During the spring of 1898, the tensions between the United States and Spain over the island of Cuba brought the two nations to the brink of war. The outbreak of the Cuban Revolution in 1895 and Spanish attempts to suppress the uprising had led to demands in the United States for intervention to stop the fighting. For several years, the quarrel between Washington and Madrid intensified. On February 15, 1898, the battleship Maine exploded in Havana Harbor, killing more than 260 crew members. The tragedy intensified calls for American action against Spain. By late March 1898 negotiations were at an impasse. Convinced that he had to intervene, President William McKinley sent a message to Congress asking for the authority to end the war in Cuba. He hoped to avoid a conflict involving the United States, but the Spanish declared that an American intrusion into the fighting would produce a wider war. McKinley’s Message to Congress about Cuba became a decisive step in the process that led to the war with Spain.