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QINGDAO TODAY
在线翻译:
szdaily -> Speak Shenzhen -> 
The Spanish American War
    2019-03-21  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

James Baquet

A well-known expression refers to “winning the battle, but losing the war” (or variations, such as “losing the battle, but winning the war”). The first version given may have originated with the “victory” of Pyrrhus, whose “win” at Epirus in 280 B.C. was so destructive to his forces that he said, “If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined.”

The idea of a “Pyrrhic victory” underscores the difference between a battle and a war.

We have been focusing largely on individual battles (always noting the larger struggle of which they were a part), but let’s spend some time now on the wars themselves. In some ways, the history of a country can be seen as the history of its wars.

We’ll start with a war significant in the history of two of the four countries I have called home: The Spanish American War. Fought between the U.S. and Spain in 1898, it marked in some ways the waning of Spain’s influence in the world and the concomitant rise of the United States.

It started in Cuba as that country strove to gain its independence from Spain, when the U.S. intervened on Cuba’s behalf. This was a result of something called the “Monroe Doctrine,” named after U.S. President James Monroe. It declared that any European power attempting to exert influence in the Western Hemisphere would be considered hostile to the U.S. and its policies.

Of course, this was something of a ruse, as the U.S. not only took control of Cuba, but also bought from Spain outright the territories of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam, the latter two of which are still in U.S. hands. Though Cuba became nominally independent in 1902, the U.S. retained the right to intervene in her affairs (and did), supervising her finances and foreign relations, until the communist revolution of 1959 and the rise of Fidel Castro.

The war lasted a mere 10 weeks, brought to a rapid finish by the superiority of the U.S. Navy. It started the U.S. on a course of imperialist expansionism which today is seen as controversial in more enlightened quarters.

Vocabulary:

Which words above mean:

1. accompanying, concurrent

2. trick, subterfuge

3. progressive, forward-thinking

4. interfered, interceded

5. emphasizes

6. completely, absolutely

7. fought, struggled

8. national policy of acquiring more territory

9. in name, but not in fact

10. going down, getting smaller

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