Info on the Spanish-American War (research for an online project)

by PurposeToMelody

I'm starting a Youtube series on history, I want it to be entertaining and short, but still informative. I feel the history is a subject that is often overlooked or not studied because people see it as boring/unentertaining, or they just don't have time to watch a 2 hour long documentary on the fall of the Roman Republic and the effect it had on Europe today. The first subject I want to tackle is the Spanish-American War, I feel its particularly overlooked in American History, what are the bullet points you think should be hit in 5 minutes or so? My idea so far is

  • The effect of the press and pressuring of Mckinley
  • Cuban Freedom/Revolution
  • The Battle of Manila Bay
  • The Battle of San Juan Hill (Kettle Hill)
  • Teddy Roosevelt/Rough Riders
  • Overview and consequences of the war (Philippine-American War, Fall of the Spanish Empire, Yellow Fever etc.)

I want to try and keep it short and entertaining, but still as informative and factual as possible.

ThucydidesWasAwesome

How in depth and authoritative do you plan on being? If it is a pop history reformulation of existing ideas, I can suggest a few authors. The list would be a lot longer if you're doing some in depth investigation of existing historiography beforehand, though.

I'd recommend starting by looking up the work of Louis Perez Jr. On the subject. He specializes in that period and puts out a book a year (no joke) on one topic or another. If you're doing a basic overview, his books should be more than sufficient on the Cuban side of the war.

I do want to note that he is not a military historian. He writes to contextualize military struggles with Cuban history as a whole.