The Philippines, 1898-1902

Lecture topics (keyed to Arc of Empire, chap. 1 [pp. 10-63]):

• Overview: the colonial conflict that launched the U.S. project in the Pacific.
• McKinley and the American push into the Pacific.
• The rise of Philippine nationalism.
• Defeating the resistance region by region.
• Soldiers’ perspective: dehumanization and destruction.
• Legacies: forgetting counterinsurgency and remembering conquest and collaboration.

Philippines War chronology.

Study questions:

• How did ideas about national identity shape U.S. involvement in the Philippines?
• How did the U.S. experience with slavery and the wars against Native Americans shape U.S. attitudes and actions in the Philippines?
• What were the chief sources and main vulnerabilities of Filipino resistance?
• Was U.S. victory the result of good luck, sound strategy, or brute force? What lessons from that victory would you draw?