America Steps into Imperialism

America steps into Imperialism

The Spanish-American war had ended and America emerged victorious, U.S. military enlisted the Filipino forces to achieve this victory. The Filipino forces were lead by revolutionary leader Emilio Aguinaldo. Aguinaldo joined with American forces in hope of Philippine independence. Much like Cuba and been granted, this was not the case.

On December 10, 1898 America and Spain came to an agreement following the war and formed the Treaty of Paris despite protest from the Philippines. One of the things this did was to grant the Philippines islands as a U.S. territory. Aguinaldo and the islands did not want a new nation to rule them, they wanted independence. This desire for independence resulted in one of the bloodies conflicts against the United States.

The Philippine Insurrection began with a skirmish was started by an itchy fingered American on the night of February 4, 1899, just outside of Manila. Initially the Filipino forces used traditional military techniques; these did not work well against the larger and better equipped Americans so they turned to gorilla warfare under the leader ship of General Vincente Lukban. America saw this and decided to use more brutal tactics to subdue they’re enemy. (Dupuy 104)

The Americans showed exactly how ruthless and evil they truly were at the infamous "Balangiga Massacre," a final turning point in the war. It was here that. The Americans intensified their campaign as far as to kill woman and children. When asked to clarify who the troops’ targets were among the population, the general replied “Everything over 10” (Leon)

Aguinaldo was captured on March 23, 1901 took an oath of allegiance to the United States and was subsequently paid off to retire to private life. A year later Lukban surrendered to the Americans on April 16, 1902 (military.com)

President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed an end to the insurrection in the Philippines