맥킨리, 메인호, 그리고 미서전쟁의 기원 = McKinley, Battleship Maine, and the Origins of the Spanish-American War

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The origins of the Spanish-American War has long attracted scholars' interest. Given the fact that the United States began to put the traditional isolationism behind and adopt internationalism through its experiences of the Spanish-American War, there is no question about the historical value of the topic, the origins of the war. Scholars have approached the topic with many different angles and perspectives. Some looked for 'long-term' causes of the war, others for 'short-term' or immediate causes. Some put their emphasis on both outer and domestic conditions in the late nineteenth century to conclude the outbreak of the war as an inevitable result of the time in history. Others, mostly new historians who follow postmodernism, has brought race and gender in their interpretations of the topic.
One cannot denounce the values of the various interpretations of the origins of the war. They brought many different insights on the time when the Spanish-American War occurred. However, scholars tend to forget the central question, 'why did the war come about in 1898?'
This article tries to readdress the question, why war occurred in 1898?,by focusing on some immediate events that led the country to the war. In doing so, two things are scrutinized: William Mckinley and the explosion of the Maine.
The paper concludes that President Mckinley believed in the traditional isolationism and wanted to the nation away from the Cuban crisis, the most important overseas problem the nation had faced since his election to the presidency. Most of the American people were sided with Mckinley in dealing with the matter. The explosion of the battleship Maine in February 1898, however, turned the public sentiment around in favor of America's intervention in Cuba even it would mean a war with Spain. By early April, 1898, Mckinley got in a position where he could no longer put off the war fever of the nation.