, on 3 July, British forces boarded French ships and submarines moored in Plymouth and Portsmouth, England. There was light resistance to this surprise boarding action, resulting in the death of three British Navy personnel and one French sailor. In Alexandria, Egypt, the French navy surrendered their five ships to the British peacefully.

A British Captain who spoke French, Cedric Holland, was selected to deliver the ultimatum, while the insulted Gensoul, who resented negotiating with a junior officer to him, sent his subordinate in his stead, causing confusion on who was empowered to make a decision. The ultimatum contained 3 options for the French: 1. join the British and continue the fight against the Germans and Italians, 2. Sail to a British port and the crews will be repatriated to France and the ships returned (with compensation if damaged) at the conclusion of the war, 3. Sail to the West Indies to be demilitarized in a French port or entrusted to the United States (neutral at the time) to remain safe until the conclusion of hostilities. If these options were refused or no response received, the French were informed they would be attacked (with regret) in 6 hours. Gensoul saw no acceptable options and readied his fleet to defend themselves, stating “given the form and substance of the veritable ultimatum which has been sent to Admiral Gensoul, the French ships will defend themselves with force.”

Although there was hope that the French would change their minds or the British would back down, the six hours passed and hostilities commenced, with the HMS Hood opening fire first, followed by Force H fully engaging. After ten minutes of sustained bombardment, the French surrendered. 1 battleship was fully sunk, 2 heavily damaged, 3 destroyers damaged, and a few smaller ships damaged. In all, 1,297 French sailors lost their lives with 350 wounded, though some ships escaped to Toulon, receiving a hero’s welcome upon their arrival.

In 1942, the Germans did try to capture the French fleet, now mainly based out of Toulon, in violation of the Armistice, but the French successfully destroyed any ship of value prior to the arrival of the Germans, showing the French resolve to keep the navy out of Axis’ hands. The legacy of Operation Catapult and the Attack on Mers-el-Kébir is mixed, with historians debating that the attack, although uniting the Vichy French in opposition against Britain, was a tactical success, and others debating that its military success did not outweigh the propaganda value against Britain. Further, there is debate that with the successful scuttling of the French navy in Toulon in 1942, were the British fears unfounded and did Britain attack a former ally for no reason? We will leave that up to you to decide.

The Zimmermann Telegram

In 1917, Europe, along with swaths of Asia and parts of Africa, were three years in to tearing themselves apart due to a confluence of technology, destruction, and outdated tactics known to us as the First World War. The Central Powers, made up of the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Bulgaria were battling the Allied Powers, made up of The French Republic, Italy, The British Empire, Japan, and The Russian Empire. Noticeably absent and “neutral” was the United States. I put neutral in quotes there because the U.S. was anything but. America shipped war material, ammunition, and other supplies to the Allies but due to a large German immigrant population and a population with an intense isolationist worldview, remained on the sidelines. This all changed in 1917, while the U.S. had run ins and near conflicts with the Central Powers due to Germany’s policy of unrestricted submarine warfare on Trans-Atlantic shipping, it was a telegram sent to the German ambassador to Mexico, by the German Secretary of State that pushed America to the Allies. The telegram, intercepted and decrypted by the British, and turned over to the Americans, coupled with German submarine sinking of American vessels, brought the United States into the conflict on the side of the Allied Powers, tipping the scales decidedly into the Allies’ favor. This article is about that telegram and how it was a major factor in the loss of the war for the Central Powers.

