** war and social upheaval: World War II Pacific Theater -- the Philippines background








World War II: The Philippines--Background


Figure 1.-- Here a group of four U.S. sailors pose with five small Philipino boys. The snapshot is undated, but was probably taken in the 1920s. The photograph was taken by U.S. sailor J.S. Irwin serving in the far East. It was taken at Zamboanga, a city and peninsula in western Mindanao. Sailors like Irwin served on ships calling In China , Yantzee river, Japan, Nagasaki, Tokyo, and the Phillipine Islands. While mosdt Americans today have never heard of Zamboanga, Americans at the time had. This was because of the popular song, "The monkies have no tails on Zamboanga."

The first European to reach the Philippines was Magellan (1521). The Philippines was conquered by Spain. The conquest began with Miguel Lópezde Legaspi (1564). The Islands were important primarily to support Spain's trade with China. As Spainish power declined in the 18th century, the importance of religious orders increased. The Philippines languished as a backwater of the Spasnish Empire. An independence movement appeared in the 19th century led by José Rizal. The Philippines was targeted by the Americans during the Spanish American War (1898). Admiral Dewey seized the Islands after the Battle of Manila Bay with an antiquated Spanish fleet and shore batteries. Spain formally ceeded the Philippines to the United States in the the Treaty of Paris (1898). Many Fiipinos expected the Americans to help set up an independent government. Filipino nationalists resisted American colonization resulting in a brutal guerilla warled by Emilio Aguinaldo. Future American president William Howard Taft was sent to the Philippines to serve as a colonial governor. After the Americans defeatted the Filipino Army, most Filipinos accepted American control. The Americans proved much more progressive than the Spanish and some economic progress was made. Americans moved to the Philippines to work in the civil administration. An American business community also developed in the Philippines. American began to consider independence for the Philippines. Small American military garrisons existed on the larger islands. The major military base was the naval base at Subic Bay, the principal American military base west of the Hawaiian Islands.

Spanish Colonial Era (1591-1898)

Since the Spanish conquistadors came, it became a Spanish colony. Charles I (better known as Charles V, commissioned Magellan to find a passage through the Americas to the Spice Islands. Magellan sailed from Seville (1519) and explored the Plate estuary (1520) before crossing into the Pacific through the straits at the tip of South America now named for him. He claimed the Philippines for Spain, but was killed there (1521). One of his ships managed to return to Seville, completing the first circimnavigation of the world (1522). A series of Spanish expeditions followed. The exploers named the Islands the Filipinas, in honor of Philip II, Spain's agressively Catholic monarch.. Spain's colonial empire included the Philippine Islands and the East Indies (the Moluccas and Malaca). Three centuries of Spsanish rule made the Philippines “The Most Numbered Christian Country in Asia”. Roman Catholic became a majority. While the Spanish encountered considerable resistance in the 16th century, a Filipino independence movement did not rise to question Spanish rule again until the late 19th century.

Spanish American War (1898-99)

The Spanish-American War announced America's arrival on the world stage. While one of the lesser known American wars, the War had huge implications for America's world role in the 20th century. The path to war led through Cuba. Cuba was the last important Spanisg colony in the Americas. Attempts by the Cubans to ver throw Spanish rule failed. A new revolution broke out (1895) and was brutally supressed by Spanish authorities. American economic interests were damaged in the fighting. Some American began to see strategic interests in Cuba, especially as interest was building for a canal in Central America. The situation in Cuba was brough to the attention of the American public through "yellow journalism" reporting lurid details of actual ad imagines Spanish attrocities. W.R. Hearst's New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer's New York World competed with each other for the most luris stories to increase circulation. War fever grew when a letter written by a Spanish diplomat disparaging President McKinley was published. The sinking of the battleship Maine in Havana Harbor made war inevitable. The United States demanded Spain withdraw from Cuba. Spain declared war (April 24, 1898). The American Pacific Fleet commanded by George Dewey was ordered to engage the Spanish Fleet at Manila Bay. Dewey destoyed the Spanish Fleet (May 1). The American Atlantic Fleet sought out the Spanish Atlantic Fleet, but it sought refuge in Santiago Harbor. The advancing American Army forced the Spanish Fleet out and it was destoyed (July 3). Santiago subsequently surrendered. An Armistace was reached (August 12). The Treaty of Paris ending the War was signed (December 10). Spain granted Cuba independence. The United States attempted to control political developments in Cuba, even after withdrawing by insisting that the Platt Amendment be inserted in the Cuban Constitution. Spain ceeded Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States and the Philippines for a $20 million payment. This ended the long history of the Spanish Empire in the America. It also began an involvement of the United States in Latin American affairs. America had earlier acquired the Hawaiian Islands. The acquisition of the Spanish territories (the Philippines and Guam) also further involved America in the Far East.

American Colonial Era (1898-1948)

Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States as a result of the Spanish American War (1898). Spain also ceded Cuba, Guam and Puerto Rico. Some Filipinos resisted the Americans in a vicious guerilla war. Repeated insurrections and rebellions followed American possession of the Philippines (1898-1903). A young Douglas MacArthur was involved in the fighting. After a short period of American colonial rule, the United States in the 1930s began to prepare the Philippines for independence. The Philippines played an important role in World War II. Independence was postponed by the the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequent invasion of the Philippines (December 1941). Capture of the Philippine Islands was esential to Japan's effort to control the resources of southeast Asia and Oceania--particularly the oil of the Dutch East Indies. The carrier assault on Pearl Harbor which incaopaciated the American Pacific fleet made possible simultaneous attacks on Malaya, Thailand, Guam and Wake Islands Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Philippines. After nearly 3 years of Japanese occupation, the United Sttes began the liberation of the Ohilippines with the invasion at Leyte Gulf (October 1944).







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Created: 8:32 PM 7/29/2009
Last updated: 8:32 PM 7/29/2009