Talk:War of 1898

Tentative thoughts:

• Suppose the colonies of Castile and Leon in the Caribbean were subject to rebellion, and also had enormous troubles with smuggling? Might the government have started issuing Letters of Marcque to help fight enemies of Castile and Leon? Such privateers might easily stray beyond mere anti-smuggling operations into incidents which could spark outrage from the NAL.
• From the dates, one must presume Carlos II and Leopoldo I are not father and son, but more likely brothers or maybe cousins. Perhaps they had radically different POVs regarding policy? Keep in mind the latter lost his throne in a revolution. How did Carlos II die? In battle? Was he assasinated? Natural causes? Seems to me his death in Havana must have been a major turning point.
• In *our* history, the US military invaded Cuba and sent a fleet into the Pacific. What happened *there* that was different? I suspect that for the NAL it was a mostly-naval war, a hunt for pirates that might have crippled the Royal colonial infrastructure. Might King Carlos II have wanted to gather a military force to answer the NAL? Did a naval battle take place? Or more than one? If the Castilean navy were thoroughly trounced, but Carlos II insisted on more fighting, could that have sparked an assassination? My thought is that perhaps this left the royal administration so seriously weakened that independence movements quickly achieved all they wanted. Maybe?

Something to think about... Zahir 08:17, 8 May 2007 (PDT)

Regarding point 3, I think one of the main difference is that the NAL, unlike the US, was not trying to gain colonies. If the origin of the conflict was piracy and smuggling (*privateering* from the castilan point of view), they probably simply concentrate on getting rid of the problem nearby.--Marc Pasquin 09:25, 8 May 2007 (PDT)

I was actually taking that into account, but thanks for the reminder. Zahir 11:49, 8 May 2007 (PDT)