“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed,” said by Martin Luther King while in Birmingham Jail on April 16, 1963. A quote easily related back to the Filipinos who struggled for independence from the United States during the Cold War. Influenced by the patronizing relationship with the United States throughout history, the economic and political evolution of the Philippines has been controlled by the dependence between the two allied countries. In 1898, the United States took special interest in the economic opportunities in the Philippines; it was en route to China, contained a hearty supply of sugar and rice, and most importantly, because of the fear of losing the Philippines to rival countries, Germany and Japan. With the United States’ interest in mind the Spanish agreed to cede the Philippines to America after a payment of 20 million dollars. Therefore, the U.S took back its promise of liberating the Philippines from being a colonized country. Angered by this betrayal, the Philippine Republic declared war on the US, commencing the American-Philippine war, which lasted from 1899 to 1902. In 1942, as the United States began establishing military bases in the Philippines, a communist guerrilla group named Hukbalahap (also known as the Huks)- began to branch out from only anti-Japanese activities to fighting against the American military. While fighting the Japanese, the United States found a way to also dismember the Huks by imprisoning high ranking members, mentally and physically torturing Filipino members, and passing laws in 1957 outlawing both the Communist party and the Huks in the Philippines. This sequence of events shortly followed the surrender of Huk Leader, Luis T...
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...ug., 1999), pp. 355-375. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3097105 (accessed February 11, 2014)
Shalom, Stephen R. Securing the U.S.- Philippine Military Bases Agreement of 1947. Wayne: William Paterson University, http://www.wpunj.edu/dotAsset/209673.pdf (accessed January 30, 2014).
The Filipino Servent. “Ang Pilipinas Sa ilalim ng Martial Law.” Filipinos For Change. http://thefilipinoservant.wordpress.com/2011/09/21/ang-pilipinas-sa-ilalim-ng-martial- law/ (Accessed February 12, 2014)
US Department of State. “The Philippine- American War, 1899-1903.” Milestones:1899-1913. Http://history.state.gov/milestones/1899-1913/war . (Accessed January 30, 2014).
William Howard Taft and the Question of Philippine Independence, 1900-1913 (South Bridge, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008), Pg 6.
This can be seen in the War in Vietnam. Although both wars were fought from a communist and capitalist side, the people’s main drive was the unification and formal recognition of their country as an independent state. In the interrogation of a captured NLF fighter in 1967, the prisoner explains that she “respected the front a great deal” because they were “willing to accept any sacrifices required of themselves and of their relatives for the country.”4 She “viewed the cadres as living embodiments of heroes”4and that they stood up “to fight the evil in order to protect the people.”4 In the eyes of the National Liberation Front, capitalism and communism did not represent a more favorable ideology, but rather the names of their supporters and enemies. The Vietnamese fought for their people and against a county that was following in the steps of colonialism, not for the name of communism. This common strive for self determination can be seen in the Non-Alignment movement, in which several Asian and African countries refused to join either power bloc and instead bound together to fight for self determination. Following the signatures of African and Asian countries, many Latin American countries joined the movement in the 1970s. Several Latin American countries were up in arms after American coups disregarded Latin American self determination and overthrew democratically elected political leaders. Latin American countries also became increasingly suspicious when international companies, such as the United Fruit Company, began to resemble a colonial regime by exploiting Latin American resources. The anger that arose from this exploitation sparked conversation about how economic capabilities related to global
Due to the fact that this area was constructed in colonial form, decolonization was attempted so that they could gain independent status. Once this started, these are when the challenges presented themselves. A sense of insurgency erupted and rebellion against the government occurred. The Muslim separatists and the communist rebels went against the government and challenged it. The problem was that Southeast Asia attempted to decolonize, but since the Americans won the Philippines from Spain in war they had their own rules. This caused problems between the both and mad an even bigger challenge for the regions of Southeast Asia to gain their independence. Once independence was gained, dictatorship with the region became a major challenge. For example, a man named Ferdinand Marcos inhibited many bad influences and was known for rigging the
The foreign and domestic policies during the Cold War lead to both the separation of world powers and the fear of political and social systems throughout the world. After World War 2 had ended, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union heighted. The agreements made at the Yalta Conference between Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt , were not being followed by the Soviets. The Soviet Union kept the land they reconquered in Eastern Europe and did not enforce a democratic government in those countries, as they promised. Instead, the Soviet Union decided to continue spreading communism in their reconquered lands. The United States’ feared the spread of communism and attempted to do anything in its power to stop it. Before the United
... Americans built roads, schools, bridges, and sewers. Filipino self- rule had gradually increased and finally declared their independence on July 4, 1946. However, compared to Cuba and Puerto Rico, American rule has a lesser impact on the Philippine economy. The United States invaded Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines not to gain wealth, but for the purpose of getting trades.
