The Spanish American War Begins
Before you can understand the U.S. occupation of the Philippines, you need to know what
Imperialism is. This is whenever powerful nations attempt to control the economic and
political affairs of a weaker people, either by colonization, force, or manipulation.
In the early days of American colonization, Spain controlled most of middle and South
America. As a result, most of the areas south of the United States is Catholic and speaks
Spanish.
As the 19th century heated up, Spain began losing its colonies in the Americas, one by
one. Some through struggles, while other areas were let go to avoid a fight. By 1890, this
once vast empire consisted of merely Cuba and Puerto Rico.
While the Progressive Era was going strong in the United States, a revolt broke out in
Cuba in 1895. A Spanish general by the name of Valeriano Weyler was in charge of putting
down the revolt.
Hundreds of thousands of Cuban nationalists were imprisoned, and hundreds of thousands
died as a result of brutal treatment. Most Americans wouldn't have cared about what was
going on in Cuba, but times were changing in America.
Two different journalists fought a duel with one another in their coverage of the situation
in Cuba. They were Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. In order to sell papers,
they engaged in yellow journalism. This is a style of writing to try and stir up emotions
in an attempt to sell newspapers.
Public opinion forced President McKinley to take action. In January of 1898, McKinley
sent a vessel, the USS Maine, to Havana harbor in Cuba to warn Spain that America cared about
the situation in Cuba, which lies a mere 90 miles from Florida.
In the late evening hours of February 14, 1898, the battleship Maine exploded, killing
260 American sailors. The yellow journalists fanned the flames with headlines such as,
"Remember the Maine!"
Spain was given the blame and Americans began calling for action. On April 20, 1898, McKinley
declared Cuba to be independent. On April 25, 1898, Congress declared war on Spain.
What followed was a four month war that never should have happened.
The action began with Commodore George Dewey sailing for the Philippines. He was already
headed that direction in one of those incidents that was supposed to look like a coincidence,
but was blatantly obvious. A man who had previously been Assistant Secretary to the Navy, Theodore
Roosevelt, had made it clear, "If we ever go to war with Spain, take the Philippines!"
To put it bluntly, Spain had it and the U.S. wanted it. Once notified of the war, Commodore
Dewey had his men paint all the ships. Once a bright white, the ships were soon covered
with a dull gray to make them less visible to the enemy.
Dewey ordered everything made of wood, including the piano on his flagship Olympia, tossed
over the side. Splintered wood presented a greater danger to his crews than enemy shells.
Then with chairs and tables bobbing in the water behind them, the ships went to seek
out the Spanish fleet.
What ensued in the Philippines was the Battle of Manila Bay, but it wasn't much of a battle.
America's ironclad battleships began lobbing shells at the Spanish flotillas and the devastating
destruction began. After 8 rounds, the Spanish fleet ceased to exist.
Spain suffered 380 dead and wounded. 8 Americans had minor wounds, and one sailor died of a
heat stroke. On top of that, all Spanish Naval power in that part of the Pacific was gone.
George Dewey became an overnight hero.
But that wasn't the end of the story in the Philippines. The rebelling forces there were
led by a guy named Emilio Aquinaldo. He wanted independence from Spain, and everyone else,
posing a conflict of interest. America wanted the islands, so did the Filipinos. Aquinaldo
was happy to see American soldiers at first, but he soon began to grasp the situation.
Spain felt they could hold the Philippines, that is, until the Americans showed up. To
save pride, Spain hoped to fight and lose the territory to the Americans, not the Filipinos.
So a skirmish known as the Battle of Manila was arranged, which Aquinaldo knew nothing
about.
At the set hour, the Americans bombarded and stormed over the barracks, resulting in 40
Spanish soldiers being killed.
The U.S. then set out to subdue the Filipinos, which controlled most of the Philippine islands.
Detention camps for Filipinos were set up around the islands, and 20,000 Filipinos perished
fighting the occupying US forces.
Over 200,000 Filipinos died due to disease or starvation during the conflict, while US
casualties numbered around 6,000. Over 70,000 US troops were involved.
Eventually, Aquinaldo was captured and the Philippines became a U.S. territory, thus
making the US an imperial power for the first time.