To Coolidge, the Spanish-American War marks "the beginning of an epoch"(121). Breaking away from the Monroe Doctrine, the United States fully enter into global politics in engaging in military conflict with Spain. While the most notable causes for war include the sinking of the USS Maine and sensationalist news stories about the Cuban Revolution from Joseph Pulitzer's "New York World" and William Randolph Hearst's "New York Journal", Coolidge finds a number of further reasons for the war with Spain. These include already poor relations between the countries and an American desire of spreading its influence in Spanish territories.(122-123) The war itself to Coolidge is not worth discussing in much detail, "The war was a short bloodless one between two nations of very unequal resources. There were but three battles worthy of the name, -two on water and one on the land."(122) In this, he references the Battles at Manila Bay, El-Caney, and San Juan Hill. While he does praise the efforts of the American military, he notes that Spain's decreasing relevancy as a world power is a core reason for the American victory. Other historians even claim that U.S troops were ill-equipped, unprepared, and lacking in size. The war, although short in actual time spent fighting, brought about sweeping changes for both Cuba and the United States. These include greater American influence through naval access to the Pacific, Atlantic and Caribbean oceans, the liberation of Cuba, and an increased global reputation for America. Coolidge comments on this reputation,"The fame of the country's wealth and prosperity, of the ingenuity and practical abilities of its inhabitants, and especially of their eagerness to make money, was wide-spread."(131)