50 free Spanish-American War trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Spanish American War trivia quiz covers the 16-week conflict of 1898 that ended Spain's empire in the Americas and made the United States a world power. The easy questions handle the basics: the Maine, McKinley, the Rough Riders, Dewey at Manila Bay and the territories the US took away. From there it moves through the Cuban revolt, Weyler the Butcher, Pulitzer and Hearst, the Teller Amendment, the Guam surrender farce and the battles at Las Guasimas, El Caney and San Juan Hill. The harder half is for history buffs: Redfield Proctor's speech, the Spanish Hornet, Hobson's Merrimac raid, Cervera's doomed sortie, the Puerto Rico landings, Jules Cambon's armistice, the typhoid epidemic in the camps, the four ex-Confederate generals, the Generation of '98 and the Marines who went on to command the Corps. If you have played our American history or Theodore Roosevelt quizzes, this is the deep dive on one war. Every answer was checked against the encyclopaedia entry on the war before publishing.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which year was the Spanish-American War fought?
1898
It lasted from 21 April to 13 August, just 16 weeks.
Q 02The sinking of which US warship in Havana Harbor triggered the war?
USS Maine
The armored cruiser exploded on 15 February 1898, killing more than three-quarters of her crew of 355.
Q 03Which three territories did the US acquire from Spain as a result of the war?
Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines
Cuba became a US protectorate on the road to independence in 1902.
Q 04Who was US president during the war?
William McKinley
He had resisted demands for intervention until public pressure after the Maine became overwhelming.
Q 05Which Spanish general, nicknamed 'The Butcher', introduced the reconcentration policy in Cuba?
Valeriano Weyler
His camps slowed the rebellion but became a gift to anti-Spanish propaganda in the US.
Q 06Which exiled Cuban revolutionary launched the 1895 uprising with a three-pronged invasion?
José Martí
The call to revolt was known as the grito de Baire.
Q 07What was the earlier Cuban revolt of 1868 to 1878 called?
The Ten Years' War
It ended with the Pact of Zanjón, which failed to satisfy revolutionaries who wanted full independence.
Q 08Spanish prime minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo was assassinated in 1897 by an anarchist of which nationality?
Italian
Michele Angiolillo's act left Spain's political system unstable on the eve of war.
Q 09Which two New York publishers' sensational coverage of Cuba became known as yellow journalism?
Pulitzer and Hearst
Historians no longer consider their papers the main force shaping national opinion, since they had little reach outside New York.
Q 10How many servicemen died in the initial explosion of the Maine?
260
Six more died later of injuries; of 94 survivors, only 16 were unhurt.
Q 11What did the US Navy's March 1898 investigation conclude about the Maine?
An external explosion under the hull
Spain's inquiry concluded the opposite; Admiral Rickover's 1974 study also found an internal cause.
Q 12Complete the newspaper slogan: 'Remember the Maine...'
To Hell with Spain!
The story that Hearst told Remington 'you furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war' is a myth.
Q 13Whose 17 March 1898 Senate speech convinced many in business and religious circles that war was the only answer?
Redfield Proctor
Q 21Americans captured the Philippine capital on 13 August 1898, unaware that what had happened the day before?
A peace protocol had been signed in Washington
Barring Filipino forces from the captured city led directly to the Philippine-American War.
Q 22Two Spanish officials rowed out to USS Charleston at Guam to apologise for what?
Not returning what they thought was a salute
They did not know war had been declared and were out of gunpowder.
Q 23Where did the first American forces, a Marine battalion, come ashore in Cuba?
Guantánamo Bay
The Vermont Republican's analysis left McKinley and Speaker Reed almost alone in resisting war.
Q 14Which congressional measure promised the US would not annex Cuba after the war?
Teller's
Senator Henry Teller of Colorado proposed the Teller Amendment; it passed the Senate 42-35 and the House 311-6.
Q 15How large was the US Regular Army in spring 1898?
24,593
It wanted 50,000 new men and got over 220,000 volunteers and National Guardsmen.
Q 16Which assistant secretary of the navy ordered Dewey's squadron to Hong Kong ahead of the war?
Theodore Roosevelt
He soon resigned to raise the Rough Riders.
Q 17Commodore George Dewey destroyed a Spanish squadron on 1 May 1898 in the harbour of which city?
Manila
His flagship was USS Olympia and he lost no men, with only nine wounded.
Q 18Which European power's squadron behaved provocatively in the Philippine harbour after Dewey's victory?
Germany
Its eight ships cut in front of American vessels and landed supplies for the Spanish until the Americans called their bluff.
Q 19Which Filipino leader did Dewey bring back from exile in Hong Kong to rally rebels against Spain?
Emilio Aguinaldo
He proclaimed Philippine independence on 12 June 1898.
Q 20On what date did Aguinaldo proclaim Philippine independence?
12 June 1898
By then his forces controlled several provinces and had laid siege to Manila.
The First Marine Battalion came ashore at Fisherman's Point.
Q 24Which former Confederate cavalry general led the US advance guard at Las Guasimas?
Joseph Wheeler
At San Juan Hill he supposedly shouted 'We've got the damn Yankees on the run again!'
Q 25What nickname did Americans give the supersonic 7mm Mauser round fired by Spain's regulars?
The Spanish Hornet
Spanish regulars used smokeless powder; US volunteers were stuck with black-powder Springfields.
Q 26Roosevelt's volunteer cavalry regiment was popularly known as what?
The Rough Riders
They fought at San Juan Hill alongside all four of the army's Black 'Buffalo Soldier' regiments.
Q 27On what date were the battles of El Caney and San Juan Hill fought?
1 July 1898
About 15,000 Americans attacked 1,270 entrenched Spaniards in costly frontal assaults.
Q 28What weapon's supporting fire was described as critical to the success of the assault on San Juan Hill?
Gatling guns
More than 200 Americans were killed and nearly 1,200 wounded in the day's fighting.
Q 29Which future WWI commander, nicknamed 'Black Jack', led the 10th Cavalry outside Santiago?
John J. Pershing
He was then a first lieutenant.
Q 30Lieutenant Richmond Hobson became a national hero for trying to sink which collier to bottle up the Spanish fleet?
USS Merrimac
The mission failed and he was captured, but he received the Medal of Honor.