The final three months of the conflict escalated to become the Spanish–American War, with United States forces being deployed in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippine Islands against Spain.

Historians disagree as to the extent that United States officials were motivated to intervene for humanitarian reasons but agree that yellow journalism exaggerated atrocities attributed to Spanish forces against Cuban civilians.

Additionally, the white upper-class minority in Cuba had concerns that the island would follow Haiti's footsteps after their revolution, which caused them to maintain their support for Spanish rule.

The number of sugar mills dropped and efficiency increased: only companies, and the most powerful plantation owners, remained in business followed by the Central Board of Artisans in 1879, and many more across the island.

"[13] On December 25, 1894, three ships – the Lagonda, the Almadis and the Baracoa – set sail for Cuba from Fernandina Beach, Florida, loaded with soldiers and weapons.

[10] Marti and Gomez had planned a well-organized uprising that would work to eventually remove Spain from the island nation, though progress would be slow and cost many lives.

[10] The uprisings in the central part of the island, such as Ibarra, Jagüey Grande, and Aguada, suffered from poor coordination and failed; the leaders were captured, deported or executed.

[7] Marti had compiled an essay titled Mi Raza, which stated that the idea of race was a social construct, which impacted his beliefs throughout the war.

They compensated by using guerrilla fighting, based on quick raids, the element of surprise, mounting their forces on fast horses, and using machetes against regular troops on the march.

Martí was killed soon after landing on May 19, 1895, at Dos Rios, but Máximo Gomez and Antonio Maceo fought on, taking the war to all parts of Oriente.

"Either they relocated to the east side of the islands, where the Cubans controlled the mountainous terrain, or they would be accused of supporting the Spanish and be subject to immediate trial and execution.

"[19] Continuing west, they were joined by 1868 war veterans, such as Polish internationalist General Carlos Roloff and Serafín Sánchez in Las Villas, who brought weapons, men and experience to the revolutionaries' arsenal.

Campos tried the strategy he had used in the Ten Years' War, constructing a broad belt across the island, called the trocha, about 80 km long and 200 m wide.

The rebels believed they had to take the war to the western provinces of Matanzas, Havana and Pinar del Rio, which contained the island's government and wealth.

Surrounding all larger cities and well-fortified towns, they arrived at the westernmost tip of the island on January 22, 1896, exactly three months after the invasion near Baraguá.

Weyler's terror reached its height on October 21, 1896, when he ordered all countryside residents and their livestock to gather within eight days in various fortified areas and towns occupied by his troops.

Spanish Liberal leader Práxedes Mateo Sagasta admitted in May 1897: "After having sent 200,000 men and shed so much blood, we don't own more land on the island than what our soldiers are stepping on".

As a result of the assassination attempt on Prime Minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo on 8 August 1897 and due to media criticism, the Spanish government decided to change its policy towards Cuba and dismiss General Valeriano Weyler from his position as governor of the island.

Some newspapers had agitated for U.S. intervention, especially because of its large financial investment, and featured sensational stories of Spanish atrocities against the native Cuban population, which were exaggerated for propaganda.

[25] In an attempt to appease the U.S., the colonial government took two steps that had been demanded by President William McKinley: it ended forced relocation of residents from their homes and offered negotiations with the independence fighters.

Newspaper owners such as William R. Hearst leaped to the conclusion that Spanish officials in Cuba were to blame, and they widely publicized the conspiracy.

[28] President McKinley, Speaker of the House Thomas Brackett Reed, and the business community opposed the growing public demand for war, which was lashed to fury by the yellow journalism.

The decisive event was probably the speech of Senator Redfield Proctor, delivered on March 17, 1898, analyzing the situation and concluding that war was the only answer.

[29][30] "Faced with a revved up, war-ready population, and all the editorial encouragement the two competitors could muster, the United States jumped at the opportunity to get involved and showcase its new steam-powered Navy".

[27] The amendment disclaimed any intention by U.S. to have jurisdiction or control over Cuba for other than pacification reasons, and confirmed that the armed forces would be removed at the conclusion of the war.

[12] Hostilities started hours after the declaration of war when a contingent of U.S. Navy ships under Admiral William T. Sampson blockaded several Cuban ports.

To reach Santiago, the Americans had to pass through concentrated Spanish defences in the San Juan Hills and a small town in El Caney.

The Americans and Cubans forcibly began a bloody, strangling siege of the city[34] which eventually surrendered on July 16, after the defeat of the Spanish Caribbean Squadron.

Thus, Cuban General Calixto García, head of the Mambi forces in the Eastern department, ordered his troops to hold their respective areas.

[27] After losing the Philippines and Puerto Rico, which had also been invaded by the United States, and with no hope of holding on to Cuba, Spain opted for peace on July 17, 1898.