United States Invasion Of The Philippines In 1898 - Essay Example

Order 471809 Topic: Why did the United s invade the Philippines in 1898? Why did this lead to occupation and colonization? Why was there an insurgency? What tactics worked to defeat the insurgency? What were the strategic implications of the American occupation? Why did the United States invade the Philippines in 1898? David J. Sibley describes the fall of Manila thus. “Manila did fall, but not to the Filipinos. Instead, a force of Americans won a series of shattering naval and military battles, captured Manila from under the noses of revolutionary army, and then had the temerity to buy the islands from the Spanish crown. What the Filipinos had paid for in blood, the Americans had paid for with gold.”(3) This initial action ultimately led to the Philippine-American War of 1899-1902. American troops fought the war, as the occasion demanded, without a concrete plan as such and they did not expect to fight it for so long. America strongly believed that they had a right to impose their superior civilization on this Asian country. Americans thought that they would win this war quite easily and quickly, but that did not happen. It created internal controversies and a section of the American opinion makers opposed the war. The enemy would not surrender easily; its ranks attacked and then faded back in to mass of civilians. The invasion of Philippines in 1898 was in lines with the territorial expansionist policy of America, to secure its political and economic interests and to estanblish military bases, in tandem with its belief that it is a global power. American political and military leadership was convinced that that had an important role to play in shaping the world order. Why did this lead to occupation and colonization? Philippine-American War occurred in three distinct periods: In 1898, it was a war with Spain and U.S. and Filipino forces made a combined front. The war took a new turn of conventional war in 1899, between Filipino forces and U.S. The next and decisive phase was from 1900 to 1902 between Filipino forces and U .S. The simple and straightforward answer to occupation and colonization by the American forces is American political leadership had some ego problems. They always considered themselves as a superior race, destined to rule the countries at will. Aggrandizement for wealth and territorial expansion were the reasons for colonization. The destiny of America played its part. They secured unexpected, stunning victories, within a short period, and the enemy did not expect the Americans to strike with such ferocity. When Filipino realized that they could not fight the U.S troops in a conventional war, they resorted to guerrilla tactics. Silbey writes about the operations of the enemy and how they managed to regroup themselves to engage the enemy in guerilla warfare. With this newly adopted strategy, hostilities prolonged and the American troops under the command of General Arthur MacArthur had to face a tough jungle warfare in which the main impediment was to distinguish between the neutrals, enemies and allies. The American war command had to grapple with another issue. That was racism. Their soldiers, it was observed, were not willing to put their cent percent efforts in the war due to racial considerations and they had developed soft corner for the soldiers of the enemy. U.S had not expected this sort of response, nor could they leave the war front and run away. Clear signals arrived from Washington to finish the unfinished business. The human element in the war was, Americans considered themselves to be superior. Philippines was also an ideal place to play politics, as there was no total unity amongst different factions, and their loyalties kept on changing as per the demand of time. Opportunistic alliances were order of the day. The Philippine-American War needs to be understood in the global political interests of America. The Spanish-American War in Cuba began in 1898 and the Americans were not inclined not to use any opportunity to hit back at Spain. The U. S. Navy launched an attack on Philippines under Commodore George Dewey, which was a Spanish Colony for more than 350 years. The superior U.S. forces tasted their first victory with a strong foothold by acquiring this colony. Filipino troops were about to enter the capital city and the defeat of the Spanish forces was imminent. They were thwarted by the sudden arrival of the American Navy. Subsequent to this victory, America continued to maintain their presence for 90 long years in Philippines. At the other theater of war, the Treaty of Paris was signed between Spain and the United States. Cuba secured independence and Puerto Rico and Guam became U.S. territories. Philippines remained with U.S. under the condition that it was bought from Spain for $20 million which turned America into a colonial power. This was, however, termed by America as one of the “benevolent assimilation.” Once Spain was out of the war scenario in Philippines, American troops strengthened their positions to meet the sole enemy-- Filipino troops. Fighting between the two armies commenced in February 1899, and Filipino troops began to lose one battle after another, unable to meet the challenge of better-equipped and better-trained American army. The ethnic, tribal, religious and linguistic divisions also worked to the disadvantage of Filipino nationalism. Termination of the conventional war was not the end of the war itself. It took the shape of guerilla campaigns. Americans were at times not ready to meet this newfound boldness of the Filipinos. The grave incident at Samar island, when American troops were massacred and subsequently U.S. Gen. Jacob ordered execution of all males older than 10 in that island, changed the complexities of war. Philippines turned in to a colony of U.S. On July 4, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt declared the war over. But intermittent fighting figured until 1913. U.S. lost about 5000 soldiers and Philippines about 16,000. Civilian toll was much higher and it was estimated to be between 30,000 to 1 million including deaths from diseases. It remained with U.S. till Japanese occupation in 1942. In 1945 U.S. repossessed the islands and granted independence to Philippines on July 4, 1946. But American troops continued to remain in that country until Dec.31, 1992. Why was there an insurgency? Silbey makes efforts to place the war clearly within its historic context. According to his thesis, the war was not a revolt against imperialism or an insurrection but, rather a classical war and had no characteristics of an insurgency. Both were sovereign states with their armies and fought