Editing Spanish–American War (section)

===Spain's attitude towards its colonies===
[[File:World 1898 empires colonies territory.png|thumb|300px|World empires and colonies 1898. In yellow Spain and in light blue United States.]]

The combined problems arising from the [[Peninsular War]] (1807–1814), the loss of most of its [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|colonies in the Americas]] in the early 19th-century [[Spanish American wars of independence]], and three [[Carlist Wars]] (1832–1876) marked a low point for Spanish colonialism.<ref>{{cite book|last=Poddar|first=Prem|title=Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures – Continental Europe and its Empires|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=peOqBgAAQBAJ|year=2008|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0748630271|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=peOqBgAAQBAJ&dq=%22Spain%27s+remaining+empire%22&pg=PA601 601]|access-date=December 28, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180126185523/https://books.google.com/books?id=peOqBgAAQBAJ|archive-date=January 26, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Liberal Spanish elites like [[Antonio Cánovas del Castillo]] and [[Emilio Castelar]] offered new interpretations of the concept of "empire" to dovetail with the emerging [[Spanish nationalism]]. Cánovas made clear in an address to the [[Complutense University of Madrid|University of Madrid]] in 1882<ref>{{Harvnb|Baycroft|Hewitson|2006|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=0RuPcvc2F4YC&pg=PA225 225–26]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/67927392103470562565679/p0000001.htm|title=Discurso sobre la nación|publisher=cervantesvirtual.com|author=Antonio Cánovas del Castillo|author-link=Antonio Cánovas del Castillo|date=November 1882|language=es|access-date=December 13, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924091537/http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/67927392103470562565679/p0000001.htm|archive-date=September 24, 2015|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}{{Harvnb|Baycroft|Hewitson|2006|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=0RuPcvc2F4YC&pg=PA225 225–26]}}</ref> his view of the Spanish nation as based on shared cultural and linguistic elements—on both sides of the Atlantic—that tied Spain's territories together.

Cánovas saw Spanish colonialism as more "benevolent" than that of other European colonial powers. The prevalent opinion in Spain before the war regarded the spreading of "[[civilization]]" and [[Christianity]] as Spain's main objective and contribution to the [[New World]]. The concept of cultural unity bestowed special significance on Cuba, which had been Spanish for almost four hundred years, and was viewed as an integral part of the Spanish nation. The focus on preserving the empire would have negative consequences for Spain's national pride in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Schmidt-Nowara|first1=Christopher|title=The Conquest of History: Spanish Colonialism and National Histories in the Nineteenth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h_WhqeinKEIC|series=Pitt Latin American series|location=Pittsburgh|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press|publication-date=2008|pages=34–42|isbn=978-0822971092|access-date=February 12, 2014|date=2008-01-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627174406/http://books.google.com/books?id=h_WhqeinKEIC|archive-date=June 27, 2014|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref>