Ten Years' War

From Freepedia

The Ten Years' War (also known as the Big War) began on October 10, 1868. On this date, Carlos Manuel de Cespedes and his following of patriots from the sugar mill La Demajagua, proclaimed Cuba's independence from Spain. Cespedes also liberated his own slaves as example for everybody else. The first clash between the rebels under Cespedes’ command and the Spanish army took place in the town of Yara on the next day. The rebellion was almost crushed as Cespedes was left with only 12 men. Although the uprising was almost a failure, the tenth of October is still a respected date in the Cuban community. On October of 1868 Maximo Gómez taught the Cuban forces what would be their most lethal tactic: the machete charge. The machete charge was particularily lethal because it involved firearms as well. If the Spanish were caught on the march the machetes cut through their ranks; if they, following then standard tactics formed a square, rifle fire from infantry under cover and pistol fire from charging calvary caused many losses. However, as it would be in all these wars, yellow fever cause the heaviest losses because the Spanish had not acquired the childhood immunity that the Cuban troops had.

After initial victories, and then defeats, Cespedes named General Thomas Jordan, who had brought a well equipped force, as head of Cuban army. However, General Jordan's, regular tactics although initially effective, left the Cuban rebels families far too vulnerable to the "ethnic cleansing" tactics of the Count of Valmaceda Balmaceda. General Jordan left, Cespedes was removed from office, and a new generation of skilled battle tested Cuban commanders arose from the ranks, these including the Maceo brothers, especially Antonio and Jose, and Calixto and Vicente Garcia.

Neither side of the war was able to get a single concrete victory let alone crush the opposing side and win the war. The Mambi rebels fought using guerrilla warfare and their efforts had much more impact on the eastern side of the island than on the western. Cespedes died fighting in 1874. Spain's efforts to fight were hindered by a civil war that broke out on the main land. When the civil war in Spain ended, more Spanish troops were sent to Cuba.

General Arsenio Martínez Campos arrived in Cuba and was able to convince most of the rebels to accepting the Pact of Zanjón on February 1878. The Pact of Zanjón promised various reforms throughout the island. The reforms would improve the financial situations of the island of Cuba. Perhaps the most significant was to free all slaves who had fought Spain. Later all slaves were declared free.

After the war ended, there were 17 years of tension between the people of Cuba and the Spanish government, including the Little War between 1879-1880. These separatists would go on to follow the lead of Jose Marti. The most passionate of the rebels chose exile over Spanish rule. There was also a severe depression throughout the island. The war had devastated the coffee industry and American tariffs badly damaged exports.

One major conflict throughout the war was the abolition of the slaves in Cuba. Both the rebels and the people loyal to Spain wanted to abolish slavery. In 1880, a law was passed by the Spanish government that freed all of the slaves. However, the slaves were required by law to work for their masters for a number of years but the masters had to pay the slaves for their work. The wages were so low the slaves could barely afford to live off of them. The Spanish government lifted the law before it was to expire because neither the land owners or the freed men appreciated it.

Perhaps the most detailed source is still Antonio Pirala (1895, 1896 and some from 1874) Anales de la Guerra en Cuba. Felipe González Rojas, Madrid