The Philippine-American War
A Brief Summary of the War
After the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1899, ending the Spanish-American war, fighting broke out between the United States and the Philippines, a newly acquired US territory that attempted to gain autonomy. Emilio Aguinaldo, who led Philippine rebels, believed that the Philippines should become independent rather than be subjected to the rule of another colonial empire. The irony of the "Splendid Little War" is that the fighting that ensued between the US and the Philippines lasted three years, took over 4000 American lives, and more than 220,000 Filipino lives.
Though support for this war was far from unanimous, Americans both in and out of government had a variety of reasons to support the annexation of the Philippines. Perhaps most importantly, taking the Philippines would offer a variety of economic advantages to the United States. Having this Pacific island would be beneficial to establish trade routes and compete in Asian markets. Additionally, the popular idea of Social Darwinism led many to believe that the US had an ethical obligation to annex the Philippines. This backward thinking was based on the idea that other races were less evolved than Americans and were therefore incapable of governing themselves. The last major motivation for acquiring Filipino territory was to prevent other superpowers from acquiring it. Aguinaldo named the new Philippine Republic, but the US only ever referred to the conflict as an insurrection, to assume that the Philippines was a part of the United States.
Parallels Between the American Revolution and the Philippine-American War
Though the results differed, there were actually many similarities between the American and Philippine Revolutions. In both cases, the colony grew tired of being ruled by a faraway country and attempted to fight for autonomy. However, the differences go beyond this.
The advantages that the British had in the Revolutionary War were enjoyed by the Americans in the Philippine-American War. Americans were establishing a vast empire by the end of the Spanish American War. This gave the US access to materials and trading routes that would prove instrumental in combating the Philippine "insurrection". Much like the British, they had a superior navy, much larger numbers, and more ammunition. However, the Philippines did not enjoy as many of the same advantages as the United States did in the Revolutionary War, one key difference between these conflicts. Though the Philippines did know their geography better, like the American rebels, the Philippine archipelago is made up of thousands of islands, which helped the strong American navy more than the Philippines, despite their knowledge. Additionally, the Philippines was unable to attract the support of another superpower, unlike the Americans were. These key differences may have cost the Philippines their liberty.
Perhaps most uncanny is that both the American Revolution and Philippine-American war involved two different types of fighting: traditional warfare and guerrilla warfare. In both cases, the colony first attempted traditional warfare, despite having fewer troops and far inferior supplies. Both Washington and Aguinaldo soon realized that they could not win against these larger and better-supplied armies, and turned to guerrilla warfare, utilizing superior knowledge of geography. In both cases, guerrilla warfare turned out to be a much better strategy than traditional warfare. However, one main difference between Washington and Aguinaldo was when they made the switch from traditional to guerrilla warfare. Washington realized early that the traditional tactics that Congress supported would lead to quick defeat. Aguinaldo's inability to realize the need for guerrilla warfare is what possibly led to ultimate Filipino defeat. In the ten months of fighting before the switch to guerrilla warfare, the Filipino army suffered high casualties.
Ultimately, despite these similarities, these two conflicts had quite different results. The United States gained independence, while the Philippines did not gain their freedom until 1946. Through these similarities, we can see that history often does repeat itself.
"Battle of Manila Bay"
Sources:
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1899-1913/war
http://www.historynet.com/george-washington-defeated-at-the-battle-of-long-island.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/philippine-independence-declared
Teagan - I thought that your post was thoroughly researched and highlighted many different aspects of the American Revolution and the Philippine - American War. It's quite interesting how so many of the conflicts that countries engaged in were based around the idea that the races or cultures that saw as lower or primitive "needed" saving and thus these mainly western powers justified their actions under the idea that the people they were trying to conquer were resisting them and they were simply following with Kipling's "White Man's Burden". Today, we see how conquered nations never fully recover to their natural or original state, for example, the French conquering Vietnam has resulted in the country to be a state of decline with the addition of changing the Vietnamese written language and incorporating French foods such as baguettes into their food. In contrast, the Filipinos have often taken on Spanish names due to the influence of the Spaniards. Can we truly argue that the American takeover was beneficial for the Philippines?
ReplyDeleteI agree that your post was thoughtful and well detailed. I think it is interesting to see the parallels between our revolution and the Filipinos' attempted one. You pointed out that a key difference between the two was that the Philippines were unable to gain support from a foreign power, and that this was a major reason they failed. I wonder however if there were other more crucial factors. One such factor might have been their population. According to some research I did, the Philippines only had about 5.5 million people in 1877 while the US had around 40 million. Further, at the time of the American Revolution it is estimated that England had a population of 8 million, while the colonies had one of 2.5. As you can tell the population difference between the US and the Philippines is much larger than that of Britain and the US. This would have meant much more manpower and resources that could have be devoted to suppressing the Filipino revolt, compared to what the British could have devoted to suppressing the American one. Another factor could have been that the US did not have other interests around the world to worry about during the Filipino revolution, while the British had other colonies as well as other nations to worry about during the American Revolution.
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