The Cuban War of Independence, also known as Guerra de los Diez Años (Spanish for Ten Years' War) or the Guerra Grande (Great War) and also the Guerra de Cuba (Cuba War) in Spain, was a war that was led by the Cuban revolutionary Carlos Manuel de Céspedes against the Spanish government in Cuba.
It began with the Cry of Yara on October 9, 1868, when Céspedes freed his slaves and declared Cuban independence.
Spanish General Valeriano Weyler implemented a policy destined to annihilate the Cuban independentists, the Reconcentration, that involved concentration camps. Around 300,000 to 400,000 people are believed to have died because of the policy, but it failed stop the war.