1895: Cuban nationalists revolt against Spanish rule
1896: Spanish General Weyler (the "Butcher") comes to Cuba.
1897: Spain recalls Weyler
Early 1898: USS Maine sent to Cuba
February 9, 1898: Hearst publishes Dupuy du Lome's letter insulting McKinley.
February 15, 1898: Sinking of the USS Maine
February 25, 1898: Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt cables Commodore Dewey with plan: attack the Philippines if war with Spain breaks out