The American race war against the Philippines (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2021 in the subject Politics - General and Theories of International Politics, grade: 1,0, Hawai'i Pacific University, language: English, abstract: This paper aims to analyze the American race war against the Philippines and the excessive use of torture. One of the paper's primary focuses is the American public's reaction and the public debate about war atrocities. The leading question for the paper will be: How did the American public react to the use of torture by the US-Army?

The paper consists of four parts. Firstly, an overview of the conflict itself and how and why torture was conducted during the war will be given. In the second part, the public reaction to torture by the American army during the war will be analyzed. The third part will discuss the aftermath of the Philippine-American War. The last part will conclude the paper.

On July 4, 1902, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt announced the victory of American troops over the anti-colonial resistance movement in the Philippines. In his keynote address on the 127th Independence Day of the United States, Roosevelt declared the war in the faraway colony before an audience of more than a quarter of a million in Pittsburgh. He informed the public of the offer of a general amnesty to the former enemy. He announced the transfer of political control of the island kingdom to a colonial civil administration.
In particular, the President praised the dedication and conduct of the U.S. troops engaged in the war of conquest. Despite all adversity, Roosevelt said, the army had adhered to the rules of warfare. With a few exceptions, he said, the conduct of the soldiers was governed by sincere compassion and proper respect for the Filipino people and the enemy's troops. The primary purpose of these remarks was to stem the steadily growing criticism of the war from the home front. At the same time, the social controversy over the torture of Filipino prisoners by U.S. soldiers, which had reached its peak in the summer of 1902, was to be ended.
Until today, a controversial public debate about the atrocities of the U.S. Army during the Philippine-American war is still mainly missing.