The Fragile Republic 29By reason of his inherited traditions from strong governments of
Rome, Spain and the Catholic Church, the Cuban has a feeling of legal
helplessness under superior orders however unjust, illegal and oppressive
they may be and has a settled conviction that the only way to resist
is to organize armed revolution.^17In light of its history and culture, independent Cuba was
so socially, politically, and economically divided that it is
debatable whether it was a nation in any but the territorial
sense. It is little wonder that it appeared ungovernable to
many Cubans and Americans. Yet the McKinley administra
tion gave the United States Army a try from 1898 to 1902, and
in its own way the Army attempted to create a Cuban nation.
The Military Government of Cuba, 1898-1902With the end of the war in Cuba and the termination of
Spanish sovereignty on January 1, 1899, the United States
assumed responsibility for the island's government. The an
nounced American goal was to pacify Cuba and then turn
over the government to the Cuban people, at some indefinite
date. McKinley's appointee for the military governorship was
Major General John R. Brooke, a cautious, apolitical, sixty-
year-old cavalryman. A Civil War veteran with thirty-eight
years of continuous service, Brooke's personal qualities proved
his undoing. Tempered in the ways of the Old Army, he
loyally sought direction from Washington in managing Cuban
affairs. Unable to fathom the McKinley administration's desires
for Cuba in 1899, he shied away from dictating reform on his
own initiative. His chief subordinates felt no such compunc
tion to await direction, and several of them already had civil
programs underway in areas occupied by the Army in 1898.
A military government was formed to administer Cuba,
placing command of the American army of occupation and
supervision of the civil administration in the hands of a mili
tary governor and four major subordinates. Cuba was divided
into four departments, the City of Havana (General William
Ludlow), and three two-province departments. General Fitz