The United States finished fighting for Cuba’s independence from Spain, and then turn and take control over the Philippines attempting to civilize them and force them into a more Americanized lifestyle. America’s rule was worse then Spain's in many aspects. In the short 48 years the U.S. Annex the Philippines over 1.5 million Filipinos died, far less died in the 300 year Spanish rule. Furthermore, the United States tried to justify the annexation because they helped educate them, however if they were able to read the Philippines could accuse America of hypocrisy against our own Constitution and Declaration of Independence. The Constitution stating, "all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights of which . . .
The Filipino American War began because the Americans did not want to give them back to Spain nor did they want to hand them over to their rivals, France and Germany.They also came to the conclusion that they were too weak to govern themselves. And to please the people, they told them that they were going to be Christianized and civilized. Proof of this can be found when President Mckinley said, “That there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them” (313). However, America 's true motive for war was to gain a profit out of the Philippines since, “No land in America surpasses in fertility the plains and valleys of Luzon. Rice and coffee, sugar and cocoanuts, hemp and tobacco. The wood of the Philippines can supply the furniture of the world for a century to come” (314). William James was somebody who opposed the war, he wanted to, “ educate the American public about the horrors of the Philippine war and the evils of imperialism” (314). And in response, many innocent Filipino civilians would be killed. The Philadelphia Ledger reported, “our men have been relentless, have killed to exterminate men, women, children, prisoners and captives, active insurgents and suspected people from lads of ten up, the idea prevailing that the Filipino as such was little better than a dog”
Throughout the Cold War, Korean War, and Vietnam War the main problem was communism. Although the United States and the Soviet Union were allies in World War Two, during the Cold War the United States and the Soviet Union were known as enemies. The Soviet leaders bragged to other nations that communism would “scrape apart” free-enterprise systems around the world. This attitude angered the capitalists which led into the fifty year Cold War. The United States tried creating many tactics and strategies to contain the “bleeding” of communism, but during the cold war, communism spread faster then it could be restrained. The United States used the Marshall Plan , the Trueman Doctrine, and the Berlin Airlift to help lead people to a capitalist form of government.
Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower shared many similarities yet still many differences when it came to Cold War foreign policies. Truman’s foreign policies revolved around the Truman Doctrine, which stated that the United States would financially support Greece and Turkey . Despite Truman’s and Eisenhower’s differing political parties, the foreign policies of the presidents shared several similarities. The main differences between the two presidents can be attributed to differing circumstances during their years in office. Both Truman and Eisenhower sought to eliminate communism and support civil rights, but Truman emphasized international relations and the American economy while Eisenhower dealt more with domestic issues around civil rights.
The Korean War was a war between North Korea and South Korea that involved the support of the world’s most powerful countries. “ It was the only occasion in the Cold War when the military forces of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Soviet Union, and the USA (plus its Western allies) met in combat” (Malkasian 5). The Korean War was the first “hot war” of the Cold War which ended in a stalemate creating the two Koreas.
