BY DYLAN STOFFER

The Philippine–American War

Spanish Colonization of the Philippines

Spanish colonization of the Philippines began when the king of Spain, Philip II, ordered expeditions of the West in 1565.

The islands of the Philippines flourished while under Spanish control, such as code of law, public education, infrastructure, trade, crops and livestock were introduced.

Two races came about during this time, the Criollo or Spanish born in the Philippines, and the Mestizo, a mixture of Spanish and Malayan.

After opening the Philippines to world trade, the ideas of the American and French revolutions spread throughout the islands.

The execution of three revolutionary priests is what then started the Philippine revolution in the late 1800s.

The Philippine Revolution

On July 7, 1892, Andrés Bonifacio a shopkeeper and a few others gathered and created the Katipunan.

Katipunan was an organization bent on driving out the Spanish by armed revolt.

Emilio Aguinaldo, mayor of Cavite El Viejo, was elected president of the revolutionary movement and Bonifacio was slaughtered for treason.

December 1987, Aguinaldo and Spain’s governor-general Fernando Primo de Rivera came to an agreement.

Fernando would pay Aguinaldo $800,000 to go into exile. Aguinaldo agreed and went to Hong Kong, after he ordered his revolutionary troops to stand down and disolve.

Philippine Independence

Not long after, the U.S. had contacted Aguinaldo, and wanted him back in Cuba to drive the Spanish out for good.

Naturally, he took the offer and was shipped from Hong Kong, where he was exiled in, to Cuba.

Admiral Dewey had told Aguinaldo that the U.S. would recognize the Philippines as an independent nation with the security of the U.S. Navy.

Only a few months after Aguinaldo arrived, the Filipinos had taken over the vast majority of the Philippines exept for the city of Manila, which was surrounded by 12,000 troops.

The U.S. told Aguinaldo that his troops had to stay out of Manila or they would be shot, which elevated tention between U.S. troops and Philippines.

On June 12, Aguinaldo declared the Filipinos independent from the Spanish.

The Spanish Withdraw

Neither the United States nor the Spanish recognize the Philippines and independent nation.

On December 10, 1898, Spain signed the Treaty of Paris with the U.S.

This gave the United States control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the West Indies, Guam and the Philippines.

January 1st, 1899, Emilio Aguinaldo was elected President of the Philippines.

Tension between the U.S. and the Philippines.

The Filipinos felt betrayed by the United States because of its fight for independence and colonization.

Therefore, on June 2nd 1899, The Malolos Congress declared war on the United States.

Prior to this, President McKinley had sent investigators into the Philippines to investigate.

He reported that the Filipinos wanted independence but weren’t ready for it.

This was because he felt there government was to brittle and might collapse into a Monarchy.

The First Shots

On the night of February 4, 1899, a Filipino was shot by an American solider.

The soldier claimed he commanded the man to “halt” two times before he shot him.

He spotted two more and him and the other sentry shot both then retreated to wait for the rest.

Without bothering to investigate the incident, General Arthur MacArthur ordered troops to advance on February 5 into the city of Manila.

Updates to the Philippines.

Known as the Second Philippine Commission established in March 1900, served as the government for the Philippines.

Passed 499 laws between Septemeber 1900 to August of 1902 including a schooling system, a legal system, and so on.

War Statistics

U.S. Troops Philippine Troops

Troops 126468 100000

25000

125000

Troops

Axis Title

-It was quite the problem for the Filipinos due to the lack of weapons and ammunition.-By the end of February 1899, U.S. forces had driven the Filipino army north.-Aguinaldo had to switch to the use of Guerilla tactics in the 1900’s against U.S. troops.

U.S. Troop Oppression

After switching to the use of guerilla warfare, American soldiers were angered and all agreed that the use of guerilla warfare was savage and that conventional warfare was more humane.

U.S. soldiers began burning down villages, taking no prisoners, shooting those that have surrendered.

Concentration camps were even set up to hold those the U.S. thought to be guerilla fighters.

In many cases, villagers were treated worse than the actual guerilla fighters them selves.

Philippines Surrender

On March 23, 1901, U.S. troops in the field uniforms of Filipino soldiers ambushed Aguinaldo.

On April 1, 1901 Aguinaldo swore his fealty towards the United States, and three weeks later ordered his troops to once more dissolve.

On July 2nd, the Secretary of War stated that a civil government was established, and on July 4 Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed a pardon to all of those involved in the Philippine-American War.

Casualties

U.S. TroopsFilopine Troops Civilians

050,000

100,000150,000200,000250,000300,000350,000

4,196 20,000

250,000

2,930 40,000

350,000

Dead Injured

*Note: The number of Civilian losses are estimated between 250,000 to 1,000,000.

Bibliography

"Philippine-American War." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 01 May. 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/456364/Philippine-American-War>.