Goodbye Steam, Hello Gasoline Automobiles will transform life even faster than the steam engine. But first, Americans have to wait for more reliable engines, and a man like Henry Ford to develop manufacturing methods to make them affordable. The Wright Brothers will need a new gasoline engine to power their first attempt at flight.  In the background, military power is becoming a new ambition for America.

	Really? A War? The Spanish-American War of 1898 brings quick victory to American forces, and new respect in Europe. It starts with brutal Spanish repression of Cubans seeking independence. America tries to intercede, sending the battleship Maine to Havana. It mysteriously blows up, providing the pretext for American invasion. A fleet is sent to Cuba, which completely destroys the outgunned Spanish fleet (bottom right). On the other side of the globe, another American fleet annihilates the Spanish in the Philippines.
	Global Ambitions The Spanish-American War comes right in the middle of the great European era of colonial expansion. It' billed as a war to liberate Cuban freedom-fighters from the oppression of Spanish colonial masters. But it includes a simultaneous attack on the Philippine Islands, also a Spanish colony, but located on the opposite side of the globe. America annexes the islands after the Spanish surrender. Hawaii is annexed at the same time.