Casus Belli?

This is coolbert:

"Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!"

The sinking of a warship, by a naval mine, as we are well aware, can be the precipitating reason for war! A casus belli!!

"Casus belli - - (n.) An act or event that provokes or is used to justify war."

Of course I am thinking about the sinking of the USS Maine.

Very significant American vessel of the pre-Dreadnought era, a battleship, sunk by an explosion, 1898, Havana harbor.


The Maine, blown apart, at the time the cause thought to have been A NAVAL MINE PLANTED BY MISCHIEVOUS AND MALEVOLENT FORCES, SPANISH IN ORIGIN!!

The sinking of the Maine was indeed probably foremost in the minds of the general public when the U.S. government made the decision to go to war with Spain, The War of 1898, victory in that war having far reaching consequences.

The sinking of the Maine NEVER BEING SATISFACTORILY RESOLVED!! Many inquiries, never conclusively arriving at a decisive verdict.

"USS Maine . . . best known for her catastrophic loss in Havana harbor. . . . 15 February 1898, she suddenly exploded, and swiftly sank, killing nearly three quarters of her crew. Though then, as now, the etiology and responsibility for her sinking were unclear . . . the sinking . . .was one of the precipitating events of the Spanish–American War. Her sinking remains the subject of speculation

"e·ti·ol·o·gy - - 2.the study of causation. 3.any study of causes, causation, or causality, as in philosophy, biology, or physics."

"There have been four major investigations into the sinking since 1898. From the four inquiries, two hypotheses have emerged: one, that a naval mine in Havana Harbor had exploded underneath the battleship, causing the explosion of the magazines; and two, that spontaneous combustion of the coal in bunker A16 created a fire that detonated the nearby magazines."

It is A FACT that the forward powder magazines of the Maine did detonate in a sympathetic manner following AN INITIAL EXPLOSION!! The source of that initial explosion is the mystery. External or internal has never been decided.

Too, the U.S. Navy did make an extensive, costly, time-consuming effort to "get-to-the-bottom" of what exactly did happen to the Maine. Even to the extent of building a dam out in the middle of Havana harbor - - surrounding the wreckage of the ship - - siphoning off the water, exposing the sunken hulk, and retrieving debris for examination. NOT a half-hearted and desultory effort.

Over the years - - too - - whole host of candidates have been suggested as potential perpetrators - - persons desiring the Maine to have been sunk. But - - again, efforts to find the culprits at the time and for over a hundred years later have been inconclusive.

How is it the Frenchmen say - - c'est le vie!!

coolbert.