America's First War in Asia
Imagine you are an American soldier arriving in a bustling port city in Southeastern Asia. Your jaw goes slack as hundreds of people pass by you and your unit. The army has ordered you and your unit to hunt the guerrillas that populate the nearby jungle. You’re not sure why your government is fighting these people; they claim they’re fighting for self-government. You hear a story from a soldier you are relieving about a guerilla ambush on their unit, but you do not think much of it. As you head out, they give you a map and you see that the country you’re in is not a single landmass but an archipelago with hundreds of tropical islands. You quickly realize this supposed rebellion may be too big for America to handle. Welcome to the Philippine Insurrection: America’s first war in Asia.
Long before the United States was even a thought, as early as the 1500s, the Philippines had been under Spanish rule; through their occupation, the Spanish transformed the archipelago’s cultures to more closely reflect European culture. The emerging middle class of Filipinos tried to reform the colonial government in response to world events—only for the Spanish to thwart their efforts (Nadeau, 2020, 27-31, 41-5, 49-56). In 1895, both Cuban and Filipino revolutionaries revolted against Spain, but it was the former which caught America’s attention. The U.S. sought control of Cuba for decades and so, in late January 1898, the Navy sent the USS Maine to Cuba. Three weeks later on February 15th, an internal explosion sank Maine; the accident gave the U.S. an excuse to declare war on Spain (Hendrickson Jr, 2003, 6-9). The Navy ordered the Pacific Fleet under George Dewey to attack Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Before the war, Spain had suppressed the Philippine revolt led by Emilio Aguinaldo; he and the revolt’s leaders were in Hong Kong when Dewey received his orders. Dewey promised aid to the Filipino rebels if they helped him capture Manila, so Aguinaldo and company agreed under the assumption that the U.S. supported Philippine independence. The U.S. The Navy and supporting Filipino rebels succeeded in capturing the city that Summer, but the Americans ultimately excluded the Filipinos from further dealings with the Spanish (Nadeau, 59-61). The Spanish-American War ended in late 1898 and the resulting treaty gave the U.S. control of Cuba, the Philippines, and Spain’s Pacific and Caribbean colonies (Hendrickson Jr, 66-7. 151-4). Many Filipino rebels were angry that the U.S. went back on its word and on February 4th, 1899, the Filipino rebels declared independence from the U.S., thus launching the Philippine Insurrection (Sibley, 2007, 62-3).
America began the war on the back foot; the Filipino rebels had attacked American army units around Manila, hoping that their attack would spark an uprising in the city; it had the reverse effect, turning the neutral city residents towards the Americans. The Americans’ successful defense of the city sparked divisions amongst rebel leadership. (Linn, 2000, 42, 46-7, 60-3). With no success gained through direct conflict, the rebels then turned to guerrilla warfare in the hopes of wearing down the American public’s morale enough to turn the U.S. presidential election of 1900 towards the anti-war candidate. The American military responded by neutralizing the guerillas’ support network. Their methods ranged from targeting pro-rebel communities to setting up institutions akin to the Spanish colonial government. These tactics successfully drew the neutral population away from the rebels. However, that is not to say American actions were always moral; there are instances where soldiers inflicted collective punishments on hostile local communities and frequently tortured POWs (Deady, 2005, 56-60). The American public was initially pro-war since they viewed the conflict as a romantic and just cause against ‘savages’ like the Indian Wars of decades past (Silbey, 95-8). However, some people like author Mark Twain and industrialist Andrew Carnegie opposed the war; some didn’t want the U.S. to bring in thousands of non-whites into the fold while others felt the war betrayed American values. (Office of the Historian, 2019; Bancroft, 1913). By early 1900, the war had settled into a stalemate; the rest of the year would show if the rebel strategy worked.
America kept the Philippines under military rule since the end of the Spanish-American War. Before the outbreak of the war in the archipelago, President William McKinley sent a commission to draft plans for the new colony. The commission’s report called for an American-like colonial government, public education, and financial independence from the U.S. McKinley followed the report with another commission in March 1900 to implement the suggestions under William Howard Taft. (Worcester, 1914, 163-180). That May, Arthur MacArthur Jr—father of future World War Two general Douglas MacArthur—became military governor of the Philippines. MacArthur had experience fighting guerillas from his involvement in the Apache Wars and he soon applied his education against the Filipino rebels in his controlled areas (Perret, 1996, 3-4, 14-9, 40-2, 47-50.). MacArthur put the islands under martial law to better contain the guerillas. However, he and Taft frequently clashed over the occupation’s mission. MacArthur’s tactics, and the collapse of morale among Aguinaldo’s forces, won reelection for McKinley that November. MacArthur doubled down on his harsh methods following the election. (Silbey, 137-41, 142-5, 155-64). Four months later, the Americans and their Filipino allies captured Aguinaldo and made him pledge loyalty to the U.S. Aguinaldo’s capitulation broke the back of resistance (Linn, 274-6). However, other smaller groups kept fighting throughout the Philippines. The American army’s mission soon changed from hunting guerillas to pacification. In September 1901, McKinley was assassinated; his death made two things possible: the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt and an end to the Philippine Insurrection, (Silbey, 181-2, 186-9).
Roosevelt wanted to end the conflict as soon as possible due to the emerging political pressure. Roosevelt responded by shifting power from the military to Taft’s government and declared the Insurrection officially over on July 4th, 1902—although resistance continued in the southern Philippines for the next decade. The islands remained under American control until the Japanese conquered them in early 1942. The Philippines finally gained independence on July 4th, 1946 – 42 years after the Insurrection (Silbey, 201-8).
The Philippine Insurrection is often forgotten in the U.S. because it challenges American ideals: how can a nation born from rebelling against its colonial master become a colonizer? The conflict was also forgotten in the Philippines until recently; modern Filipino nationalists mythologize the war as the country trying to form a common identity from its diverse people. This narrative leaves out the importance of American colonialism in shaping said identity (Silbey, 208-12). However you view it, the Philippine Insurrection is just one link between two similar yet vastly different countries.
Works Cited
Bancroft, F, ed. (1913.) “Platform of the American Anti-lmperialist League” in Speeches, Correspondence, and Political Papers of Carl Schurz, G.P. Putnam's Sons. p. 77, note 1.
Deady, T. (2005.) "Lessons from a Successful Counterinsurgency: The Philippines, 1899–1902". Parameters. Carlisle, Pennsylvania: United States Army War College. 35 (1): 53–68.
Hendrickson Jr, K. E. (2003.) The Spanish-American War. Greenwood Press.
Linn, B. (2000). The Philippine War, 1899-1902. University Press of Kansas.
May, G. A. (1983). “Why the United States Won the Philippine-American War, 1899-1902”. Pacific Historical Review, 52(4), 353–377. https://doi.org/10.2307/3639072
Nadeau, K. (2020.) The History of the Philippines, 2nd Edition. ABC-CLIO, LLC.
Office of the Historian. (2019). The Philippine-American War, 1899–1902. State.gov. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1899-1913/war
Perret, G. (1996) Old Soldiers Never Die: The Life of Douglas MacArthur. Random House.
Silbey, D. J. (2007.) A War of Frontier and Empire: the Philippine-American war, 1899-1902. Hill and Wang.
Worcester D. C. (1914.) The Philippines: Past and Present (Volume 1 of 2). The Macmillan Company.https://cdn.fulltextarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/wp-advanced-pdf/1/The-Philippines-Past-and-Present-vol-1-of-2.pdf