For 113 days during the summer of 1898, the United States was at war with Spain. Neither the president of the United States, nor his cabinet, nor the the queen of Spain, nor her ministers wanted the war wanted the war. It happened eventhough they made their best efforts to prevent it. It happened because of ambition, miscalculation, and stupidity; and it happened because of kindness, wit, and resourcefulness. It also happened because some were indifferent to the suffering of the world’s wretched and others were not (O’Toole 17). By winning the war the United States proved the the rest of the world and to itself that it could and would fight against foreign nations. For many years, world power had been concentrated in the countries in Europe. Nations such as Great Britain, France, Germany, and Spain had the most influence in global affairs. But a shift in power was gradually taking place as the United States matured. The young nation gained wealth and strength. Its population grew immensely, and many people believed it would become a major world power (Bachrach, 11) Spain was one of the many European countries that had territory in the United States. Spain controlled mostly some islands off the coast of Central America. The most important of these were Cuba and Puerto Rico. The United States was led to believe that the Spanish mosgoverned and abused the people of these islands. In fact, Spain did overtax and mistreat the Cubans, who rebelled in 1868 and again in 1895. Thus, the American people felt sympathetic toward the Cuban independence movement. In addition, Spain had frequently interfered with trade between its colonies and the United States. Even though the United States had been a trading partner with Cuba since the seventeenth century, Spain sometimes tried to completely stop their trade with Cuba. In Spain doing so, this sometimes caused damage to U.S. commercial interests. The United States highly disagreed with Spain’s right to interfere with this trade relationship. (Bachrach, 12) The United States was also concerned that other trading and commercial interests were threatened by the number of ships and soldiers Spain kept in the area. If the United States had to fight a war with Canada or Mexico, these Spanish forces could quickly mobilize against the United States.
“The immediate origins of the 1898 Spanish-American War began with the Wilson-Gorman Tariff of 1894. The American tariff…put restrictions on sugar imports to the United States; severely hurt the economy of Cuba, which was based on producing and selling sugar” (SparkNotes: The Spanish American War, 1898-1901,: Summery). Spain began imposing unreasonable high taxes on Cuba. Spanish troops ambushed and killed Cuba’s leader, José Martí and appointed General Valeriano Weyler as governor with orders to crush the Cuban rebellion. Weyler instituted concentration camps and forced the Cuban citizens into them so they could not aid the fight for freedom. These innocents starved and died from disease in the unlivable conditions of these camps.
In 1898, in an effort to free Cuba from the oppression of its Spanish colonizers, America captured the Philippines. This brought about questions of what America should do with the Philippines. Soon, controversy ensued both in the American political arena as well as among its citizens. Throughout its history, America had always been expansionistic, but it had always limited itself to the North American continent. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, however, there emerged a drive to expand outside of the continent. When America expanded to the Philippines, the policy it followed was a stark break from past forms of expansionism. Despite much controversy, America followed the example of the imperialistic nations in Europe and sought to conquer the Philippines as an imperialist colony that they would rule either directly or indirectly.
The truth is I didn’t want the Philippines, and when they came to us, as a gift from the gods, I did not know what to do with them.… I sought counsel from all sides— Democrats as well as Republicans—but got little help. I thought first we would take only Manila; then Luzon; then other islands perhaps also. I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight; and I am not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen, that I went down on my knees and prayed Almighty God for light and guidance more than one night. And one night late it came to me this way… that we could not give them back to Spain… that we could not leave them to themselves— they were unfit for self-government… [and] that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them.” (Thomas G. Paterson and Dennis
I don’t believe the Philippine War was justified. There are more ways than war to solve the annexation of the Philippines. I agree on some of the policies, but not all of the policies, that were in place during that time period.
The Philippines were first discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. It then became a colony of Spain from the late 1500's until the end of the19th century when the United States came intervened. The colonial rule of the Spanish ended in December 1898 after the United States intervened due to a popular rebellion that had broken out two years earlier. Under the United States colonial rule, democratic institutions were introduced, and the Filipinos took over all the political and bureaucratic positions. In 1934 the Philippines became an internally self governing commonwealth, with full independence from the United States scheduled for July 4, 1946. The independent republic mainta...