Independent Cuba

José Martí, a lawyer, poet, and journalist who had been exiled from Cuba, founded the Cuban Revolutionary party in 1892 while living in New York City. Veterans of the Ten Years' War were recruited to aid in the revolution. Open rebellion broke out on the island in March, 1895. Martí was killed in battle two months later. The following year, Spain sent some 100,000 troops to Cuba to put down the rebellion.

In February, 1898, the United States battleship Maine —sent to Havana harbor to help protect United States citizens in Cuba—blew up under mysterious circumstances. The American press blamed Spain, and in April the United States declared war against the Spanish, Following Spain's defeat a treaty was signed, on December 10, 1898, granting Cuba independence. United States military occupation, under General Leonard Wood, was set up to maintain order until a democratic Cuban government could be established.

A constitution was adopted in 1901. It included provisions of an act of the U.S. Congress called the Platt Amendment, which gave the United States the right to intervene in Cuba. In 1902 the government was formally organized and Tomás Estrada Palma was elected president. Political disturbances led to United States control, 1906–09. In the Cuban administrations that followed, political instability continued, but progress was made in education, sanitation, and public works.

After 1928 President Machado y Morales tried to make himself dictator. He was overthrown in 1933. In the succeeding years. Fulgencio Batista, one of the leaders of the 1933 revolt, installed and deposed presidents at will. The provisions of the Platt Amendment were nullified in 1934 by the United States. Batista lost power in 1944, but in 1952 he regained control in a coup and made himself dictator.