conventional battles with well defined lines and war weapons in vogue in those days. Filipinos did revert to a guerrilla war strategy in 1900, but that was the demand of the time taking into consideration the limited resources. As for the important decisive aspect of the war, it was the conventional fighting in 1899, between the Americans and Filipinos. But the classic military history stands by and focuses on the insurgency and that goes against the views of Silbey. Given the geographical conditions of Philippines, insurgency was best suited for those who were fighting the Americans. Hundreds of small and big islands are not suitable for planning and conducting a war-like operation in the conventional sense. Insurgency and the guerilla warfare operations succeeded initially though with disastrous consequences later by the American Army. Silbey writes about one such incident, “With the surprise, and at such close range, the insurgent disadvantage in weapons was neutralized and bitter hand-to-hand combat broke out" (p. 191). The American army was routed. What tactics worked to defeat the insurgency? A very serious view was taken about the Samar tragedy by the American Army command. Not military tactics, the most brutal measures were adopted by the Americans to defeat the insurgency. For this triumphant military victory of the local outfits, American retaliation was expected and that came like the thunder. General Jacob Hurd ordered razing of the town of Balangiga where the attack took place. The steps were not part of the military discipline. They were violent, racist and motivated by imperial designs. Silbey doesn’t blame any one side for this development. He condemns mindless violence unleashed by both the sides. The tactics of the Americans were as per the demand of a particular situation of war. They utilized the ethnic and religious divisions of Filipinos nationalists to their advantage. They also employed ‘divide and rule’ policy when demanded. Certain superstitions and issues of blind faith of the locals also worked to advantage of the Americans. What were the strategic implications of the American occupation? America had two ‘enemies’ to fight in initially, Spanish and the Filipino nationalists. The Spanish-American War was won by the Americans decisively. President McKinley took a decision to annex the Philippine islands. He was strongly opposed by the anti-imperialist Americans and the Filipino nationalists. Earlier, the nationalist war groups had sacrificed a lot to liberate the islands from the Spanish control. When the Americans faced resistance, a war followed, America asserted its role as Pacific Power, brutally though, but Silbey argues that the Americans were not cruel imperialists. According to him self-interest and altruism prompted the Americans to retain control over the territories. Challenged by the might of the American forces, the fragmented political movement, and unimaginative leadership failed to succeed. A new nation was formed out of this war. America emerged as a global power. David J. Silbey, who is an assistant professor of European history at Alvernia College in Reading, Pennsylvania, explains it as a war of transformation and rehabilitation of the Philippines, an area of innumerable island territories divided by ethnicity, race and clans that won’t see eye to eye with each other. A cemented nation emerged on the path to independence. Americans forces had entered Philippines as if by accident, they made their presence suddenly when the Spanish forces were about to be defeated by the Filipino army, but they stayed there by design and out of political compulsions. Politics at home affected their operations at Philippines. Once they dug in, American forces had the upper hand over the indigenous forces, and cases of violence increased. The military commanders of US were harsh in their reactions and very unfortunate incidents like the one happened at Samar Island tarnished the image of the Americans. The civilian population suffered the most as it was pushed to concentration camps, where they did not have basic amenities. Cholera outbreak which was already there, increased to a great extent. When the poor people were uprooted from their homes, double tragedy awaited them at the place of their forcible settlement. Thousands of people died of diseases. The mindless devastation that was taking place at Philippines and the unfortunate developments in US, which resulted in Theodore Roosevelt being elevated as President when President McKinley was assassinated, led to the declaration of ending war. This did not result in the end of hostilities and violent incidents continued to happen. But that was not a war-like situation. The relations between the two countries took a cordial turn and that is the currentgf position as well. They say, in politics, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies. There are only permanent interests. This applies to the case of Philippines. Firstly, America and Spain were bitter enemies. They struck cordiality and came to the settlement. America then began to fight the Filipino army and guerilla resistance. America won and established its colonial interests on a firm footing. Japan invaded Philippines and they thought they will make friends with the people. They were resisted and the Filipinos sided with the Allied Forces in World War II. America reestablished its rule over the country only to grant it full independence later. The statement that American occupation brought a sense of unity amongst the people torn by ethnic and religious division is true to a great extent. The islands "became, largely because of the shared experience of revolution, war, and insurgency, a self-conceived nation" (p. 218). The author has provided unbiased views about the strategic implications about the American occupation. He is not attached to any school of thought or ideology. He has given the facts as per his well-researched studies. As for America, it was a war with a difference. The lessons learned by the forces in its maiden attempt at sending them across the globe provided them with expertise to handle such future war efforts. Fighting a big conventional war is one thing. Resisting small scale surprise attacks was more strenuous. Constant vigil and alertness were needed. When surprise attacks resulted in heavy American casualties, the retaliatory measures were brutal and it added a new dimension to the issue. The captive soldiers were abused. Torture has never been a part of American policy but the incidents of torture were rampart. Work Cited Silbey, David J.A War of Frontier and Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902; Hill and Wang; 1st edition (February 20, 2007) . Read More