“Cuba’s calling”: the Cuban independence as a global question (1848–1898)

The struggle for Cuban independence was a transatlantic question. The collapse of the Spanish Empire in 1898 marked the peak of an international dispute that transcended the boundaries of the Spanish Monarchy. From 1848 until the 1890s, a diverse array of actors—including adventurers, exiles, soldiers, liberals, conservatives, slave-owners, and abolitionists—engaged in a relentless battle either to transform or defend Cuba’s status quo. The impact of the ‘Cuban question’ extended far beyond the metropole–colony relationship, encompassing intricate geopolitical and socio-economic issues, such as abolitionism, U.S. annexionism, and the rivalries among imperial powers. These tensions culminated in a global conflict, which decided the fate of the island and redefined the political balance in the modern Atlantic world.