To understand why it took the Americans three years to enter the war, we must first understand the reasons for staying neutral. First, while most Americans had cultural sympathies or full ties to Britain, France, and the rest of the Allied Powers, the U.S. had 10% of its population who ethnically identified as German. These Americans, for obvious reasons, did not want their adopted country to declare war on the land of their birth or their ancestral home, and for the first couple years of the war, the wider population of the United States agreed. Second, the American people saw WW1 as a strictly European affair and felt that it should stay that way. They believed it was folly to involve American soldiers in a war across the ocean that did not directly affect the American sphere of influence. Lastly, the United States was profiting immensely off the war, from an industrial and agricultural standpoint. Owing to the destruction or a shift to full war production of European industrial capability, military mobilization of the European population away from their places of employment, and blockades, the demand for American goods and food soared. However, in 1915, the sinking of the passenger ship Lusitania, killing 1,200 people, 128 of which were Americans, started a public opinion shift toward American intervention on the side of the Allies. For those unfamiliar, Germany pursued a policy of total war in the Atlantic Ocean, sinking both merchant and passenger vessels alike, in order to starve out the allies and curb their ability to wage war. So sharp was the outrage over the sinking of the Lusitania, that the Germans temporarily backed off their policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.

In 1917, a major political event occurred, turning the war toward a Central Power victory - the Russian Communist Revolution. The revolution took the Russian Empire out of the war and turned a two-front war, into a one front conflict. This freed up large numbers of Central Power soldiers to be rerouted to the western front, causing the war to start a swing against the Allies. To maximize further on this shift, Germany resumed its policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, causing more American losses, leading the United States to cut off diplomatic ties with Germany a few days after the policy resumed. Now enters our star, the Zimmermann telegram. The telegram was sent by Arthur Zimmermann, the Secretary of State/Foreign Secretary for the German Empire, to his ambassador in Mexico, essentially instructing the ambassador to propose a German-Mexican alliance, should the United States enter the war. Weirdly, Zimmermann also proposed the Japanese to be in this alliance, even though they were already on the side of the Allies, and the likelihood of them switching sides was nil. In this alliance, Germany would provide financial and material support to the Mexicans to invade the U.S. and even offered to support Mexico’s annexation of the U.S. states of New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. While the telegram was sent in a coded format, it was intercepted by the British rather quickly. This is because Britain had cut Germany’s ability to send cables without a third-party allowing usage of their undersea telegraph cables, forcing Germany to rely on Sweden and the United States to transmit messages to overseas German ambassadors (like the one stationed in Mexico). The version of the message that went via the Swedes went from Stockholm to Buenos Aires over British telegraph cables, on to Mexico via the United States. Due to the usage of these British undersea cables, the plucky Brits were able to intercept it.

However, even with the message decoded quickly, the British were put in a precarious position. First, they had to convince the United States it was genuine. This on paper should be easy, but the U.S. was wary of efforts by the Brits to bring them into the war. Second and probably more important to British Secret Intelligence, it would also reveal that they had the ability to decode secret German telegraph cables. Ultimately, and after much angst, they passed it along to their American counterparts and convinced them that it was a genuine message. Understandably, the American public, holding now anti-German sentiments due to the unrestricted submarine warfare policy, and more historically, anti-Mexican sentiments, were outraged.

The United States did not take the Zimmermann threat of a Mexican-German alliance as a militarily viable threat. The U.S. was in the very final days of the Pancho Villa expedition; a military invasion of Mexico to track down Mexican revolutionary figure, Pancho Villa, after he launched a boarder raid on U.S. territory (the last U.S. invasion in a series of military actions against Mexico that showed the U.S. was far stronger militarily than their southern neighbor). Additionally, Mexico was in the midst of a civil war and the current president, Venustiano Carranza, was not in a place logistically, militarily, or politically to mount such an action, although he did ask a military commission to assess the proposal, which they found to be unwinnable.

The ultimate consequence of the Zimmermann telegram was the slow defeat of the Central Powers in the First World War, ending in November 1918, due to the U.S. declaring war and siding with the Allies, following the admission of Arthur Zimmermann to the genuine nature of the telegram. At one point, following the U.S. entry into the war, 10,000 U.S. soldiers a day were arriving in Europe. Germany and the Central Powers couldn’t counter the U.S. surge of material and manpower, allowing the new combination of the United States, the British Empire, France, and the other Allies, to press home and defeat the Central Powers by the end of 1918.